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Ton Blockchain Down for Second Time in Two Days, Here’s What Caused It
- The Open Network (TON) faced its second outage due to heavy network load from minting DOGS tokens, a memecoin on the TON blockchain.
- Pavel Durov, Telegram founder and CEO, was arrested in France on charges including fraud and facilitating organised crime; he was released after paying a €5M bail but remains under investigation.
- Due to Durov’s arrest, Toncoin (TON), the native currency of the TON blockchain, saw a price drop of over 20% but slightly recovered after his release.
The Open Network (TON) is back online after experiencing a second outage today, all because of a single token.
According to a post from TON Status, block production issues began at 19:19 UTC due to heavy network load caused by the minting of DOGS tokens.
Related: Telegram Founder and CEO Arrested in France, TON Price Plummets
What Are the DOGS Doing?
DOGS is a memecoin on the TON blockchain launched in July 2024, described as the “most Telegram-native memecoin”. It was inspired by Spotty, a mascot associated with Telegram founder and CEO Pavel Durov, who was arrested in France on August 24 and released today.
The coin’s launch broke the TON network after driving congestion to the roof due to high user interest.
To give an idea, the DOGS Community on Telegram has attracted nearly 17 million subscribers in less than two months. The performance of its official account on X is even wilder — it has amassed nearly 4 million followers since its first post in early July.
The admins behind the DOGS Community on Telegram sent a message to members, stating that the TON blockchain experienced an “unprecedented load”:
We know that some of you are still waiting for your on-chain withdrawal. Rest assured, all of the teams are working really hard to make it happen. The blockchain is experiencing an unprecedented load right now, but everyone is doing their best to resolve the issue as soon as possible.
DOGS community channel Pavel Durov Charged with All Crimes Imaginable
The charges against Durov are long-range. They include complicity in managing an online platform for illegal transactions, refusal to cooperate with authorities, fraud, facilitating organised crime through the application, and complicity in the distribution of child sexual abuse material. They even added drug trafficking to the list.
Paris prosecutor Laure Beccuau ordered Durov to pay a bail of €5M (around AU$8.19M), but Durov must check in at a police station twice a week (and he’s not allowed to leave France as he’s under investigation).
Related: Russia Soon to Start Crypto Exchange Trials and Digital Cross-Border Payments
Toncoin (TON), TON’s native currency, plummeted following Durov’s arrest. It fell more than 20% in just two days, currently trading at US$5.52 (AU$8.14), a small uptick of 1.30% following Durov’s release.
Author
José Oramas
José is a journalist and translator with a keen interest in blockchain and cryptocurrencies.
