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Telegram Ceo Pavel Durov Says Bitcoin Helped Fund His Lifestyle
Crypto Trends

Telegram CEO Pavel Durov Says Bitcoin Helped Fund His Lifestyle

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Telegram founder and CEO Pavel Durov revealed that he invested in Bitcoin in its early days and has used his holdings to support his lifestyle. Speaking on Lex Fridman’s podcast, the Russian entrepreneur said he bought his first few thousand Bitcoins in 2013, paying around $700 per coin.

“I was a big believer in Bitcoin since more or less the start of it,” Durov said. He admitted that the price dropped below $200 after his purchase, but he remained confident. “I don’t care. I’m not going to sell it. I believe in this thing,” he added.

Bitcoin as a financial safety net

Durov explained that Bitcoin helps him fund personal expenses, including renting luxury locations and flying private. He emphasized that Telegram is a money-losing operation for him personally. “Bitcoin is something that allowed me to stay afloat,” he said. 

He also predicted that Bitcoin could eventually reach $1 million due to continuous government money printing. “Nobody’s printing Bitcoin. It has predictable inflation and will stop being made at a certain point,” he explained.

TON blockchain and NFT growth

Durov also discussed Telegram’s blockchain project, the Telegram Open Network (TON). Designed in 2018-2019, TON aimed to provide scalable blockchain support for Telegram’s millions of users, which he said Bitcoin and Ethereum couldn’t handle efficiently. The key innovation was shardchains, allowing high scalability.

Although regulatory issues prevented Telegram from fully rolling out TON in the US, the project is still going on as The Open Network. It is currently a significant participant in NFT trading. 

Meanwhile, Toncoin, the network’s native token, is currently trading at $2.67 with a market cap of almost $6.8 billion, according to CoinMarketCap data.

Also Read: Pavel Durov Claims French Intel Tried Pressuring Telegram Channels



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Pavel Durov Claims French Intel Tried Pressuring Telegram Channels
GameFi Guides

Pavel Durov Claims French Intel Tried Pressuring Telegram Channels

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Telegram Founder Pavel Durov has publicly detailed an alleged attempt by French intelligence to involve him in censoring political content ahead of Moldova’s presidential elections. Writing on X, Durov described the episode as a troubling effort to influence both judicial proceedings and political discourse.

Alleged request to censor channels

According to Durov, approximately a year ago, while he was in Paris, French intelligence approached him through an intermediary. They requested his assistance in helping the Moldovan government suppress certain Telegram channels during the election period.

Durov explained that after reviewing the flagged channels, his team identified a few that genuinely violated Telegram’s rules and were therefore removed. In return, the intermediary claimed that French intelligence would “say good things” about Durov to the judge who had ordered his arrest in August of the previous year.

Concerns over judicial interference

Durov described this offer as unacceptable. He noted that if French intelligence did approach the judge, it would represent an attempt to interfere in an ongoing judicial process. 

Conversely, if the claim was false, it could indicate an effort to leverage his legal situation to influence political outcomes in Eastern Europe, a tactic Durov said he has observed previously in Romania.

Second list of channels

Shortly after, Telegram received a second list of Moldovan channels deemed “problematic.” Unlike the first batch, nearly all of these channels were legitimate and fully compliant with Telegram’s policies. The common factor, Durov noted, was that these channels expressed political views disfavored by the French and Moldovan governments.

Telegram’s stance on free speech

Telegram has refused to act on the second set of channels flagged by authorities. Pavel Durov said the platform will not remove content for political reasons and reiterated its commitment to free speech. He also promised to continue exposing any attempts to pressure Telegram into censorship, underlining the company’s independence from government influence.

The disclosure comes amid growing scrutiny of how governments are trying to influence social media platforms ahead of elections, highlighting the tension between security concerns and protecting online freedom.

