I funded my lifestyle from Bitcoin, not Telegram: Pavel Durov

Messaging app Telegram laminitis and CEO Pavel Durov says helium invested successful Bitcoin erstwhile the cryptocurrency was successful its infancy and has since utilized his holdings to money his lifestyle.

“I was a large believer successful Bitcoin since much oregon little the commencement of it. I got to bargain my archetypal fewer 1000 Bitcoin successful 2013, and I didn’t attraction much,” the Russian tech entrepreneur said connected Lex Fridman’s podcast connected Tuesday.

He added that helium bought astatine the “local maximum,” which was astir $700 per BTC, and “I conscionable threw a mates of cardinal there.”

A fewer radical ridiculed him erstwhile the terms went down aft Bitcoin (BTC) tanked beneath $200 successful the carnivore marketplace that followed, but helium told them, “I don’t care.”

“I’m not going to merchantability it. I judge successful this thing. I deliberation this is the mode wealth should work. Nobody tin confiscate your Bitcoin from you. Nobody tin censor you for governmental reasons.”

Pavel Durov talks Bitcoin to Lex Friedman. Source: YouTube

Bitcoin helps Durov “stay afloat” 

Durov said that helium has utilized his Bitcoin concern to money his lifestyle. “Some radical deliberation if I’m capable to rent bully locations oregon alert private, it’s due to the fact that I someway extract wealth from Telegram,” helium said. 

“Like I said, Telegram is simply a money-losing cognition for maine personally. Bitcoin is thing that allowed maine to enactment afloat.”

He predicted that “it volition travel to a constituent erstwhile Bitcoin is worthy $1 million,” owed to governments “printing wealth similar nary tomorrow.”

“Nobody’s printing Bitcoin,” helium said, adding that it has predictable inflation and volition halt being made astatine a definite point. “Bitcoin is present to stay. All the fiat currencies stay to beryllium seen.”

Durov connected TON

Durov, who was arrested a twelvemonth ago successful France and charged with facilitating crimes committed by Telegram users, besides discussed the Telegram Open Network, which it developed successful 2018 and 2019 to supply a blockchain for the messenger service. 

Related: French officials pressured Telegram to censor Moldova predetermination posts: Durov

He added that Bitcoin and Ether (ETH) were “not scalable capable to header with the load that our hundreds of millions of users would create.”

The cardinal innovation was inherent scalability done “shardchains,” helium said. However, contempt successfully processing the technology, Telegram couldn’t motorboat it owed to regulatory restrictions successful the US. 

The project, present called The Open Network, is profoundly embedded successful the Telegram ecosystem and has gained momentum for non-fungible tokens (NFTs). 

“TON has become, I think, the largest oregon the 2nd largest blockchain successful presumption of regular NFT trading volumes.” 

The network’s autochthonal token Toncoin (TON) deed an all-time precocious of $8.25 successful mid-2024 but has since fallen much than 67% from that level. 

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