Tech • IA • Crypto
Telegram Just Launched Its Own Crypto Bank
6/10TL;DR
Pavel Durov’s public takeover of the TON blockchain triggered a sharp market surge, highlighting a rare shift toward centralization in a system built on decentralization.
KEY POINTS
A sudden market shock
The TON token surged by over 115% in four days, doubling its market capitalization from $3.6 billion to $7.5 billion. Trading volumes reached levels unseen in seven months, while short sellers were heavily liquidated. Staking inflows spiked, with $181 million added in 24 hours, signaling strong investor confidence.
Three messages that changed control
On May 4, 2026, Pavel Durov, founder of Telegram, announced he was taking direct control of TON. This marked a dramatic reversal: a supposedly decentralized network was now effectively steered by a single individual. The market reaction suggested acceptance of this centralization, an unusual dynamic in crypto.
Telegram’s evolution into a financial platform
With करीब 1 billion users, Telegram has evolved beyond messaging. Integrated wallets allow seamless crypto transfers, while mini-apps enable gaming, payments, and services. By 2025, TON had become the exclusive blockchain for Telegram’s ecosystem, embedding crypto deeply into everyday user activity.
Origins in a blocked $1.7 billion project
TON traces back to a $1.7 billion fundraising in 2018, backed by elite investors including Kleiner Perkins and Roman Abramovich. The original token, Gram, was halted by the U.S. SEC in 2020 for being an unregistered security. Telegram abandoned the project, returning over $1.2 billion to investors.
Open-source survival and quiet rebuild
Before shutting down, Telegram released TON’s code as open source. Developers relaunched it independently, forming a foundation in Zug. Officially, Telegram denied involvement, but gradually integrated TON into its platform through wallets, ads, and creator payments.
A growing financial dependency
By the first half of 2025, about 35% of Telegram’s $300 million revenue was tied to TON-related activity. Meanwhile, viral mini-app games like Notcoin and Hamster Kombat attracted tens of millions of users, driving adoption without traditional financial onboarding.
Legal pressure and Durov’s arrest
In August 2024, Durov was arrested in France on multiple charges tied to illegal content and platform moderation failures. He faced travel restrictions and legal scrutiny, contributing to a 69% drop in TON’s value over the following year and pushing Telegram into losses.
Regulatory shift enables comeback
By 2026, a more crypto-friendly U.S. regulatory climate emerged. This opened the door for Durov’s return. He launched a plan dubbed “Make TON Great Again”, improving network speed to 0.6 seconds finality and cutting transaction fees to around $0.50.
Direct control through validation power
Telegram became the largest validator on TON, staking 2.2 million tokens and controlling roughly 25% of network validation. This gives it significant influence over transaction verification, raising questions about decentralization.
A “super app” model emerges
Telegram increasingly resembles WeChat, combining messaging, payments, and services. However, unlike China’s state-controlled system, TON’s ecosystem is tied to a single private actor. Telegram operates with about 30 engineers, an unusually small team for a platform of its scale.
Risks beneath the rally
Despite the surge, uncertainties remain. A $103 million token unlock could create selling pressure, and further steps in Durov’s roadmap remain undisclosed. An audit of the governance transition is also pending, leaving open questions about how control was consolidated.
CONCLUSION
The rapid rise of TON reflects investor willingness to embrace centralization when paired with scale and usability, but it also concentrates unprecedented power in a single actor within a system originally designed to avoid exactly that.