Technology behind private messaging app Telegram names Maximilian Crown new CEO
The company powering Telegram’s technology will name Maximilian Crown as its new CEO Thursday, NYNext has learned.The move both steadies the ship for the encrypted messaging app’s one billion users — after its founder and CEO Pavel Durov was arrested in Paris last year as part of what was seen as a free speech crackdown — and is a sign of Telegram’s intent to scale its multi-purpose app, sources told NYNext.Crown’s hiring, sources explain, is a sign Telegram, and the blockchain technology which supports it’s growing platform, is full-speed ahead despite efforts from governments to access internal data from users of the app, which prides itself on offering complete anonymity.Telegram has become a so-called “Super App” similar to a product like China’s WeChat, because it has grown to include an ecosystem allowing users access to additional features like games, shopping, and payments.Crown will head the non-profit Telegram Open Network (TON) foundation, also known as the Open Network, which has an exclusive deal to power the technology behind the app.Crown — who was the longtime CFO and COO at crypto trading platform MoonPay, valued at $3.4 billion — will help expand TON’s presence in payments. Crown has, through his work with MoonPay, proven his skills at navigating complicated legal landscapes by receiving approval to operate in multiple European countries as well as the US, sources add.Telegram Open Network has a rocky history.
After Telegram launched in 2013, Pavel and Nikolai Durov created the Telegram Open Network to power the app through blockchain technology for fast payments and planned to launch a cryptocurrency called Gram (later Toncoin).They raised $1.7 billion in 2018 to fund the launch of the coin to support Telegram, but fell afoul of the SEC in the US.The government sued TON saying it had not properly registered its Gram currency for sale, and made them give back $1.2 billion in funding and pay a $18.5 million civil penalty...