Pavel Durov, the founder and CEO of social networking platform Telegram, had just arrived in his private jet at a small airport outside Paris on Saturday when he was arrested by French officials and taken into custody. Durov’s detention reverberated across the world and led X owner Elon Musk and others to demand a response from French President Emmanuel Macron, who insisted the investigation was not political.
Details surrounding Durov’s detainment are still emerging, and in the meantime, investors who have financed the company and salivated over a potential IPO are watching closely. Many are likely anxious over the degree to which Durov’s fate will determine the future of Telegram, a platform that boasts nearly a billion users but is also tied to a $14 billion cryptocurrency, called TON.
