Trailblazing to make the world a better place is undoubtedly one of the most honourable titles in the world. As you can infer from recent news, Binance listing Toncoin, our pioneers today are the legendary founders of Telegram, Pavel and Nikolai Durov. 

The Durov brothers' community leadership and struggles began with social media platforms long before they ventured into the blockchain space. The first major struggle began with the creation of VKontakte (VK), a leading social media platform that significantly influenced society. But before we delve into the details of that, let's take a look at the lives that brought the Durov brothers to this point, starting from their childhood.

Nikolai was born in 1980 and Pavel in 1984 in Russia. They grew up in a family that valued knowledge and intellectual pursuits. Their father was a distinguished philology professor. They spent their childhood years in Italy due to their father's academic work.

Nikolai taught himself to read at the age of 3 and by the age of 11 he was coding computer games on his own with the help of his mathematical genius. His passion for mathematics led him to Saint Petersburg High School, where he won medals for his mathematical genius in the mathematical olympiads, and then continued his higher education, earning a PhD at the University of St. Petersburg.

Following in his brother's footsteps, Pavel also entered the Petersburg Lyceum. He chose his father's field in university and graduated with honours in philology in 2006. Pavel's education in philology, coupled with his interest in programming and social media, paved the way for his future ventures into creating significant social media platforms with millions of users.

 Three key personality traits stand out behind the Durov brothers' success:

 The early 2000s, when the internet was opening digital doors to the masses, shaped the future of these two extraordinarily talented individuals, driven by academic rigour, curiosity for technology, and a desire to challenge the status quo.

Nikolai, the architect of VK, known as Russia's Facebook, built the VK platform in 2006. Pavel, from 2006 to 2014, amassed wealth as the founding executive of VK. However, after 2011, VK, which had become a major social media force with over 100 million users, came under pressure from the Russian administration. Pavel faced difficult days for refusing to delete the account of Russian opposition activist Alexei Navalny. During that period, Nikolai, who was in Bonn for his geometry research, took on the responsibility of providing technical support for VK.

However, increasing pressures from the Putin administration, which resulted in pro-Putin companies seizing 48% of VK's shares, started narrowing the options for the Durov brothers.

Unable to continue living in Russia, Pavel sold his VK shares and fled the country. He saw himself as a "legal citizen of the world" and was described for a long time as "The Man With No Fixed Address".

During the tense period after 2011, Pavel, unable to reach Nikolai during a raid on his home, strongly felt the need for an encrypted and private messaging network. This need led to the creation of Telegram Messenger in 2013.

Telegram's vision was set on user privacy and security, achieved through Nikolai's cryptography expertise and the MTProto protocol he coded for secure communication. Combined with Pavel's leadership and VK experience, Telegram is now regarded by millions as the most "respected" messaging protocol.

Pavel Durov, the founder of Telegram, has remained committed to protecting Telegram's privacy despite numerous lawsuits and pressures from various governments since 2013. They are also determined to resist accusations of being a platform for extremism, money laundering, and drug trafficking.

Venturing into BlockchainTelegram's privacy-focused approach laid the foundation for Pavel and Nikolai's entry into the blockchain world. In the last quarter of 2017, the Durov brothers began working on a network called Telegram Open Network (TON). Designed for high-performance blockchain infrastructure and with a focus on security and privacy, the GRAM Coin project aimed to create fast blockchain dApps. Only a short private sale was planned for financing, but TON raised an unprecedented amount, attracting nearly as much investment as all other projects combined, with a record $1.7 billion.

Despite the enormous interest, the SEC halted the initiative, leading to a court ruling in 2020 that banned GRAM and required the return of all investments.

After a three-year struggle, Pavel Durov, upon deciding to withdraw, shared a historic message with fellow blockchain pioneers:

"Today is a sad day for us here at Telegram. We are announcing the discontinuation of our blockchain project. Below, I explain why this happened and what the implications are for our commitment to bringing secure and distributed technologies to the world. TON was designed to share the principles of decentralization pioneered by Bitcoin and Ethereum but to be vastly superior in speed and scalability. Unfortunately, a US court stopped TON from happening. Unfortunately, we, the 96% of the world’s population living elsewhere, are dependent on decision-makers elected by the 4% living in the US. This may change in the future. But today, we are in a vicious circle: you can’t bring more balance to the world exactly because it’s so imbalanced. It is with deep sadness that we had to abandon the TON project. I want to conclude this post by wishing luck to all those striving for decentralization, balance, and equality in the world. You are fighting the right battle. This battle may well be the most important battle of our generation. We hope that you succeed where we have failed.”

Four years after this SEC decision, the SEC, long a strong advocate for traditional finance giants, had to acknowledge the reality of cryptocurrency. They allowed BTC ETFs.

After Telegram officially withdrew from the TON project, independent developers continued to work on the project under the name FreeTON. TON's open-source nature ensured the continuation of efforts. Two years after this independent initiative began, Telegram's CEO announced in 2022 that they would support The Open Network (TON).

Finally, in 2024, Telegram and TON Foundation announced a historic decision to integrate the TON network into the Telegram platform. Work began at a dizzying speed. Telegram wallet applications mini-games and meme coins running on Telegram rapidly expanded the TON blockchain into a growing ecosystem.

And then, the long-awaited news from the crypto market arrived: TON coin is listed on Binance.

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The inspiring story of Nikolai and Pavel Durov shows us the tremendous costs of being a pioneer in this field. And, of course, the great honour of being a trailblazer.

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