Weekly News Digest for June 16–22, 2025

Telegram:
▪️ The Palace platform has surpassed 200,000 users.
▪️ @igloo_market_bot gathered over 26,000 users in its first 24 hours, completed more than 1,000 sales, and reached a trading volume exceeding 7,000 TON.
▪️ Getgems users can now personalize their NFT names on Telegram by adding custom backgrounds for 10 TON.
▪️ TON Trading Bot is ceasing operations due to a decline in trading volume within the TON ecosystem.
▪️ Pavel Durov criticized biased coverage of Telegram in French media, which published 40 negative articles in 7 weeks after his arrest in Paris, often ignoring Telegram’s comments and rebuttals.
▪️ Crypto Pay now enables automatic conversion of received cryptocurrency payments.
▪️ Pavel Durov shared a link to his interview with Tucker Carlson to French Telegram users, attempting to influence public opinion after French media ignored the interview.
▪️ Following a hack of the Iranian crypto exchange Nobitex, 3 billion Notcoin ($NOT) tokens were sent to an irreversible address, resulting in their complete destruction.
▪️ MRKT platform now supports trading stickers alongside other digital gifts.
▪️ Anastasia Yugova became head of TON CIS Hub, responsible for strategic development and developer support in CIS countries.
▪️ Antarctic Wallet now allows topping up TON balance; payment, transfer, and withdrawal features will come later.
▪️ TONAPI announced a YouTube contest for developers with a 5,000 USDT prize for best videos about building dApps on TON.
▪️ The $STON token of leading DEX platform STON.fi on TON is now available for trading on KuCoin exchange.
▪️ An investor shared how he lost $200,000 investing in the Ton Frogs NFT project and CAVI token, after the team spent all funds on unsuccessful app development, leaving him with useless tokens and experience.
▪️ TAC project raised $11.5 million to integrate Ethereum-based DeFi apps into Telegram and TON ecosystems.
▪️ In a major interview with Le Point, Pavel Durov spoke about making a will to protect Telegram and his children, and revealed his brother is working on real AI — Kreado made a full Russian translation of this interview and released it publicly.
▪️ Wallet users can now book hotels worldwide via TON Travel and get up to 8% cashback in Toncoin when paying by crypto or card directly in Telegram.
▪️ Malaysia’s High Court temporarily banned Telegram content and two channels at the regulator’s request over accusations of publishing materials undermining trust in government institutions and threatening public order; Telegram can present its defense in court.
▪️ MP Anton Gorelkin called Telegram a “state-disturbing entity” due to non-compliance with laws and fake manipulations, noting that national messenger Max could compete with it.
▪️ Dasha Pobochaeva became the first Miss TON, chosen by the community via Telegram Mini App in tap-to-earn format, representing authentic beauty and the spirit of TON blockchain.
▪️ Wallet is giving away 5,000 USDT among 250 users who deposit at least 7 TON, 150,000 DOGS, or 100 MAJOR into any bonus program by July 26; draw results on July 27.
▪️ Pavel Durov obtained easing of court supervision, allowed from July 10, 2025, to leave France for up to 14 days for trips to Dubai to visit relatives and Telegram offices.
▪️ In Telegram iOS Beta 11.13, users can send messages to channels with star ratings and desired timing; admins can edit text, price, and time, but the feature works only on the test server.
▪️ EVAA is preparing a crypto debit card allowing spending crypto directly via EvaaAppBot without selling, with income potential and instant liquidity without fiat conversion.
▪️ Telegram iOS Beta 11.13 added task lists up to 30 items in personal chats and groups, with shared adding and status management; user avatar shows next to completed tasks.
▪️ Users reporting Telegram bugs started receiving gifts from a service account with unique signatures and thanks.
▪️ Fragment.com website was blocked in Kazakhstan despite Pavel Durov’s recent visit and official Telegram registration in the country.
▪️ Bubblemaps launched TON integration, offering users on-chain visual analytics and improving ecosystem transparency.
▪️ Egor Zhgun, creator of iconic Plush Pepe and Telegram mascot Uti, revealed viral design secrets and talked about his work in an interview with Chesnok.
▪️ IGLOO Market opened a Pre-Market for stickers: sellers deposit 30% collateral and must list the sticker within 21 days or the collateral is split between platform and buyer.
▪️ Plush Pepe collection ranked second worldwide in trading volume on June 19 with $264K, behind only CryptoPunks at $390K.
▪️ Toncoin ranked second in CoinGecko’s top 20 most trending cryptocurrencies of the week.
▪️ Telegram announced an Android developer contest with a $50,000 prize to redesign profiles; winner may join the Dubai team with a salary up to $1 million per year; deadline July 11, 2025.
▪️ BAYC sticker pack set a secondary sales record: over 1,280 deals in just over an hour on marketplaces totaling more than $250K; daily turnover exceeded $350K, far surpassing Cool Blue Pengu pack.
▪️ Marketapp now shows non-NFT gifts, allowing unified search and viewing of off-chain deals including unminted gifts with known future mint addresses.
▪️ Sticker trading volume on secondary markets hit a record $570.6K (192.9K TON) yesterday, promising a bright future for TON sticker economy.
▪️ Sticker Pack audience continues growing, with significant users from the USA.

