The biggest meme coin on The Open Network (TON), $DOGS, rallied 21% in the early hours today, after news yesterday that Telegram CEO and Toncoin creator Pavel Durov was released on €5 million bail by French authorities.
Durov is charged for turning his back on the wide variety of criminal content and activity on the Telegram messenger app, which is a hub for a wide range of online activity thanks to its privacy features.
However, authorities say Durov is complicit in the spread of child pornography, trafficking, money laundering, and other organized crimes. They highlight his failure to comply with lawful requests by European authorities in several neighbouring countries, including France and Belgium, for actions on crimes against minors, drug trafficking or online hate.
After his arrest on Saturday, Durov was detained for up to 96 hours, the maximum time an offender can be held in custody under French law.
The Open Network (TON) was originally a Telegram project but it spun out in 2020 after the US SEC declared that Telegram’s sale of Toncoin (then called Gram) constituted a breach of federal securities laws.
Still, The Open Network and Telegram have maintained a close affiliation.
Durov’s pet dog Scotty inspired the $737 million market cap meme coin $DOGS, which launched 2 days ago and is already the biggest meme on TON.
At midday yesterday, prices spiked more than 30%, from around $0.00125 to $0.00165. Now $DOGS is trading at $0.001423, a pullback of a little over 8.5% in the last 24 hours. In contrast, market leader Bitcoin ($BTC) added 1.7% overnight and currently stands at $60,585.
As a TON meme coin, $DOGS is one of several examples, much like DogWifHat and Bonk on Solana, of how meme coins are starting to thrive
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