Toncoin Price Drops Double Digits After Telegram Founder Pavel Durov Arrested in France ⋆ ZyCrypto

Pavel Durov, the billionaire founder of messaging app Telegram, was arrested at Le Bourget airport in France on Saturday night and taken into custody by agents of France’s National Anti-Fraud Office.

As the shocking news circulated online, the price of Toncoin (TON) – the token of Telegram-linked The Open Network – suffered double losses as panicked traders exited their positions.

Why Durov was arrested

Durov was arrested while traveling from Azerbaijan to Paris with a woman and his bodyguard, TF1 reported. The 39-year-old was the subject of a search warrant from France’s National Anti-Fraud Office (OFIM), an office charged with combating the sexual exploitation of minors.

The enforcement action stems from a criminal complaint filed by OFIM over Telegram’s alleged lack of moderation, which allowed criminal activity on the platform to increase, the report noted. French officials allege that Telegram’s negligence has enabled illegal activity, raising concerns about the platform’s role in promoting terrorism, the sale of narcotics and stolen goods, and fraud.

“Pavel Durov will certainly end up in pre-trial detention… on his platform he has allowed numerous violations and crimes to be committed, which he does nothing to moderate or cooperate with,” an OFIM investigator told TF1.

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It is unclear why Durov, who reportedly travels less frequently to areas where Telegram is closely monitored, flew to France on August 24.

Due to the nature of the alleged crimes, the billionaire, who also holds French nationality, faces a prison sentence of up to 20 years.

Impact on TON

Originally, the Open Network (TON) was developed internally at Telegram, but the company dropped the project in 2020 due to stricter regulations. Development continued externally through a developer community, but Telegram has since integrated the blockchain network into its ecosystem.

While that close relationship has driven TON’s price up as much as 300% over the past year, that association turned into a curse for the crypto this weekend, with TON dropping as much as 24% today to $5.31. The token has since recovered some of its losses, trading at $5.89 at the time of writing, a change of -13.5% on the day, according to CoinGecko.

Furthermore, the blockchain protocol continues to maintain that it will remain fully operational during Durov’s detention.

“As a community committed to freedom of speech and decentralization, we stand firmly with Pavel during this challenging time,” reads an official statement on TON blockchain’s X account.

Other notable figures in the crypto community have also voiced their support for the arrested Telegram founder, including Ethereum founder Vitalik Buterin and Dogefather Elon Musk.