On Saturday, Telegram Co-founder and CEO Pavel Durov was detained at the Le Bourget airport in Paris by the French judicial officers. Durov, the 39-year-old, was taken into custody related to Telegram’s operations. The French officials took a warrant out for Durov and charged him with drug trafficking, promotion of terrorism, cyberbullying, and criminal use of his platform. His arrest has become a high-profile case, given Durov’s stature in the tech world, and reports say his stay in French custody has been extended to 96 hours, with the possibility to face court on Monday.
With 950 million users on Telegram, the chat app has often been under scrutiny for being the primary source of communication related to the Russia-Ukraine war. Though born in Russia, Durov currently holds citizenship in France and UAE. While his citizenship in accords to Russia is not clear, the tech billionaire set his base in Dubai, which he has often praised for its ‘neutrality’ and business mindset.
TON Price:
TONCoin (TON), the official Telegram crypto token, has been tumbling ever since Sunday, starting at 9:20 p.m. Eastern Time. However, by about 12:30 a.m. (ET), the trend had flipped, and the coin is currently trading at $5.80, with signs of possible rallying up. The first slump in the price is often due to panic selling in the market, a common sentiment observed when it comes to crypto.
TON Price Prediction:
When examining the on-chain metrics, TON’s value fluctuated dramatically over recent months. Open interest steadily climbed from mid-July, peaking at $352 million just four days prior. On August 25th, the asset surged significantly alongside claims of Pavel Durov’s detainment. As open positions continued expanding, more participants sought to benefit from future gains rather than potential downsides.
Considering an imbalance of bullish versus bearish outlooks, TON could reach as high as $7.20 within the week if predilections hold, averaging around $6.50. With more investors going long than short, TON is expected to have a rally as the Telegram community continues to show support for TON and Durov.
Not just the TON community but tech titans such as Elon Musk have also tweeted in favor of Durov’s release from French custody, joining the #FREEDUROV campaign on the social media platform X. Free speech enthusiast Elon Musk showed support for the tweet of American entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy who put up a post saying “It’s Telegram today. It’ll be X tomorrow” to which Musk agreed, re-tweeting ‘He’s right you know’ taking a dig at European authorities’ arrest of Pavel Durov. The ongoing movement has brought back hope in the hearts of many crypto supporters wishing to see a more liberal regulatory oversight for the crypto and tech world. Given the new support TON has garnered, the price of the token should really boom.