Telegram-linked cryptocurrencies Toncoin (TON) and Notcoin (NOT) have plunged more than 23% over the past week. This comes following the Telegram CEO, Pavel Durov, being arrested and charged in France. Days later, the token’s network halted the production of blocks.
The Open Network was originally developed by brothers Pavel and Nikolai Durov. But it was abandoned after they received warning from the SEC that they were producing an unregistered security. Quickly, the project was picked up by community members creating Toncoin as its native currency with Notcoin soon following as the network’s killer app—a Telegram-based tap-to-earn game.
Late on Saturday, according to local media, Durov the founder and CEO of Telegram was arrested in Paris, France. It was later revealed he faced 12 potential charges relating to activity on the messaging app, including complicity in illegal acts such as distribution of child pornography, the sale of narcotics, and organized fraud.
Since this news broke, according to CoinGecko, both TON and NOT have been on a downward trajectory with the former falling 23.3% and latter 18.1% over the past 7 days.
Other tokens on the network are also down such as gaming platform GAMEE (GMEE) which has tumbled 31.5%, NFT play-to-earn Telegram game PunkCity (PUNK) down 21.1%, and intentionally misspelled meme coin Povel Durev (DUREV) dedicated to the Telegram founder down 8.4%.
Another factor pushing these tokens into the red appears to be the temporary halting of The Open Network. On Wednesday, TON stopped producing new blocks due to an “abnormal load” which prevented “several validators” from cleaning the database of old transactions leading the network to lose consensus.
It was noted by Notscan that the launch of the Dogs (DOGS) meme coin was “causing quite a lot of traffic” on the network “with a few central services taking a little break.” This token launched itself to a $673 million market cap in the week of its launch, spreading a message of solidarity with Durov.
Edited by Stacy Elliott.