RAPH

Cogito Ergo Sum

[RAPH @Akaa_gamii]

That is a cool story, innit?

[Aisar @aisarcore]

A man raised $1.7 BILLION to build a blockchain for Telegram, abandoned it after a legal battle, and returned six years later to lead its development.

- Pavel Durov co-founded VKontakte in 2006, which grew into Russia's largest social network with over 100 MILLION users.

- In 2014, he left VK after a dispute over the company's ownership and pressure to hand over user information.

- He had already launched Telegram with his brother Nikolai in 2013, building a messaging app focused on privacy.

- A few years later, the brothers wanted to take Telegram beyond messaging by building its own blockchain ecosystem.

- In 2018, they announced Telegram Open Network (TON) and its planned cryptocurrency, the-open-network:native.

- The project raised approximately $1.7 BILLION from investors, making it one of crypto's biggest private token sales.

- But in 2019, the SEC sued Telegram, arguing that its Gram token sale involved unregistered securities.

- A US court blocked the token launch, and Telegram eventually abandoned the project in May 2020.

- The company agreed to return more than $1.2 BILLION to investors and pay an $18.5 MILLION penalty.

- But TON didn't die.

- Two developers, Anatoliy Makosov and Kirill Emelyanenko, continued building the open-source project with an independent community.

- By 2021, that community had formed the TON Foundation, and Telegram transferred the original technology and domain to the independent developers.

- Telegram later began integrating TON into its ecosystem, giving the blockchain a direct connection to its massive user base.

- Then, in May 2026, Durov announced that Telegram would replace the TON Foundation as TON's main driving force and become its largest validator.

- TON survived the collapse of its original launch, was rebuilt by an independent community, and eventually found its way back into Telegram's plans.

What started as a $1.7 BILLION project that looked dead became a second chance to turn Telegram's billion-user audience into a major blockchain ecosystem.

[RAPH @Akaa_gamii]

@CrashiusClay69 Wagmi 🐣

[RAPH @Akaa_gamii]

@CrashiusClay69

[RAPH @Akaa_gamii]

@PleebSidney @cryptomanran Bro you throwing bars over here

[RAPH @Akaa_gamii]

@potato_tgm @telegram @durov Buddy you need to wake up to reality

[RAPH @Akaa_gamii]

Don’t worry boys

I’m still super bullish on the-open-network:native

But that doesn’t mean you can’t enjoy the max pain

Embrace the max pain

Max pain to everyone 🌅

[RAPH @Akaa_gamii]

@durov Bro where the faaah is the gram foundation or telegram foundation?
You ain’t him 😭

[RAPH @Akaa_gamii]

@redotoken @durov Lets goo redoooo

[RAPH @Akaa_gamii]

@fuddedontg We are very cooked but but but
I still believe 🥲 in grams 🌅

[RAPH @Akaa_gamii]

@durov geh

[RAPH @Akaa_gamii]

Lmao

[Gio @Giooton]

MTONGA went wrong bros.

[RAPH @Akaa_gamii]

@CrashiusClay69 T1 🙌

[JAKE @JakeGagain]

$100K into the markets right now.
$BTC $SOL $XRP $ZCASH $GRAM

[RAPH @Akaa_gamii]

@CrashiusClay69 We chilling in tg

[renovatio.ton @its_renovatio]

People ask why I'm still bullish on TON.

Because I'm as retarded as the @telegram intern.
I believe in privacy like @durov.
And I'm here for the tech like @HashGambles.

What could possibly go wrong? 😁💎

[RAPH @Akaa_gamii]

@Deedy0x Nice double bottom

[RAPH @Akaa_gamii]

@CrashiusClay69 Hope you win this one 🏆

[RAPH @Akaa_gamii]

@CrashiusClay69 GGs man

[RAPH @Akaa_gamii]

@rektober You are getting graped son