The Telegram Open Network (TON) has stopped validating new transactions and hasn’t produced a new block in more than three hours.
In an Aug. 28 post to X, the TON-based community platform Tonk Inu that the TON network had been experiencing an ongoing outage and pinned the blame on a frenzy of market hype over a newly launched memecoin called DOGS.
The last transactions on TON were approved more than three hours ago in block 45341899, with the network failing to produce any new blocks from then onwards, according to TON network tracker Tonscan.
Source: Tonscan
Cointelegraph contacted TON for comment on the network outage but did not receive an immediate response.
Tonk Inu said the outage “likely” stemmed from an abnormally high volume of network activity that “likely” came from outsized market enthusiasm for a new memecoin called DOGS.
The DOGS memecoin was launched on the Telegram Open Network on Aug. 27.
The DOGS memecoin saw over >
The DOGS memecoin saw over $1.7 billion in volume in the first 24 hours of trading. Source: X
.7 billion in volume in the first 24 hours of trading. Source: X
The token, which is already listed on major exchanges such as Binance and OKX, witnessed $1.7 billion in trading volume within the first ten hours of launch and reached a peak market capitalization of $891 million.
The price of the memecoin peaked at $0.0014 four hours after launch before falling back down to $0.0012 at the time of publication, according to CoinMarketCap data.
The latest canine-themed memecoin on TON comes immediately following an official rebrand by the TON Society on Aug. 26 to support Telegram creator Pavel Durov who was recently arrested in France.
“We are updating Toncoin’s logo and profile pictures across TON Community channels to the global symbol of Digital Resistance — the Resistance Dog,” stated TON Society.
It explained that the dog symbol harks back to 2011 when Pavel Durov was ordered to eradicate the posts of liberal thinkers and dissidents.
“In response, Pavel posted a picture of his dog, refusing to silence anyone on his platform. Since then, this dog has become the mascot of free speech. It has become an emblem of hope, incredible strength, and courage.”
Source: Ton Society
The TON Society also announced an “Open Letter Mini App” in the messaging platform urging the French authorities to free Durov from detention and “allow Telegram to protect the freedom of expression and right to private life for its users.”
It had accrued 1.48 million signatures at the time of writing.
Telegram founder and CEO Pavel Durov was detained by French authorities on Aug. 24 with a search warrant targeting alleged violations of the encrypted messaging platform.
The network’s native token, TON, has tanked 24% since the arrest and is currently trading down 1.7% on the day at $5.22.
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