Following Pavel Durov’s arrest, the founder of Telegram, the messaging app has experienced a notable rise in popularity. France and the United States are among the countries where the app has gained the most traction.

Ironically, after the authorities arrested Durov, Telegram took the top spot in France’s social media category on the iOS App Store, with the highest number of downloads, and secured the third position in the overall app rankings.

Meanwhile, in the US, the popular messaging app secured the second spot in the country’s App Store’s social media category, with downloads increasing by 4% worldwide on the iOS platform.

French Body Arrests Pavel Durov

On Saturday, Aug 24, French authorities arrested the Telegram CEO and founder upon his arrival at Le Bourget airport near Paris, shortly after touching down in a private jet.

According to a French news site, TF1, Durov faced a search warrant from OFMIN, France’s investigative agency focused on child sexual exploitation, as a result of an initial investigation.

Later on, agents from the French National Anti-Fraud Office (ONAF) took Pavel Durov into custody ahead of a possible indictment the next day for multiple alleged offenses including money laundering,  drugs, terrorism, fraud, child sexual exploitation, complicity, receiving stolen goods, pedo criminal offenses, etc.

Concerning the Telegram founder’s arrest, one of the ONAF investigators said, “Pavel Durov will end up in pre-trial detention, that’s certain…on his platform, he allowed countless offenses and crimes to be committed for which he does nothing to moderate or cooperate.”

Telegram Founder’s Arrest Leads to Decline in Toncoin Value

While Durov’s arrest led to an increase in Telegram’s user base, especially in France and the US, it also negatively affected the market.

After the French authorities arrested Durov, the value of Toncoin fell by more than 17% and was selling for $5.52. The arrest of Pavel Durov had a significant impact on Toncoin’s value, largely due to Telegram’s historical involvement in the development of The Open Network (TON) blockchain.

In a recent development, the messaging app and the TON blockchain partnered with TOP, also known as The Open Platform. TOP invested in Akedo Games to help develop Telegram games in the TON blockchain network.