American rapper Snoop Dogg has released a music video titled "Gifts" dedicated to the messaging platform Telegram. The video promotes an unreleased collection of digital gifts created in collaboration with the rapper. Telegram founder Pavel Durov confirmed that the digital collectibles, inspired by Snoop Dogg's iconic style, sold out within 30 minutes, generating $12 million in sales across nearly one million unique NFTs. The blockchain minting process and secondary market for these NFTs are scheduled to go live in 21 days.

The TON Foundation has walked back claims that investors could obtain a United Arab Emirates Golden Visa by staking $100,000 worth of Toncoin for three years and paying a one-time $35,000 processing fee. The offer, promoted on 6 July by TON Chief Executive Officer Max Crown, suggested the arrangement would grant holders a 10-year residency permit under the UAE’s coveted programme.

Within hours of the promotion, the UAE’s Federal Authority for Identity, Citizenship, Customs and Port Security, the Securities and Commodities Authority and the Virtual Assets Regulatory Authority issued a joint statement saying digital-asset investors are not included in the Golden Visa framework and that TON is neither licensed nor regulated by VARA. The agencies urged applicants to rely on official channels and warned that visa approval remains solely at the discretion of government authorities.

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The Open Platform, the Abu Dhabi-based developer behind Telegram’s TON blockchain wallet, has become a unicorn after closing a $28.5 million Series A round that values the company at $1 billion. Venture firm Ribbit Capital led the financing, with additional funding from Pantera Capital, in exchange for roughly 5% of TOP’s equity, according to chief executive Andrew Rogozov.

TOP has now raised more than $70 million across several rounds to advance applications on The Open Network, the blockchain selected by Telegram for its crypto services. The fresh capital will be used to expand Telegram’s built-in Wallet to the United States and Europe and to incubate additional TON-based projects, including blockchain games and AI services.

Chimpers, a rapidly growing NFT project, is expanding its presence on the TON blockchain with its first collaboration launching on June 9, 2025. The project has seen notable growth on social media platforms, with TikTok followers increasing from 807,000 to 827,000 and Facebook followers rising from 149,000 to 163,000 within a week. On June 9, Chimpers released 555 sticker packs on the TON blockchain, which sold out in under one minute, marking the fastest sellout in the platform's history. Each Genesis Chimpers holder featured in the sticker pack will receive a Chimpers NFT as a token of appreciation. Additionally, Chimpers is collaborating with KaJLabs and ChimpxAI to develop advanced AI and Web3 tools aimed at simplifying decentralized finance (DeFi) and enhancing digital experiences for creators. The project joins other prominent NFT collections such as Pudgy Penguins, Moonbirds, Doodles, and Bored Apes that are already active within the TON ecosystem.

The Telegram Gift NFT collection featuring Plush Pepe has experienced substantial growth, with the floor price reaching 1,857 TON tokens, approximately $5,750, from a supply of 3,000 items and an increase of 190 times since its initial mint. The $PEPE meme cryptocurrency has seen a rapid rise in new holders, with 1,780 added on June 1 and 1,342 on June 2, indicating growing investor interest. The total supply of $PEPE stands at 69 billion tokens. Market participants are optimistic about the asset's prospects, with some anticipating significant price movements and increased demand for related meme tokens such as MOG Pepe and Fartcoin.

The TON blockchain network experienced a temporary halt in block production on June 1, 2025, caused by an error in the processing of the masterchain dispatch queue. The TON Core team quickly addressed the issue by updating a small number of masterchain validator nodes, which restored block production within approximately one hour. Transactions made during the disruption were not at risk of loss, and user assets remained secure. The team plans to release a detailed technical report on the incident.

Toncoin, the cryptocurrency linked to Telegram's blockchain platform The Open Network (TON), experienced a notable price surge of over 12% on May 28, 2025, driven by reports of a potential $1.5 billion convertible bond sale by Telegram and a purported $300 million deal with Elon Musk's artificial intelligence company, xAI. Telegram, which has over one billion users, is seen as a key driver for Toncoin's growth, particularly with its expanding decentralized finance (DeFi) integrations. However, Elon Musk publicly denied that any deal had been signed between xAI and Telegram, causing Toncoin's price to reverse earlier gains and decline by 7% on May 29. Despite Musk's denial, market attention remains on the possibility of a pending agreement. The reported convertible bond includes rights for investors to purchase equity if Telegram goes public, adding further interest to the company's financial activities.

Pavel Durov, the Russian-born founder and CEO of Telegram, has returned to Dubai after spending several months in France due to an ongoing criminal investigation related to activities on the Telegram platform. Durov expressed gratitude to the French investigative judges for allowing his departure, stating that the process is ongoing but it feels great to be home.

Durov was detained in France in August 2024 upon his arrival in Paris, where he faced preliminary charges for allegedly allowing criminal activities on Telegram, including drug trafficking and the distribution of child sexual abuse material. He was released on a 5 million euros bail and required to report to a police station twice a week. Despite the investigation continuing, Durov's judicial control was temporarily suspended from March 15 to April 7, enabling him to travel to Dubai.

