Telegram's Pavel Durov departs France for Dubai with permission from judge, as TON gains 20%

Telegram founder and CEO Pavel Durov has been granted permission to temporarily leave France and has departed the country for Dubai, French outlet France24 reported on Sunday . 

Durov was originally arrested last August by France's National Anti-Fraud Office, which detained him in an airport and later indicted him on charges related to his "complicity in the spread of sexual images of children and other crimes such as drug trafficking on the messaging app," placing him under judicial supervision and requiring that he remain in the country . 

"TON Foundation is delighted to learn that Pavel Durov's passport has been returned to him by French authorities, granting him the freedom to leave the country at his discretion," the TON Foundation wrote on X . TON, which stands for The Open Network, is a blockchain platform created with the aim of integrating cryptocurrency and blockchain functionality into the Telegram ecosystem. 

The price of TON has risen about 20% in the past 24 hours, according to The Block's Toincoin Price Page , as the token's price reacts to news of Durov's release from France. According to France24, Durov was authorized to leave the country for "several weeks," though he remains charged with several counts of failing to curb extremist and terrorist content on the messaging app. 

The blockchain network is known for its array of popular games, which helped boost the number of accounts on the network from 4 million to 128 million over the course of 2024 . The network is now eyeing further growth in the U.S. with the help of its new president . 

"Glad Pavel could return home today," Tether CEO Paolo Ardoino wrote on X .