TON, the native token of The Open Network layer-1 blockchain, is up 29% on the week after a surge that followed a change in Telegram CEO and co-founder Pavel Durov’s bail conditions, allowing him to leave France for Dubai.
The token, now trading at $3.46, has posted the largest weekly gain among top 100 crypto assets according to data from CoinGecko. The jump represents a sizable increase relative to the performance of the leading crypto assets, Bitcoin and Ethereum, which each moved around 5% on the week—Bitcoin rose to $83,717, while Ethereum dropped to $1,922.
“As you may have heard, I’ve returned to Dubai after spending several months in France due to an investigation related to the activity of criminals on Telegram,” Durov posted to 11.9 million subscribers of his personal Telegram channel. “The process is ongoing, but it feels great to be home.”
The messaging app founder was indicted on charges in August 2024, alleging that Telegram facilitated criminal activity on the app, and was barred from leaving France as a result. Now, though, investigative judges have allowed him to return to his home in Dubai for a short period of time.
While Telegram and The Open Network operate independently, they both originated from the same team—and continue to be closely intertwined. Telegram co-founders Pavel and Nikolai Durov created TON under its original name of Telegram Open Network, but abandoned plans for the chain in 2020 amid regulatory scrutiny.
Development continued externally, and over the last two years, Telegram has increasingly embraced TON for capabilities like paying channel operators a share of ad revenue. Earlier this year, Telegram and TON inked an exclusive partnership that ensured Telegram mini apps (including games) with crypto connections must utilize TON moving forward.
The Open Network and Telegram made significant strides with crypto user adoption last year, with mini apps helping to spur Telegram monthly active user numbers to more than 950 million as of June 2024. The NOT token of Notcoin, the first play-to-earn game on Telegram, surged to a market cap of nearly $3 billion soon after launch last summer.
At its current price, TON is the 16th largest crypto by market cap according to CoinGecko. However, the token is down 58% off its all-time high of $8.25 established last June. TON plunged last August amid news of Durov’s arrest, with many TON project builders protesting and speaking out against the detention.
Edited by Andrew Hayward
