Toncoin
Toncoin
, a cryptocurrency rival to bitcoin that boasts a market capitalization of around $14 billion, has suddenly crashed with its price dropping almost 20%.

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The toncoin price crash comes after the chief executive of the toncoin-linked Telegram messaging app, Pavel Durov, was arrested in France.

Local media reported Durov was arrested at Le Bourget Airport following his arrival in country on a private jet as part of a preliminary police investigation.

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Durov is facing a possible indictment on Sunday, according to reports that cited anonymous sources, with the investigation focused on Telegram’s failure to prevent criminal activity on the messaging app.

Toncoin, an open-source version of a cryptocurrency that runs on The Open Network blockchain previously known as the Telegram Open Network, was launched in 2021.

The toncoin price has rocketed almost 1,000% since then, soaring this year along with a bitcoin price boom amid a surge of activity and users due to the popularity of Telegram-based crypto mini-games that use toncoin.

Telegram’s original plan for toncoin, a cryptocurrency called gram, was never launched after the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) branded its $1.7 billion initial coin offering (ICO) fundraiser an unregistered securities sale in 2020 and ordered it to return the funds.

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The non-profit TON Foundation has since led development of the blockchain and toncoin cryptocurrency.

“When Telegram said goodbye to TON last year, I expressed the hope that future generations of developers would one day carry on with our vision of a mass-market blockchain platform,” Durov wrote in a post in his official Telegram channel in 2021.

“So I was inspired to see the champions of Telegram’s coding contests continue developing the open TON project, which they rebranded to Toncoin,” the post read, adding: “Toncoin is independent from Telegram.”