Telegram's Pavel Durov Hit with Russia Terrorism Charges

Russia has charged Telegram founder and CEO Pavel Durov with facilitating terrorist activities. The move comes amid growing pressure on the encrypted messaging app, which has billions of users despite restrictions in several countries.

The Federal Security Service (FSB) claims that Telegram's failure to remove extremist content, child pornography, and channels used by Ukrainian intelligence for sabotage constitutes a crime. Durov denies wrongdoing, stating that maintaining Telegram's privacy policies and refusing to grant backdoor access are matters of principle.

As a result of the arrest warrant, the GRAM (previously Toncoin) token has plummeted over 3% in the past few hours, extending its fall to 12% in a week. Trading volume has increased by almost 70%, with derivatives traders showing negative sentiment.