Also Read: Binance Accused of Market Manipulation Post Massive BTC and ETH Sales



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Pavel Durov Declines To Censor Moldova Election Content on Telegram
Crypto Trends

Pavel Durov Declines To Censor Moldova Election Content on Telegram

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Telegram co-founder Pavel Durov claimed that French intelligence services asked him to censor content related to the election in Moldova in 2024 in exchange for saying “good things” to the judge overseeing his trial, which he declined to do.

Durov said the messaging platform initially took down some posts that “clearly” violated Telegram’s terms of service, but declined to remove any additional content for political reasons. Durov wrote in a Sunday Telegram post:

“Shortly thereafter, the Telegram team received a second list of so-called ‘problematic’ Moldovan channels. Unlike the first, nearly all of these channels were legitimate and fully compliant with our rules. 

Their only commonality was that they voiced political positions disliked by the French and Moldovan governments. We refused to act on this request,” he continued.

Source: Pavel Durov

The crypto industry rallied behind Durov following his August 2024 arrest in France, and the related developments in his ongoing case, as the battle for free speech between tech platforms and state governments attempting to impose censorship polices unfolds. 

Related: Telegram founder Pavel Durov says case going nowhere, slams French gov

French and European authorities previously asked Telegram to censor political content

In May 2025, Durov pointed to a previous incident in which French intelligence services pressured Telegram into censoring Romanian election content, which he also declined to do.

“You can’t ‘defend democracy’ by destroying democracy. You can’t ‘fight election interference’ by interfering with elections. You either have freedom of speech and fair elections — or you don’t,” he wrote. 

Following his 2024 arrest, which drew widespread condemnation from the crypto community and human rights activists, he became highly critical of the French government and the direction of the European Union.

France is inching toward societal collapse due to state censorship and the failed policies of the current government, he warned in June.

He also stated that Telegram will exit jurisdictions, including France, before compromising user privacy by handing over encryption keys or building a backdoor into the messaging platform for state surveillance.

Durov’s repeated warnings about state-led attacks against online free speech and privacy came to a head in 2025, when an EU proposal to monitor all chat messages, including encrypted user communications, gained support from 19 member nations of the EU.

Magazine: Did Telegram’s Pavel Durov commit a crime? Crypto lawyers weigh in



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Telegram CEO Pavel Durov Criticizes France Over ‘Absurd’ 2024 Arrest

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In brief

  • Durov has called his August 2024 arrest “legally and logically absurd,” claiming French police detained him over crimes by users he’d never heard of.
  • The Telegram CEO must report to French authorities every 14 days despite ongoing investigation finding no wrongdoing by him or his platform.
  • Durov remains under judicial supervision in France, required to report every two weeks, with no appeal date yet set.

Telegram CEO Pavel Durov called his arrest by French police “legally and logically absurd” on Sunday, exactly one year after being detained for four days over alleged criminal activity on his messaging platform.

In an X thread posted one year after his arrest at Le Bourget airport outside Paris, the 40-year-old tech mogul revealed he must still return to France every 14 days with “no appeal date in sight.” 

Since his release on €5 million (US$5.8 million) bail, Durov has been permitted to travel briefly to Dubai, where Telegram is headquartered, but remains under judicial supervision. 



Durov was initially detained on charges related to alleged criminal activity on his messaging platform, which prosecutors claimed he failed to moderate adequately.

“So far, the only outcome of my arrest has been massive damage to France’s image as a free country,” he tweeted Sunday.

“This legal action against a platform’s CEO over user actions highlights a fundamental tension between legacy legal frameworks and the core Web3 principle of individual sovereignty,” HashKey Group chief analyst Jeffrey Ding told Decrypt. 

The case prompts a “broader, global discussion” on the balance between innovation and “regulatory oversight” in the digital ecosystem, he said.

Durov’s arrest immediately impacted crypto markets, causing Toncoin (TON), the native token of The Open Network blockchain, closely affiliated with Telegram, to plummet as news broke. 

French authorities detained Durov on charges including complicity in distributing child pornography, narcotics sales, and organized fraud, saying Telegram’s encryption tools were being used without proper government authorization. 

