![\"Telegram](\"https:\/\/dataconomy.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/1130145.jpg\" "\\"Telegram")
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Telegram CEO Pavel Durov revealed on a podcast that a significant Bitcoin investment made in 2013 funds his lifestyle. He also detailed the history and current status of the blockchain originally developed for the messaging app, The Open Network.<\/p>\n
During an appearance on Lex Fridman\u2019s podcast, the tech entrepreneur explained his early adoption of cryptocurrency. \u201cI was a big believer in Bitcoin since more or less the start of it,\u201d he said, recounting his purchase of several thousand Bitcoin in 2013. He invested \u201ca couple of million\u201d dollars at what he termed a \u201clocal maximum\u201d of around $700 per coin. When the price later fell below $200 in the subsequent bear market, he dismissed critics, stating, \u201cI don\u2019t care,\u201d and affirmed his decision to hold the asset. \u201cI\u2019m not going to sell it. I believe in this thing,\u201d he recalled telling them.<\/p>\n
Durov elaborated on the philosophy that underpinned his investment, viewing Bitcoin as a model for how currency should function. \u201cI think this is the way money should work,\u201d he said, noting its resistance to confiscation and political censorship. He then explained that this long-held asset is what funds his lifestyle, countering perceptions that he profits from his company. \u201cTelegram is a money-losing operation for me personally,\u201d Durov stated. \u201cBitcoin is something that allowed me to stay afloat,\u201d he said, referencing expenses such as private flights and renting locations.<\/p>\n
Durov also offered a long-term price prediction, suggesting Bitcoin could reach $1 million per coin. He based this forecast on the monetary policies of governments, which he described as \u201cprinting money like no tomorrow.\u201d In contrast, he noted, \u201cNobody\u2019s printing Bitcoin,\u201d highlighting its predictable inflation and eventual supply cap as features that support its use as a store of value. \u201cBitcoin is here to stay,\u201d he asserted, adding, \u201cAll the fiat currencies remain to be seen.\u201d<\/p>\n
The discussion shifted to the Telegram Open Network (TON). Durov, who was arrested in France a year ago on charges of facilitating crimes by Telegram users, said TON was developed between 2018 and 2019. The project\u2019s genesis was a need for greater performance than existing blockchains could offer. He explained that Bitcoin and Ethereum were \u201cnot scalable enough to cope with the load that our hundreds of millions of users would create.\u201d The proposed solution was a design with inherent scalability through the use of \u201cshardchains.\u201d<\/p>\n
Despite developing the technology, Telegram could not launch the network because of regulatory restrictions in the United States. The project subsequently continued independently and is now called The Open Network. Durov confirmed it is \u201cdeeply embedded in the Telegram ecosystem\u201d and has gained significant momentum in the non-fungible token (NFT) market. \u201cTON has become, I think, the largest or the second largest blockchain in terms of daily NFT trading volumes,\u201d he claimed during the podcast appearance.<\/p>\n
Featured image credit<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Telegram CEO Pavel Durov revealed on a podcast that a significant Bitcoin investment made in 2013 funds his lifestyle. He also detailed the history and current status of the blockchain originally developed for the messaging app, The Open Network. During an appearance on Lex Fridman\u2019s podcast, the tech entrepreneur explained his early adoption of cryptocurrency. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":33920,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[37],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-33919","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-technologies"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/agooka.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33919","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/agooka.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/agooka.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/agooka.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/agooka.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=33919"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/agooka.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33919\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/agooka.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/33920"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/agooka.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=33919"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/agooka.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=33919"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/agooka.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=33919"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}