Aftermath of the Telegram founder's arrest: US-Russia confrontation, industry support, buying coins to make a statement, public movement
Just after the 11th anniversary of Telegram, founder Pavel Durov faced a "freedom crisis" ahead of the platform.Author: Wenser, Odaily Planet Daily
The aftermath of the arrest of Telegram founder Pavel Durov continues. Following yesterday's article titled "Telegram Founder Arrested, Over Half of Funds Withdrawn, Will the TON Ecosystem Suffer a Devastating Blow?" which mentioned related news, the latest development is that French authorities have confirmed Pavel Durov's detention and stated that a formal announcement will follow. What awaits this tech billionaire, worth $15.5 billion and aged 39? The market is paying close attention.
Odaily Planet Daily will summarize the latest developments in this article.
Reactions Vary: The Cryptocurrency Industry Generally Supports Pavel Durov
More than 24 hours after Pavel Durov's arrest, officials closely linked to Telegram and the TON ecosystem, cryptocurrency industry figures, and projects on the Telegram platform and TON ecosystem continue to voice their opinions. Here are the specific reactions from various parties:
Politicians: Clear Stances from US and Russian Officials
According to Reuters, Telegram founder and CEO Pavel Durov became a French citizen in August 2021. He moved Telegram to Dubai in 2017 and has since resided there. French media reports also indicate that he has obtained UAE citizenship and is also a citizen of the Caribbean twin-island nation of Saint Kitts and Nevis.
Previously, Western officials stated in interviews that Telegram is a tool of the Russian military intelligence agency, capable of recruiting personnel in Europe for sabotage activities, including attempts to disrupt and monitor NATO supply lines to Ukraine. A senior European security official claimed that Telegram has become the main platform for Russia to spread misinformation in Europe and Ukraine. American independent political commentator Jackson Hinkle stated that a certain anti-Israel hacker had stolen billions of bytes of sensitive Israeli data and published confidential information on Telegram, while Telegram refused Israel's request for oversight.
As the head of the Russian Safe Internet League, Mikhail Mizulina believes that the force behind Pavel Durov's arrest in France is the United States, a point that can be indirectly confirmed by Durov's previous remarks in The Tucker Carlson Interview: "The FBI and other security agencies want… to better control Telegram."
In contrast, Russian officials express "efforts to save" and "regret"------
Former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev stated that Telegram CEO Pavel Durov's escape from Russia and belief that he would never have to cooperate with security agencies abroad is a misjudgment. Medvedev, who frequently uses Telegram to criticize the West, said Durov wants to be an "excellent 'global citizen' living a good life without a homeland." "He miscalculated," Medvedev said. "For all our common enemies, he is Russian------therefore unpredictable and dangerous." The Russian Foreign Ministry stated that it has sent a note to Paris requesting a meeting with Durov, despite his French citizenship.
Additionally, Russian officials expressed "anger" over Pavel Durov's arrest, with some calling the arrest an indirect hostile act against Russia.
It is worth mentioning that Pavel Durov's experience has also garnered support from those with similar experiences: "Snowden" whistleblower Edward Snowden tweeted that "the arrest of Telegram CEO Pavel Durov is an infringement on basic human rights such as freedom of speech and the right to assemble."
American politician Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who recently withdrew from the presidential race, also made a rare statement, saying, "Pavel Durov's arrest highlights the critical importance of maintaining platforms dedicated to freedom of speech and privacy."
Cryptocurrency Industry Figures: Investing Real Money in TON, Taking Action to Show Support
In response to Pavel Durov's arrest, the reactions from cryptocurrency industry figures perhaps better illustrate the meaning of "true feelings revealed in times of trouble."
Animoca Brands co-founder Yat Siu stated, "In this struggle for freedom, we are committed to supporting our friend------the TON community. Decentralization is the solution to censorship and maintaining our freedom. #FREEDUROV. Decentralization builds resilience by eliminating single points of failure, enhancing fault tolerance, and ensuring freedom through resistance to censorship. TON is the decentralized solution that ensures the future of the Telegram ecosystem. #FreePavel."
DWF Labs co-founder Andrei Grachev announced that he has purchased approximately $500,000 worth of TON on the open market and will keep them on-chain until Telegram founder Pavel Durov is released. He added, "This does not constitute financial advice; I just want to support censorship-resistant and decentralized technology."
The NFT and Meme coin project Memeland announced that it has used team treasury funds to purchase $1 million worth of TON on the open market and will hold it until Durov is released.
Tron founder Justin Sun, known for his keen reactions to cryptocurrency industry trends, also publicly expressed concern for Telegram founder Pavel Durov's fate, stating that regardless of the judicial outcome, Telegram is crucial for the communication freedom and privacy of billions of people. He hopes Durov can regain his freedom legally as soon as possible and ensure user rights are protected in a compliant manner. Furthermore, he suggested that the cryptocurrency industry should unite to organize a decentralized autonomous organization (DAO) named #FreePavel to help Durov gain legal freedom. He promised to donate $1 million if this DAO is created in a decentralized manner and garners sufficient community support.