The National Anti-Fraud Office accused the platform of refusing to cooperate with law enforcement requests and failing to moderate criminal content.

Durov’s detention drew condemnation from Tesla CEO Elon Musk and ex-NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden, compelling President Emmanuel Macron to defend France’s record on free expression.

However, Durov pushed back against these accusations, claiming the French police had made procedural errors that revealed their own incompetence, and “they could have learned the correct procedure simply by googling it or asking.”

The tech executive said Telegram was easy to reach, saying they have “always responded to every legally binding request from France.”

He added that his platform’s “moderation practices align with industry standards,” declaring “we’ll keep fighting—and we will win.”

Kadan Stadelmann, CTO at Komodo Platform, told Decrypt that “governments in Europe are waging an assault on privacy by coercing compliance from platforms that offer users encryption and user autonomy.” 

He noted that “Russia and Iran banned Telegram for not handing over surveillance keys,” pointing to a pattern where “governments want to scare developers out of developing encrypted technology that undermines their centralized control.”

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Telegram founder Pavel Durov slams French case as 'absurd'
GameFi Guides

Telegram founder Pavel Durov slams French case as ‘absurd’

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Pavel Durov, the billionaire founder of Telegram, criticized French authorities on Sunday, Aug. 24, over what he described as a baseless criminal investigation that has left him tied up in legal proceedings for more than a year.

Durov, who was granted temporary permission to leave the country for Dubai in March, faces multiple charges linked to allegations that Telegram enabled organized crime. In a statement posted Sunday, he argued that holding a CEO accountable for the actions of users on a global messaging platform sets a dangerous precedent.

“Arresting a CEO of a major platform over the actions of its users was not only unprecedented — it was legally and logically absurd,” Durov said.

According to Durov, French police made “a mistake” by failing to follow proper legal channels before August 2024 when submitting requests for user data. He said the company has consistently responded to every legally binding request and maintains moderation practices in line with industry standards.

Durov said he is still required to return to France every 14 days, with no appeal date set.

“Sadly, the only outcome of my arrest so far has been massive damage to France’s image as a free country,” he said.

The case against Durov highlights the growing tension between law enforcement and tech platforms over responsibility for online content, particularly as governments worldwide intensify their scrutiny of social media and messaging services.

This isn’t the first time Durov has criticized French authorities.

In September, he responded to his legal troubles in France by criticizing authorities for bypassing official EU channels and questioning him directly. He called holding a CEO liable for user crimes a “misguided approach,” especially under outdated laws.

Durov defended Telegram’s moderation efforts, noting its daily removal of harmful content and cooperation with NGOs, while reaffirming his commitment to the platform’s nearly one billion users.

As the case continues, questions remain over whether the legal battles will affect Telegram’s operations or the value of its crypto initiatives.

How TON powers Telegram’s blockchain vision

Toncoin (TON), the digital token linked to Telegram’s Telegram Open Network (TON), is currently down 6.4% over the last seven days. See the chart below.

Source: CoinGecko

The TON token, currently valued at $3.30, is down 60% from its all-time high of $8.25. Still, the coin is considered an integral part of Telegram’s blockchain initiatives.

Originally created by Telegram and now maintained by the TON Foundation, the token is designed to share, as Durov once put it, “the principles of decentralization pioneered by Bitcoin and Ethereum, but… vastly superior to them in speed and scalability.”

At its core, TON powers peer-to-peer payments. Users can transfer funds quickly and at minimal cost, a feature that dovetails with the platform’s push to integrate TON directly into its messaging app. Within chats, users can already send the token to friends, tip creators, or pay for services, highlighting Telegram’s role as a ready-made distribution channel for crypto adoption.

Beyond payments, it also secures the proof-of-stake network through validator staking, supports DeFi apps, NFT marketplaces, and games, and powers services like TON DNS and decentralized storage.

Telegram’s user base is roughly 1 billion monthly active users as of July 2025.



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