Telegram Boss Pavel Durov Has Crypto Worth 262 Trillion, Wow!

JAKARTA - Pavel Durov, founder of the famous Telegram application, has announced ownership of his cryptocurrency worth 17.5 billion US dollars (Rp262 trillion) in 2023. Even so, he doesn't think investing in real estate or airplanes is a wise decision, Durov seems to believe in Bitcoin.

According to a recent tweet, Durov has a small number of Toncoins (TONs), the original cryptocurrency of Telegram's Open Network Layer 1 blockchain which uses the Proof of Stake (PoS) consensus process, in addition to Bitcoin and Telegram shares.

Toncoin's ownership by Durov has received attention, causing the price of toncoin to rise from 1.34 US dollars (Rp20,100) to 1.38 US dollars (Rp20,700), or up 3% since its announcement.

Not only owning Toncoin, Durov also admitted to owning large amounts of Bitcoin. Ten years ago, he invested about 1.5 million US dollars (IDR 22.5 billion) for 2,000 bitcoins, and currently its value reaches 60 million US dollars (equivalent to IDR 900 billion.

In a message on its official Telegram channel, Durov detailed the rapid growth of the instant messaging service, with more than 800 million monthly active users early in the year and more than 2.5 million new registrations daily. Although Telegram has not made any profit, Durov stated that the platform is approaching higher profitability points than its competitors, such as Twitter and Snap.

Finally, the company he leads also issued bonds worth USD 270 million (approximately IDR 4 trillion) to fund Telegram's expansion. Although the bond investor was not identified, Durov called them "funds famous for his extraordinary reputation" and revealed that he himself had bought a quarter of the bonds to support platform expansion.

Telegram has experienced rapid growth in recent years, attracting more than 300 million new users in the last 2.5 years and earning 2.5 million new registrations daily. With significant crypto ownership and strong expansion prospects, the company continues to attract attention and continues to strive to achieve success in the world of instant messaging apps.