Additionally, some cryptocurrency industry figures have expressed their views from the perspective of industry development and product innovation.
Aave and Lens Protocol founder Stani Kulechov stated, "In light of Telegram CEO Pavel Durov's recent arrest, I have been reflecting on how to build a 'resilient approach' that can uphold various rights, even when these rights (such as freedom of speech and content moderation) may conflict with each other. The construction of social networks should focus on resilience."
Paradigm co-founder Matt Huang believes that this incident may signal the best time to integrate Telegram groups into the Farcaster ecosystem; however, Ethereum co-founder Vitalik countered that "the timing for integrating Telegram groups into Farcaster is not mature yet, as an end-to-end encrypted communication system needs to be established first."
XEX Chinese channel commented, "Pavel Durov's arrest will not affect the normal operation of Telegram. Similarly, TON, as a decentralized community backed by Telegram's 800 million users, will not be significantly impacted." They hold an optimistic view of the future development of Telegram and the TON ecosystem.
Telegram and TON Ecosystem Projects: Some Vow to Fight to the End, While Others Emphasize Their Operations Are Unaffected
The official TON Twitter account added the Resistance Dog logo, which Telegram founder Durov personally designed and named in 2018, to its profile picture and responded to the call from the official TON community, TON Society, urging more people to take the following actions to show support for Pavel Durov: 1) Share posts and use the #FREEDUROV tag; 2) Add the 【FREE】 emoji to their usernames; 3) Change their profile pictures to the Resistance Dog.
Subsequently, the TON community responded enthusiastically------the official TON community channel stated, "We stand with Pavel Durov (Telegram founder) in the same line of defense. To support the Digital Resistance movement, we are updating the Toncoin logo and profile picture in the TON community channel to the global symbol of the Digital Resistance------'Resistance Dog.' Pavel Durov initiated this movement in the fight to protect Telegram users' privacy and freedom of speech."
The official page of the well-known exchange Binance also shows that the TON token logo has been updated to the Resistance Dog.
Of course, compared to the deeply intertwined relationship with Telegram, some projects relying on the Telegram platform first emphasized that "their operations are not affected by Telegram."
The Telegram Bot project Banana Gun stated, "The situation regarding the Telegram founder has raised some questions in our chat, as well as its impact on Banana Gun. It is important to note that our Bot is safe to use. Banana Gun wants to assure users that it is far more than just a Telegram Bot. In fact, Banana Gun is a fully customized backend system. While this backend currently supports its Telegram frontend, it will soon become the engine for many other frontends. For example, Banana Gun is developing an API for third-party integration, and a web application is also in its final stages. Our vision for Banana Gun has prompted us to redesign the entire backend in the first half of 2024, transforming it into a modular and flexible trading tool. We are more confident than ever that this investment will yield significant returns."
Telegram also issued a statement regarding Pavel Durov's arrest, stating:
- Telegram complies with EU laws, including the Digital Services Act, and its platform review meets industry standards and is continuously improving;
- Telegram CEO Pavel Durov has nothing to hide and frequently travels in Europe;
- The claim that "a platform or its owner should be responsible for abuses on the platform" is absurd;
- Nearly one billion users worldwide use Telegram as a means of communication and an important source of information;
- The team is waiting for this matter to be resolved quickly.
However, feedback from prediction markets indicates that the likelihood of a quick resolution to this matter is low: the Polymarket platform shows that the current probability of Telegram founder Pavel Durov being released in August has dropped from 50% when it was first created last Sunday to 29%, influenced by previous news that French authorities and judicial procedures would subject Pavel Durov to pre-trial detention.
PolyMarket prediction activity interface
Summary: Pavel Durov's Fate Depends on How French Authorities Handle It
According to Viktor, the head of the TON Society community, some local residents in Moscow have initiated a "paper airplane protest," where people choose to throw paper airplanes at the French embassy in Russia as a relatively peaceful way to express support for the Telegram platform and Pavel Durov.
It is worth mentioning that on August 14, Pavel Durov celebrated the 11th anniversary of the platform's creation on his personal Telegram channel, stating: "When I was 11 years old in 1995, I made a promise to myself to become smarter, stronger, and freer every day. Today, Telegram is 11 years old, and it is ready to make the same promise. Every day, Telegram should become: smarter (providing more features for users); stronger (more popular among users); freer (more independent and self-sufficient). Happy birthday, Telegram! P.S. Just two weeks after the last major Telegram update, we are releasing new features today------a new type of channel and three new ways to support content creators. Enjoy!"
Pavel Durov's channel statement
At that time, Pavel Durov may not have anticipated that just 11 days later, the "freedom" he most desired and fought to defend would become the "biggest trap" he encountered after arriving in France.
Now, Pavel Durov's subsequent fate will still be determined by the French authorities. In addition to taking concrete actions to support Pavel Durov and the TON ecosystem, we will continue to track the latest developments in this event.
