Russia’s War on Telegram Just Knocked Out Its Own Payment System

Key Insights

• Russia’s crackdown on Telegram through VPN restrictions affected its own online payment system.
• The country has been restricting Telegram use, accusing the app of posing a threat.
• A widespread crackdown on VPN is central to Russia’s effort to isolate its internet.

Russia’s crackdown on messaging app Telegram has reportedly affected its own online payment system. Telegram co-founder Pavel Durov disclosed this on X, noting that government efforts caused massive banking failure.

According to him, the Russian government’s efforts to restrict VPN use to access Telegram led to the outage.

He wrote:

“The government has spent years trying to ban VPNs, too. Their blocking attempts just triggered a massive banking failure, and cash briefly became the only payment method nationwide.”

However, Durov insists that Telegram is built to withstand the government’s efforts to restrict it, adding that the messaging app will continue to adapt.

Over 50 Million Still Using Telegram Despite Restrictions

According to Durov, more than 50 million Russians use Telegram daily via VPN, with the messaging app having 65 million daily active users in the country. Telegram has 93.6 million users in Russia, accounting for more than 60% of the country’s population.

This highlights how authorities’ recent efforts to throttle the platform have not been completely effective. Russia has tried to ban Telegram in the past, but the recent attempts, which experts believe date back as far as February, have been the most widespread.

Russian authorities have claimed that it’s necessary, noting that Telegram is a threat to the country and is being used by Ukraine and other adversaries. They have also announced investigations into Durov for terrorism.

However, critics insist that it is part of the government’s efforts to impose a new messaging app, MAX, on Russians. The country has already restricted YouTube, Snapchat, and WhatsApp, while threatening fines for ads on those platforms.

Interestingly, Telegram has faced challenges in other countries as well, with Durov briefly detained in France, where he called it an anti-censorship effort. With Telegram having a major app in Russia, a crackdown that affects its user base does not bode well for TON, the native token of Telegram-affiliated The Open Network. TON, which is trading at $1.23, is already down 27% this year.

Russia Heavily Cracking Down on VPNs

Meanwhile, the widespread use of VPNs to bypass restrictions has led authorities to intensify the crackdown on VPN. According to reports, Russia’s Digital Development Ministry ordered mobile operators to turn off top-up services to restrict VPN use.

Authorities are also asking all domestic platforms to block users who connect via VPN. While nothing has been decided yet, proposals have included restricting VPN users’ access or charging international users a fee for exceeding a certain threshold.

The massive disruption in banking apps is likely due to an overload of the authorities’ filtering system for detecting VPN use. Interestingly, the technical issue on Friday caused difficulties for shoppers nationwide.

According to reports, the Moscow metro had to allow entry through its turnstiles without payment, while a regional zoo told visitors to use cash. However, Russia has yet to explain the incident, even as its largest bank, Sberbank, confirmed there was a technical issue.

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