Tron (TRX) has leapfrogged Toncoin (TON) to become the 10th biggest cryptocurrency by market cap, following the arrest of Telegram boss Pavel Durov and a spike in interest in meme coins on Tron.
However, the race is tight: TRX's market cap currently stands at $14.31 billion; TON's is $14.23 billion.
French authorities arrested Pavel Durov, the founder and CEO of encrypted messaging app Telegram, outside of Paris on Saturday. The price of The Open Network's TON plummeted as the coin is closely affiliated with Telegram, and the messaging app has been integrating TON more and more over the past year. TON is now down 17% over the last week.
TON and those behind the asset are independent from Telegram, but the service now uses TON to pay channel operators a share of revenue, and also launched an in-app currency called Stars that is tied to TON. Furthermore, there's been a boom of crypto-fueled games on Telegram this year, and many of the top games are launching their own tokens via TON.
Telegram Responds to Founder and CEO Pavel Durov's Arrest in France
Telegram has hit back against the stunning arrest of its CEO and founder, Pavel Durov, claiming he has "nothing to hide" in a statement posted to the messaging platform's official news channel. "Telegram abides by EU laws, including the Digital Services Act—its moderation is within industry standards and constantly improving," it said on Sunday. Durov was arrested in France late Saturday after arriving from Azerbaijan on his private jet at Le Bourget airport outside Paris. The detention of Durov...
Durov's arrest came following gripes from the French government and others that Telegram is not doing enough to moderate content on its platform, or stop the use of the app to aid in illegal activities.
The Paris Public Prosecutor's Office alleges that Telegram is complicit in allowing organized criminal groups and fraudsters to use the the app, and that there are not enough checks in place to prevent illegal content.
Sundog Meme Coin on Tron Spikes After SunPump Platform Launch
Despite falling prices, the craze for trading dog and cat memes may be far from over—it's simply branching out to new blockchains. Tron's flagship meme coin, Sundog (SUNDOG), is flying high since launching on August 15, making waves on Crypto Twitter as the network’s first buzzy meme coin. At the time of writing, its market cap has surged to $126 million after peaking at $325 million. In a recent buying frenzy, a single whale invested $450,000 in Sundog, sending its price soaring. Entered at $5...
TRX is the native coin of Tron, a blockchain network that aims to build a decentralized internet controlled and owned by the individuals who use it.
The network has experienced a surge in activity as of late following the launch of SunPump, a platform built upon Tron that allows people to mint new meme coins. SunPump's surging activity last week helped catapult it past Solana's Pump.fun, a platform that it closely emulated, with TRX's price rising as a result. TRX is now up 18% over the past week.
Meme coins and tokens are highly volatile cryptocurrencies, often based on Internet jokes and subcultures, that are popular with crypto traders looking to make quick returns.
Edited by Andrew Hayward
