On August 24, it became known that Telegram CEO Pavel Durov was arrested. Durov was detained at Le Bourget airport in Paris after OFMIN (a special police unit) issued a warrant for his arrest. The warrant alleges that Telegram did not do enough to combat illegal activity on its social media platform, and Durov is charged with this. Telegram also allegedly did not cooperate enough with law enforcement agencies. To add to all this, India is also investigating Telegram and depending on the results, may even ban it from the country.
A couple of days later, French lawyer, and member of the Paris Bar Association Philippe de Veulle said that Pavel Durov is in the status of a suspect. The fact that he has been charged is out of the question for now.
According to Reuters, a French court is expected to rule on his case today. It will be decided whether or not to place the Telegram founder under formal investigation after his arrest.
Already on August 28, the Investigating Judge terminated Pavel Durov’s detention in police custody for the purpose of his initial interrogation and possible indictment.
Toncoin’s response
TON is legally unrelated to Pavel Durov – on June 29, 2021, he transferred the ton.org domain and GitHub repository to the independent developer community The Open Network (TON). However, the reaction of market participants to the arrest was instantly reflected in the TON coin’s exchange rate.
TON lost more than $2.5 billion in capitalization. The coin fell by 25.8% in three days, from $6.86 to $5.09. After Paul was released from detention, the TON rate started to grow rapidly and tested the price level of $6.
Such acceleration of the price downward right after the detention was caused by panic selling and liquidations of short-term traders. Profit-taking by long-term holders has not followed yet. The community on the contrary – supports the founder of Telegram.
What’s next?
The situation is rather confusing and ambiguous. The further development of the situation is quite difficult to predict. Experienced lawyers will easily get rid of most of the “accusations”, as they are quite absurd.
At this stage, the market price of TON reflects the general ambiguity. Against the background of the “news doldrums” the coin has been in consolidation for the last few days.
If the situation with the arrest improves and we see positive movements towards the removal of all “charges”, the TON rate is very likely to recover above $7. And after the start of the full-fledged alt-season, it will be above $10. In such a case, traders and investors should have additional capital for purchases.
But if the news is bad, short-term traders should keep a close eye on the psychological level of $5. This is a very dangerous point, as a break of this support could trigger a price acceleration into the $4.50 – $3.50 range.
It is safe to say that volatility in TON will only increase in the near future. This will give many traders an opportunity to make a decent profit.
Conclusion
The arrest of Pavel Durov shook up the cryptocurrency market a lot. Many celebrities expressed their support for the Telegram founder, in particular, EIlon Musk. And the crypto community has consolidated and is calling to remove the absurd accusations and clarify the situation to the public. In any case, the volatility in TON will soon give many market participants an opportunity to earn money.
Although Pavel Durov has been released from custody, the court epic will continue for quite some time.
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