Telegram co-founder and CEO Pavel Durov was reportedly arrested in France late Saturday after arriving on his private jet from Azerbaijan, according to local media. The arrest triggered a sharp drop in the price of Toncoin (TON), the token associated with Telegram-affiliated The Open Network.
Durov, 39, was detained by Franceās National Anti-Fraud Office, as reported by TF1. The charges against him are allegedly related to illegal activities conducted by Telegram users, which the platform reportedly failed to moderate. These accusations include facilitating terrorism, the sale of narcotics and stolen goods, fraud, and other illegal conduct.
Itās unclear why Durov, who generally avoids traveling to countries where Telegram faces scrutiny, flew to France on Sunday. An unnamed investigator cited by TF1 suggested that Durov is likely to be placed in pre-trial detention.
Telegram recently surpassed 950 million users, as Durov announced in July, with a significant increase in users driven by the rise of crypto-based games available on the platform through integrated āmini apps.ā Hamster Kombat, the most popular of these games, has reportedly attracted over 300 million players in recent months, ahead of its upcoming token launch and airdrop.
The Open Network, originally developed internally at Telegram, was abandoned by the company in 2020 due to regulatory pressures. However, development has continued externally through a community of contributors, and Telegram has increasingly integrated the blockchain network over the past year.
While this close relationship has helped boost the price of TON by over 300% in the last year, the arrest of Durov seems to have had the opposite effect. TONās price has dropped nearly 17% in the past 24 hours, falling from $6.80 before the news broke to its current price of $5.61, according to CoinStats.
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