tl;dr
Toncoin (TON) saw an 8% price increase following the release of Telegram CEO Pavel Durov, who was recently indicted in France. However, ongoing technical issues within the TON blockchain, including multiple outages, have clouded this positive movement. Durov's release came with strict conditions, in...
Toncoin (TON) saw an 8% price increase following the release of Telegram CEO Pavel Durov, who was recently indicted in France. However, ongoing technical issues within the TON blockchain, including multiple outages, have clouded this positive movement. Durov's release came with strict conditions, including a €5 million bond, regular police check-ins, and judicial supervision. Additionally, an arrest warrant has been issued for Nikolai Durov, Pavel's brother and co-founder of Telegram, in connection with the same investigation. The charges involve facilitating drug trafficking, organized fraud, and the distribution of pornographic content involving minors. The news of Pavel Durov's release initially impacted Toncoin's price positively, but the momentum quickly faded, and the price has since stabilized. Meanwhile, TON blockchain has faced technical hurdles, experiencing recent outages due to overwhelming transaction activity related to the DOGS meme coin. Despite the team's efforts to resolve these issues, concerns about the network's ability to handle future surges in activity have arisen.
A recent report revealed that Durov was released from custody on August 28 following a four-day detention. He was subjected to judicial supervision, obligated to post a €5 million bond (around $5.5 million), and barred from exiting France. Additionally, he is required to check in at a police station bi-weekly. French authorities arrested Durov at Le Bourget airport near Paris, charging him with multiple offenses, including accusations of facilitating drug trafficking, organized fraud, and the distribution of pornographic content involving minors. The charges also cite his refusal to cooperate with law enforcement, withholding critical information necessary for legal investigations. In the latest developments, another report suggested that French authorities have also issued an arrest warrant for Nikolai Durov, his brother and co-founder of Telegram, in connection with the same investigation. The charges against Nikolai include complicity in the possession, distribution, and offering of pornographic images of minors in an organized group. French Prosecutor Laure Beccuau criticized Telegram for its "near complete" failure to cooperate with legal requests.
The news of Pavel Durov's release immediately impacted Toncoin, the native token of The Open Network (TON) blockchain, which has a close association with Telegram. Shortly after the report of the release, Toncoin’s price surged from $5.31 to $5.75, marking an 8.3% increase within just 20 minutes. However, this initial momentum quickly faded. Toncoin’s price has since stabilized around $5.58. Although there was a minor recovery, its current price still reflects a 14.7% decline over the past week.
Despite the brief market optimism, TON blockchain's reliability has come into question due to recent outages. On August 27, the network stopped producing blocks for approximately seven hours. While the blockchain resumed normal operations on August 28, another disruption occurred. The surge in activity following DOGS token minting overwhelmed the network, leading to significant delays and interruptions in block production. As of the time of writing, TON blockchain appears to have resumed normal operations. Although the team has resolved these technical issues, the outages have raised concerns about the network's ability to handle future surges in activity.