American rapper Snoop Dogg has released a music video titled "Gifts" dedicated to the messaging platform Telegram. The video promotes an unreleased collection of digital gifts created in collaboration with the rapper. Telegram founder Pavel Durov confirmed that the digital collectibles, inspired by Snoop Dogg's iconic style, sold out within 30 minutes, generating $12 million in sales across nearly one million unique NFTs. The blockchain minting process and secondary market for these NFTs are scheduled to go live in 21 days.

The TON Foundation has walked back claims that investors could obtain a United Arab Emirates Golden Visa by staking $100,000 worth of Toncoin for three years and paying a one-time $35,000 processing fee. The offer, promoted on 6 July by TON Chief Executive Officer Max Crown, suggested the arrangement would grant holders a 10-year residency permit under the UAE’s coveted programme.

Within hours of the promotion, the UAE’s Federal Authority for Identity, Citizenship, Customs and Port Security, the Securities and Commodities Authority and the Virtual Assets Regulatory Authority issued a joint statement saying digital-asset investors are not included in the Golden Visa framework and that TON is neither licensed nor regulated by VARA. The agencies urged applicants to rely on official channels and warned that visa approval remains solely at the discretion of government authorities.

Read more

The Open Platform, the Abu Dhabi-based developer behind Telegram’s TON blockchain wallet, has become a unicorn after closing a $28.5 million Series A round that values the company at $1 billion. Venture firm Ribbit Capital led the financing, with additional funding from Pantera Capital, in exchange for roughly 5% of TOP’s equity, according to chief executive Andrew Rogozov.

TOP has now raised more than $70 million across several rounds to advance applications on The Open Network, the blockchain selected by Telegram for its crypto services. The fresh capital will be used to expand Telegram’s built-in Wallet to the United States and Europe and to incubate additional TON-based projects, including blockchain games and AI services.

Chimpers, a rapidly growing NFT project, is expanding its presence on the TON blockchain with its first collaboration launching on June 9, 2025. The project has seen notable growth on social media platforms, with TikTok followers increasing from 807,000 to 827,000 and Facebook followers rising from 149,000 to 163,000 within a week. On June 9, Chimpers released 555 sticker packs on the TON blockchain, which sold out in under one minute, marking the fastest sellout in the platform's history. Each Genesis Chimpers holder featured in the sticker pack will receive a Chimpers NFT as a token of appreciation. Additionally, Chimpers is collaborating with KaJLabs and ChimpxAI to develop advanced AI and Web3 tools aimed at simplifying decentralized finance (DeFi) and enhancing digital experiences for creators. The project joins other prominent NFT collections such as Pudgy Penguins, Moonbirds, Doodles, and Bored Apes that are already active within the TON ecosystem.

The Telegram Gift NFT collection featuring Plush Pepe has experienced substantial growth, with the floor price reaching 1,857 TON tokens, approximately $5,750, from a supply of 3,000 items and an increase of 190 times since its initial mint. The $PEPE meme cryptocurrency has seen a rapid rise in new holders, with 1,780 added on June 1 and 1,342 on June 2, indicating growing investor interest. The total supply of $PEPE stands at 69 billion tokens. Market participants are optimistic about the asset's prospects, with some anticipating significant price movements and increased demand for related meme tokens such as MOG Pepe and Fartcoin.

The TON blockchain network experienced a temporary halt in block production on June 1, 2025, caused by an error in the processing of the masterchain dispatch queue. The TON Core team quickly addressed the issue by updating a small number of masterchain validator nodes, which restored block production within approximately one hour. Transactions made during the disruption were not at risk of loss, and user assets remained secure. The team plans to release a detailed technical report on the incident.

Toncoin, the cryptocurrency linked to Telegram's blockchain platform The Open Network (TON), experienced a notable price surge of over 12% on May 28, 2025, driven by reports of a potential $1.5 billion convertible bond sale by Telegram and a purported $300 million deal with Elon Musk's artificial intelligence company, xAI. Telegram, which has over one billion users, is seen as a key driver for Toncoin's growth, particularly with its expanding decentralized finance (DeFi) integrations. However, Elon Musk publicly denied that any deal had been signed between xAI and Telegram, causing Toncoin's price to reverse earlier gains and decline by 7% on May 29. Despite Musk's denial, market attention remains on the possibility of a pending agreement. The reported convertible bond includes rights for investors to purchase equity if Telegram goes public, adding further interest to the company's financial activities.

Pavel Durov, the Russian-born founder and CEO of Telegram, has returned to Dubai after spending several months in France due to an ongoing criminal investigation related to activities on the Telegram platform. Durov expressed gratitude to the French investigative judges for allowing his departure, stating that the process is ongoing but it feels great to be home.

Durov was detained in France in August 2024 upon his arrival in Paris, where he faced preliminary charges for allegedly allowing criminal activities on Telegram, including drug trafficking and the distribution of child sexual abuse material. He was released on a 5 million euros bail and required to report to a police station twice a week. Despite the investigation continuing, Durov's judicial control was temporarily suspended from March 15 to April 7, enabling him to travel to Dubai.