#Russia has opened a criminal case against me for “aiding terrorism.” Each day, the authorities fabricate new pretexts to restrict Russians’ access to Telegram as they seek to suppress the right to privacy and free speech. A sad spectacle of a state afraid of its own people.
Russia’s hope that it can create tech “national champions” by banning all their competitors is delusional. Every real national super app was forged in fierce private competition (WeChat, KakaoTalk, LINE). Competition and innovation are two sides of the same coin.
Officials with the lowest approval ratings in the world (Macron, Starmer, Merz, Sanchez) are the loudest champions of social media bans for teens and ‘misinformation’ crackdowns.
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FREEDOM FOR #IRAN
BE THE VOICE OF INNOCENT IRANIANS
They killed 36500 Iranian people
#freeiran
👀
Stay vigilant, #Spain 🇪🇸 Demand transparency and fight for your rights.
Proud that #Telegram is a tool for protests in #France against Macron’s failed policies. After 8 years of neglect, people are done with empty PR and posturing - and they’re striking back.
#Paris
As #Telegram turns 12 today, I want it to keep following my father’s advice — and:
Lead by example, setting trends for the messaging world.
Be a positive force, bringing joy to our users.
Prioritize conscience, staying true to our principles.
3. Prioritize conscience. Studying and translating thinkers from Julius Caesar to Seneca, my father saw that morals outlast talent. Moral compass, unlike intelligence or creativity, is the ultimate human quality that will not lose value even in the age of AI.
2. Focus on the positive. Growing up in post-war Leningrad, my father learned to control emotions to be a positive force for his family, colleagues and society. He taught me to frame thoughts in ways that bring the most good, even in hard times.
1. Lead by example. People — especially kids — follow what you do, not what you say. Watching my father work tirelessly on numerous books and scientific papers showed me and my brother the meaning of dedication and inspired us to work hard too.
A month ago, my father — a leading expert in Ancient Roman literature — turned 80. I asked what advice I should pass to the next generation. He gave me 3 :
Good week for #TON . Verb, a NASDAQ-listed company that has chosen TON as its primary asset, has successfully raised $558 million to begin buying and stockpiling TON immediately.
Meanwhile, Coinbase Ventures has also started accumulating TON.
Exciting times ahead! 🚀
Users have sent us hundreds of reports about scams and blackmail.
Based on these reports, this week we’re banning numerous channels for doxxing and extortion.
#Telegram is not a place for doxxing or blackmail. And to those running such channels: don’t waste your time creating clones we’ll find you
It’s no surprise that Verb #Technology — to be rebranded as #TON Strategy — has chosen #TON as its treasury asset. It’s mirroring MicroStrategy’s #bitcoin playbook, which let it grow from $1B to $100B+ in 5 years. The half a billion $ Verb is investing into #TON is just the start.
On #Telegram, everything runs on #TON: from payouts to creators and app developers to ad payments, mini apps and collectibles like usernames, numbers, and gifts. As a result, #TON is now the #2 #blockchain by daily #NFT trading volume, second only to #Ethereum.
TON (The Open Network) is an infinitely scalable #blockchain that we helped develop years ago to meet the needs of Telegram’s hundreds of millions of users. Today, #TON is the economic backbone of #Telegram — much like a national currency powers a country’s economy.
VERB’s stock more than doubled on its first trading day, pushing its market cap above $1 billion and earning it unicorn status on day one. The investor list includes long-time #TON supporters like Kingsway, Vy Capital, and Ribbit, alongside many new institutional backers.
Yesterday marked a historic milestone: for the first time, investors gained access to a TON-holding company listed on the #US stock market (ticker: VERB). This company is deploying $558 million to accumulate #Toncoin — never selling, only buying more over time.
Unfortunately, I can’t remove the paywall from my account — when I do, I receive thousands of messages per minute, making it impossible to read or respond to anyone. 🛡
💡 If you can’t contact me directly due to the paywall, feel free to reach out to our support team at t.me/notoscam to report any blackmailing attempts. Include the hashtag #blackmail in your message so it reaches the right team member.
🤙 If you’ve been threatened or blackmailed by scammers or channels, please report it immediately. Send me a private message in this channel with as much proof as possible. We’ll remove these bad actors from our platform and keep Telegram a safe place for everyone.
There are also reports of channels extorting money by threatening to leak personal information or sensitive data. Some have even turned this into a business model — publishing damaging posts and charging for their removal. 💰
✋ This is both illegal and immoral, and it won’t fly with us. 🪰
👑 Rare Telegram gifts, numbers, and usernames — once bought for just a few dollars — can now sell for over $100,000. But this surge in value has a dark side. 🤦♂️
⚠️ We’re seeing scammers blackmail users, trying to force them into handing over these valuable collectibles.
➕ If you’re a student choosing what to focus on, pick MATH. It will teach you to relentlessly rely on your own brain, think logically, break down problems, and solve them step by step in the right order. That’s the core skill you’ll need to build companies and manage projects. 🏢
Good month for The Open Network (Ton) : the biggest names in venture capital invested over $400M into TON and publicly backed it. Among them are the legends of Silicon Valley: Sequoia, Benchmark, Ribbit, Draper, VY, and other world-famous funds 💸
My favorite
Telegram and TON Core launched a new $200,000+ coding contest. It ends on Feb 4. The goal: to optimize blockchain validation and/or build a trustless bridge. Exceptional participants will be able to join the Telegram or TON teams. Details: t.me/contest/393
I’m proud that Telegram has supported freedom of speech long before it became politically safe to do so. Our values don’t depend on US electoral cycles.
Today other platforms are announcing they’ll now have less censorship.
Telegram’s Affiliate Platform for mini apps is an instant hit! In just 12 days, 15,000 affiliate programs were created, and 4 million users got referred to mini apps. It’s transparent, simple, and guarantees commissions.
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