Original article by Ben Weiss, DL News
Original translation: Lila, BlockBeats
Despite the sharp drop in TON’s price in recent days, some cryptocurrency venture capital firms said they would not give up on the world’s tenth largest cryptocurrency.
Recently, French authorities arrested Telegram CEO Pavel Durov. Because TON is inextricably linked to Telegram, the price of TON has fallen by nearly 15% in the past seven days, temporarily reporting $5.58 at press time.
Even so, Alex Felix, managing partner of CoinFund, does not regret his venture capital firms investment in TON. He said, TONs fundamentals remain attractive.
A lot of attention will bring positive effects
Matthew Graham, founder and CEO of Ryze Labs, another venture capital firm that invested in TON, has similar thoughts. He said: While the news of Pavels arrest is quite important, it is also worth noting that this week the number of accounts on TON exceeded 50 million for the first time.
Joven Wu, head of business development at Ryze Labs, said in a recent blog post that Durov’s arrest could be a “good thing” for cryptocurrencies. “The controversy has significantly raised TON’s profile, potentially attracting more users and developers to the ecosystem,” he wrote.
TON is not Telegram
All three cryptocurrency venture capital firms interviewed stressed that the Telegram app should not be confused with TON, which was nominally separated from Telegram in 2020 after reaching a settlement with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.
“It’s important to note that the government’s concerns appear to be more about regional compliance issues related to traditional tech companies, such as content moderation, rather than crypto platforms themselves,” Felix said of Durov’s arrest.
Shauli Rejwan, managing partner at Masterkey VC and an early investor in TON, believes that despite the news of Durov’s arrest, the token may be able to completely break away from its association with Telegram in the future. He believes: “History has shown that strong projects can transcend their initial associations, and TON’s current trajectory shows that it has the potential to do so.”
Separately, a French prosecutor said on Wednesday that Durov is under formal investigation and is banned from leaving the country, according to the BBC. He must report to police twice a week and his bail is $5.5 million.