▪️ TON Foundation is looking for a content writer to create quality content, including social media posts and blogs, to promote the TON ecosystem.

▪️ Telegram will soon launch a paid posts feature, allowing users to monetize content with payment via Stars and $TON .

Crypto World:
▪️ The average cost to mine 1 BTC in Q2 2025 exceeded $70,000.
▪️ Bank of America included Bitcoin among the greatest innovations of the last 1,000 years.
▪️ Hackers breached Meta Pool smart contracts, stealing 9,700 mpETH worth $27 million.
▪️ Coinbase CEO met UK officials in London to discuss strengthening Britain’s position in global crypto industry.
▪️ Fairmint proposed a seven-step blockchain framework to the SEC for private equity markets.
▪️ Thailand approved a bill exempting crypto income tax for holdings over 5 years.
▪️ Iranian crypto exchange Nobitex was hacked for $48.65 million.
▪️ Spanish banking giant BBVA advises wealthy clients to invest up to 7% of portfolios in crypto.
▪️ US Secret Service conducted its largest crypto seizure ever, totaling $225.3 million.
▪️ Detective ZachXBT said crypto crime is out of control.
▪️ Russia launched its first crypto mining investment fund, backed by industrial assets and natural gas power.
▪️ Tether minted 1 billion USDT.
▪️ JD Technology, China’s largest retailer, will issue a stablecoin in Hong Kong in Q4 2025, available on public blockchain and regulated exchanges.
▪️ Major Chinese mining equipment makers Bitmain, Canaan, and MicroBT began production in the USA.
▪️ Norwegian firm K33 announced a new stock issuance round aiming to raise funds to buy 1,000 BTC.
▪️ Canadian agribusiness AgriFORCE launched a mining farm with 120 ASIC miners powered by previously flared natural gas.
▪️ JPMorgan discussed with crypto group SEC moving parts of traditional markets to public blockchains.
▪️ Sberbank issued bonds with yield tied to Bitcoin price worth 500 million rubles.
▪️ Coinbase launched Coinbase Payments, a payment service for trading platforms with instant 24/7 USDC transactions.
▪️ About 2 million Russians may face criminal charges under a new law on crypto drops; Interior Ministry identified 30,000 suspects with Central Bank help.
▪️ CZ urged all crypto platforms to implement a “will function” so users can specify inheritance of assets after death.
▪️ Donald Trump called for immediate submission of the GENIUS bill recently approved by the US Senate.
▪️ Russian Finance Ministry reported only 30% of miners registered officially as required by the digital financial assets law effective November 2024; 70% remain unregistered.
▪️ Currently, 100 companies hold over 830,000 BTC.
▪️ Elon Musk is turning Twitter (X) into a Chinese WeChat-like app with upcoming securities trading and banking cards.
▪️ Trump family company reduced its stake in DeFi project WLFI from 60% to 40%.
▪️ A 63-year-old Ohio resident lost about $1 million to crypto scammers via fake app and website.