People love to say, “Everything happens for a reason,” but finding that reason is a different ballgame. Pavel Durov’s recent arrest by French authorities has been the news highlight of the past week. Though he has now been released under certain conditions, the question of why he was arrested still lingers, and crypto may just be among the culprits.

Telegram came out of nowhere this year to become perhaps the biggest company to adopt crypto, hook, line, and sinker. Just out of the blue, the simple messaging app became an entire crypto ecosystem filled with on-chain, in-app games and services powered by Telegram’s chosen blockchain, The Open Network, popularly known for Toncoin (TON). 

The result of this crypto integration was staggering for Telegram. It shot up the messenger app’s monthly active users to 950 million in July. Even with that incredible boost, Telegram did not slow down its crypto adoption; it only intensified alongside the introduction of mini apps. It did so much so that some TON developers started to believe that Telegram was well on its way to becoming the non-Chinese version of China’s “everything app”, WeChat. 

Crypto adoption is not a bad idea, but those who have known about crypto regulation over the years know that the law has not been easy on crypto. With this in mind, could Telegram’s heavy involvement with crypto have a thing or two to do with Durov’s arrest? 

Initially, many netizens thought the arrest was politically motivated, but French President Emmanuel Macron publicly denounced that notion in a public statement. The prosecutors would later come out to say that he was arrested due to investigations related to illegal topics, including child pornography, drug sales and even fraud perpetuated through Telegram. Nothing was mentioned about crypto, but is there more than meets the eye?

According to Seth Goertz, a former U.S. attorney specializing in cryptocurrency and cybersecurity, there is something to read between the lines: the timing of the arrest. It happened when Telegram was pushing to make crypto-backed financial services a central offering. Goertz believes the more Telegram goes down that road, the more the eyes of the law will be on them.

But this is not to say crypto caused Pavel Durov's arrest just yet. Another area to look into is Telegram’s leadership, which is uninterested in its relationship with government entities. Ben Rubin, founder of the video chat app Houseparty, has said that Pavel’s case probably has nothing to do with Crypto. 

 Rubin added that Pavel Durov’s current situation has more to do with Telegram not protecting user privacy by introducing end-to-end encryption and pissing off the regulators than it has to do with crypto. In a press release, the French prosecutors also mentioned how Telegram’s failure to communicate with government entities aggravated the situation. 

As it stands, there is no clear-cut reason for Durov’s arrest except the basis of the investigation provided by the prosecutors. Even though he has been released, there are big eyes monitoring his every move. 

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