The founder of Telegram, Pavel Durov, recounted an attempted poisoning he suffered in 2018, during a period when the company was raising funds for the TON blockchain project, and the Russian authorities were trying to ban the app.

In an interview with Lex Fridman, Pavel Durov recounted a dramatic experience from the spring of 2018, when he survived an attempted poisoning. After discovering a suspicious object left by a neighbor, Durov began to feel extremely ill, experiencing intense pain and temporary loss of senses. The incident coincided with the fundraising for the TON blockchain project and with Russia's attempts to ban Telegram. Durov chose not to disclose this incident earlier to avoid panic.