In the midst of the ongoing fallout caused by the collapse of the cryptocurrency exchange FTX, Pavel Durov, the founder of Telegram, has announced that the messaging platform intends to release a suite of decentralized cryptocurrency products. These products will include a non-custodial wallet as well as a decentralized cryptocurrency exchange (DEX).
On Wednesday, Durov made the announcement via the official Telegram Channel that he runs, saying “The blockchain industry was built on the promise of decentralization, but ended up being concentrated in the hands of a few who began to abuse their power.”
In reference to the failure of the FTX exchange, the CEO of the company stated on November 30 that the new venture will attempt to correct the existing centralization of cryptocurrency entities. This is something that, according to Durov, has let down millions of users.
The solution is clear: blockchain-based projects should go back to their roots decentralization. Cryptocurrency users should switch to trustless transactions and self-hosted wallets that don’t rely on any single third party.
Pavel Durov
The founder of Telegram pointed out that the fact that the FTX event happened is not surprising since a small number of people had a significant level of authority. Durov went on to remind out that the present environment of blockchain technology has strayed from the core idea of its inception, which was to encourage decentralization.
The CEO of the messaging app Telegram, Pavel Durov, said on Wednesday that the blockchain-based auction platform Fragment was responsible for the sale of $50 million worth of usernames via the app in less than a month. This number demonstrates the success that Telegram had with its second attempt at bootstrapping its own cryptographic infrastructure. Fragment is built on top of the Telegram Open Network, which is a blockchain that Durov first abandoned in 2020 due to pressure from regulatory authorities but subsequently returned to because its community kept it alive.
