Pavel Durov
Pavel Durov is a Russian entrepreneur, creator of the social network «VKontakte» (now «VK»), the messenger Telegram, and founder of The Open Network. A man who changed the world of online communications, leaving his mark on history.
Education
Pavel was born on October 10, 1984 in St. Petersburg. He went to elementary school in Turin, Italy, where he studied for several years. After returning with his parents to his native city, he was educated in the experimental classes of the Academic Gymnasium with advanced study of subjects, including several foreign languages (English, French and German). However, he finds English the most useful.
After graduating from grammar school with honors, Pavel entered St. Petersburg State University, Faculty of Philology. There he began to show interest in computer technologies and programming. During his university years, he created an electronic library of university essays and a student forum for communication.
VK (ex. VKontakte)
After graduating in 2006, Pavel and his older brother Nikolai Durov created «VKontakte» LLC. Pavel served as CEO of «VKontakte» from 2006 to 2014, turning it into the largest social network on Runet.
Under the leadership of Pavel Durov, «VKontakte» not only expanded its functionality, but also became a place where users could socialize, share media, hold online events, play games, and even trade.
Telegram
After resigning as CEO of «VKontakte», Durov focused on the development of the Telegram messenger. The purchase of server capacity for the messenger, as well as the entire financing of the project, was financed by Pavel's personal funds, which he received after the sale of his stake in «VKontakte».
In 2013, the Telegram app for iOS appeared in the App Store. Afterwards, the team held Durov's Android Challenge, in which one of the participants wrote and made publicly available the first application for the Android OS.
In November 2013, Telegram had more than 1M installations. It quickly became popular due to its built-in encryption of messages, ensuring the privacy of users' communications.
In the process of development, new features appeared in the messenger:
- Secret chats
- Stickers and GIFs
- Bots for service automation
- Voice and video calls
- Message translation
Since 2017, Pavel has been living in Dubai, where Telegram is headquartered. At that time, Telegram Group employed up to 30 people.
The special services of some countries demanded encryption keys from Durov to access Telegram users' messages. However, Pavel's position remained unchanged: «Threats to block Telegram if we don't give out users' private data will lead to nothing. Telegram protects freedom and privacy».
In April 2024, Pavel Durov was interviewed by American journalist Tucker Carlson, where he talked about his childhood and youth, the creation of the social network «VKontakte» and messenger Telegram, life in Dubai and problems with intelligence agencies.
Telegram Open Network
In 2018, Pavel Durov and his brother Nikolai announced the development of a new blockchain platform – Telegram Open Network. The project raised $1.7B. TON was conceived as a decentralized ecosystem capable of competing with leading blockchain platforms.
Pavel claimed that TON would be a revolutionary step in the development of Web 3.0, providing Telegram users with a secure and transparent way to make payments, exchange data and create decentralized applications. He personally supervised the development of the Telegram Open Network and attracted the best experts in blockchain technologies. He actively promoted the project, met with investors and developers, and published articles on the advantages of the blockchain platform.
In 2019, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) sued Telegram for raising $1.7 billion in an ICO using the GRAM token, which the regulator called an unregistered security.
Durov made a deal with the SEC, returned unused investor funds and paid an $18.5M fine. TON failed to launch and the development team was disbanded.
«Today is a sad day for us here at Telegram. We are announcing the discontinuation of our blockchain project» — Pavel commented on his Telegram channel.
TON Foundation
Despite the difficulties, Pavel Durov did not give up the idea of an open blockchain platform. He expressed hope that the community would be able to continue the development of TON, preserving its decentralized nature. In 2020, the community of crypto-enthusiasts announced the continuation of work on the project with the name «NEWTON».
In 2021, the team voted to rename it the «TON Foundation», a non-profit community, to further develop the network. The Telegram team later transferred the domain ton.org and github.com/ton account to The Open Network community.
On August 9, 2021, it was announced that a new cryptocurrency TONCOIN was listed on the EXMO exchange.
In his comment, Pavel Durov wished success to the development team and emphasized that he had nothing to do with the project.
Thanks to the joint work of TON Foundation and Telegram, the ecosystem gained a big advantage in the number of potential users. The Telegram team made it possible to buy and sell Telegram usernames and identifiers on Fragment, a TON-based auction platform.
«I'm really impressed by the success of the auction TON recently conducted for their domain/wallet names» — Durov stated.
Later, Durov stated that he intends to add a TON Wallet and exchange to the messenger. In 2023, Telegram added support for another wallet, TON Space, which is available via Wallet.
Since the beginning of 2024, The Open Network have been running The Open League – long-term incentive program for TON users, projects, teams and traders, with the aim of attracting new users and investors.
Life Position
In life, Paul holds libertarian views. He is inspired by such famous personalities as Ernesto Che Guevara and Steve Jobs.
Pavel Durov spoke about things that he believes negatively affect consciousness: alcohol; animal meat; any pharmaceutical products, including pills; narcotic substances, including nicotine; coffee, green and black tea, energy drinks; sugar, fast food, carbonated drinks; television and its analogues.
He claims that physical activity helps him to be healthier. Durov prefers walking, bicycling and swimming outdoors. In his social networks you can often see photos from gyms. He advises to monitor stress levels by applying relaxation techniques.
Awards and Honors
- «30 Most Notable Figures of Russian Internet Business», where Pavel was in 7th place;
- «The most quoted bloggers in the Russian media» in 2012 — 42nd place;
- «9 Most Unusual Russian Businessmen — Fools, Oddballs and Eccentrics 2011» — 3rd place;
- In 2024, Pavel ranked 1st in the number of followers in social networks among the Russian business elite.