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Russia has accused Telegram founder Pavel Durov of supporting terrorism and issued an international arrest warrant for him, according to Reuters reporting from Interfax. This marks a significant turn in a case that started with an investigation earlier this year. Following the charges, the value of GRAM, the cryptocurrency associated with Durov’s Open Network project, decreased.
Honestly, my token took a bit of a hit over the last day, dropping around 4% to about $1.39. It wasn’t great to see, especially since Bitcoin was actually *up* over 1%. But things have bounced back a little since then – it’s currently trading around $1.41. The good news is, trading volume is way up, over 65% to around $69 million, and the market cap is sitting at about $3.87 billion according to CoinMarketCap. So, a bit of a rollercoaster, but not terrible overall.
What the FSB is alleging
The accusation is based on Russia’s Criminal Code, specifically Article 205.1 Part 1.1 – providing support to terrorism – which could result in up to 15 years in prison. Russia’s FSB claims the case involves using Telegram to recruit Russians for acts of sabotage. They allege that Ukrainian intelligence used a Telegram bot disguised as a dating app, called “Diver / Leo,” to connect with young people and encourage them to commit crimes like arson and attacks on police. Since July 2025, authorities have detained 46 individuals between the ages of 12 and 22 in various regions of Russia for these alleged offenses.
Russian state media claims Telegram’s refusal to share encryption keys and remove certain content is the main issue in this case, with one official newspaper labeling the app a source of dangerous, mixed threats. Pavel Durov, Telegram’s founder, strongly denies these claims, arguing they are politically driven and represent a government fearful of its citizens.
This action officially establishes a case that the FSB began investigating in February 2026. It comes as the Kremlin continues its efforts to limit Telegram and encourage Russians to use MAX, a government-built messaging app developed by VK. MAX is pre-installed on phones in Russia and connected to government services and surveillance systems.
Why a charge against Durov hits GRAM
The recent price change isn’t simply due to a connection to Telegram. GRAM is the native cryptocurrency of The Open Network (TON), a blockchain that originated from Telegram’s initial 2018 project. After Telegram withdrew from the project in 2020 due to a settlement with the SEC, the TON Foundation independently managed the network. However, in May 2026, Telegram’s founder, Pavel Durov, re-entered the picture, becoming the network’s main operator and largest validator. He also reintroduced the original “GRAM” name as part of his plan to improve TON.
The value of the token became closely linked to Pavel Durov, and the market reacted strongly to news about him – both positively and negatively. The token’s price increased almost 7% when Durov announced a Telegram wallet for over a billion users, and went up another 5% after Binance finished its rebranding. Now, this pattern is working in reverse: because the token’s success depended so much on Durov’s announcements, it’s falling as he faces legal issues.
The bigger picture
As someone holding GRAM tokens, I’m looking at a unique risk – a lot of the project seems to hinge on Pavel Durov, and now he’s facing charges from Russia. Honestly, the price didn’t crash; it just dipped a little bit. Most people outside of Russia think these charges are politically motivated, and that they won’t be able to actually get to him, which is somewhat reassuring.
This raises a key issue the market has generally overlooked: a network heavily reliant on a single person for its operation, technical guidance, and public image also inherits that person’s legal risks. And on Wednesday, those risks became very real with the issuance of an arrest warrant.
2026-07-29 10:13