Toncoin Open Interest (OI) Jumps 67% Following Pavel Durov's Departure from France

Toncoin Open Interest (OI) has jumped 67% over the past 24 hours following Telegram founder Pavel Durov's reported departure from France

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As part of an ongoing case, a court in France has allowed Pavel Durov, the founder of messaging app Telegram, to leave the country.

Durov had been required to stay in France since his arrest six months ago. He was accused of running a platform that enables illicit transactions.

The case began after a French administrative court ordered the ban on Telegram in the country. However, the messaging app was never fully blocked in France.

The court granted permission for Durov to travel to Dubai, a city with no extradition agreements with many countries.

The market's reaction signals how significant this case is to the crypto industry, with many worried that Durov’s arrest could set a precedent for cracking down on other privacy-focused services.

According to data from derivatives tracking platform CoinGlass, Toncoin (TON) open interest (OI) — a metric that measures the total number of unsettled Toncoin derivative contracts such as options and futures — surged 67% in the 24 hours after the news broke.

At 14:08 (GMT+8) on March 15, Toncoin OI reached $169 million. This is the highest level of OI in Toncoin since February 1, when it sat at $171.49 million.

CoinGlass data also shows that the market's interest in Toncoin has been growing rapidly since the beginning of 2024. At the start of the year, Toncoin's OI was only around $60 million. However, by the time Durov was arrested in August 2024, OI had already risen to triple digits.

After the news of Durov’s arrest broke on August 24, 2024, Toncoin's OI spiked 32% in the following 24 hours, alongside its price falling nearly 12%. At the time, TON's price dropped 11.94% to $2.78 after rising 6.6% to reach $3.15.

After news of the case broke on March 14, Toncoin's price dropped around 17% over the following 24 hours. At the time of writing, TON is trading at $3.45.

Meanwhile, around $18.8 million in long positions are at risk of liquidation if TON's price retraces back toward the $3 mark it was trading at on March 14.

The cryptocurrency slid 10% after U.S. President Biden signed an executive order on March 9, aiming to create a new framework for the responsible development of digital assets.

The move comes after the administration faced criticism for its response to the collapse of FTX and other cryptocurrency firms.

At the time, White House officials said the president's action was focused on ensuring that the emerging technologies are used in ways that benefit the American people and the economy.

Earlier this month, a French court ruled that messaging app Telegram must be banned in the country due to an excessive number of messages promoting scams and hate speech.

The court also ordered the messaging app to pay a €300,000 fine.

The case began in 2022 when French authorities applied to ban the messaging app.

However, the case dragged on for over a year due to legal challenges from Telegram.

Finally, the court ruled in favor of the French government and ordered an immediate ban on the app.

In its ruling, the court said that Telegram had been notified on several occasions about the need to moderate content on its platform.

Despite this, the messaging app failed to take adequate measures to remove messages promoting scams and hate speech.

The court also noted that Telegram had been warned that it could face a ban if it did not comply with French law.

Ultimately, the court decided that a complete ban on Telegram was necessary to protect users in France.