Pavel Durov Profile Page

Pavel Valeryevich Durov is a Russian technology entrepreneur best known as the founder and chief executive officer of Telegram, a messaging platform launched in 2013. Durov was born in Russia, where he co-founded the social networking site VKontakte in 2006.

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About

Pavel Valeryevich Durov(born 10 October 1984) is a Russian technology entrepreneur best known as the founder and chief executive officer (CEO) of Telegram, a messaging platform launched in 2013.

Became a Billionaire

Durov was listed on Forbes‘s billionaires list in 2023, with a net worth of $11.5 billion. His fortune is largely driven by his ownership of Telegram. As of 25 August 2024, Durov was the 120th richest person in the world, with a net worth of $15.5 billion, according to Forbes. In 2022, he was recognized by Forbes as the richest expat in the United Arab Emirates. In February 2023 Arabian Business named him the most powerful entrepreneur in Dubai. Durov publicly stands for Internet freedom and criticises the establishment that tries to restrict it. Since 2021, he has held citizenship in Russia, Saint Kitts and Nevis, the United Arab Emirates, and France.

On leaving Russia, he obtained Saint Kitts and Nevis citizenship by donating $250,000 to the country’s Sugar Industry Diversification Foundation and secured $300 million in cash within Swiss banks. This allowed him to focus on creating his next company, Telegram, focused on an encrypted messaging service. Telegram was headquartered in Berlin and later moved to Dubai.

Telegram Monetization and TON Platform

In January 2018, Durov announced that, in a bid to monetize the growing success of Telegram, he was launching the “Gram” cryptocurrency and the Telegram Open Network (TON) platform. It raised a total of $1.7 billion from investors. However, these ventures were halted by American regulator U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission which argued in court that Grams bypassed U.S. financing laws and should return the money to investors.