French Authorities Are Also Going After Pavel Durov’s Brother, Nikolai
Nikolai Durov’s current whereabouts remain unknown.
- Cofounded VK and Telegram with brother Pavel Durov.
- The mathematician was a gold medalist in the International Mathematical Olympiads in 1996, 1997, and 1998.
- He applied for Kittitian citizenship, but it’s unknown where he lives.
French authorities’ arrest warrants also included Pavel Durov’s brother Nikolai, the co-founder of Telegram, according to POLITICO.
The warrants were reportedly issued on March 25, even before the July 8 judicial investigation, revealing a broader and earlier investigation into Telegram’s operations than previously known.
There is no suggestion either of the Durov brothers were directly involved in any of the illegal activities identified by the investigation.
- The arrest warrants were issued after Telegram failed to respond to a judicial request to identify a user involved in illegal activities
- The investigation highlights Telegram’s minimal cooperation with French and European authorities
- Telegram’s stance against disclosing user data to governments remains firm, despite the ongoing investigation
Here’s the story of Telegram’s other genius, Dr. Nikolai Durov.
Personal & Professional Life
Nikolai Valeryevich Durov was born on November 21, 1980, in Leningrad, Russia (then part of the Soviet Union). Formerly a Russian citizen, he became a Kittitian national in 2015. He is the elder brother of Pavel Durov and the son of Valery Durov, a Russian antiquarian, philologist, and academic.
Nikolai Durov earned his first Ph.D. in Mathematics from St. Petersburg State University in 2005 and a second Ph.D. in Mathematics and Computer Science from the University of Bonn, per his LinkedIn. He is currently a Senior Research Fellow at the Laboratory of Algebra and Number Theory.
Nikolai Durov co-founded VK and Telegram as CTO, architect, and Lead C/C++ engineer. He also held roles as a Technical Advisor at BlackRock (2015–2018) and a Technical Consultant at ING (2012–2016).
Work Behind Telegram
“Pavel supports Telegram financially and ideologically while Nikolai’s input is technological.” — Telegram FAQ
Before Telegram, the Durov brothers founded VKontakte (VK) in 2006, often seen as a Facebook clone. By 2012, VK had over 190 million users.
Despite its success and strong stance on free speech, the Durovs were forced to sell their stake in 2014 to Usmanov’s Mail.ru group after refusing to share Euromaidan leaders’ personal information with Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB).
Telegram, built in 2013 on Nikolai’s MTProto protocol, offered major improvements in speed and security over VK. After facing pressure from the Russian government, Pavel Durov and his team left Russia and ultimately established their headquarters in Dubai.
In 2014, Pavel publicly left Russia and acquired St. Kitts and Nevis citizenship after a $250,000 contribution. Nikolai also sought Kittitian citizenship, indicating he likely left Russia, though his current whereabouts remain unclear.
Work Behind The Open Network (TON)
In 2014, Nikolai Durov’s interest in Bitcoin led to research culminating in TON’s Technical White Paper, where he summarized blockchain advancements and proposed a new architecture for scalable decentralized ledgers.
A whitepaper initially for GRAM, which was later changed to The Open Network (TON), was developed by Telegram. However, it withdrew from the project after reaching a $18.5 million settlement with the SEC and reimbursing $1.3 billion to investors for the “unregistered offering of digital tokens,” allegedly violating securities laws.
Despite the setback, developers led by Anatoly Makasov and Kirill Emelyaneko revived the project’s open-source codebase.
On July 26, 2021, The Open Network (TON) whitepaper, based on the work of Dr. Nikolai Durov, was published. It detailed a “flexible multi-blockchain platform” with peer-to-peer network capabilities and more.
Interesting Facts
- Pavel Durov said he has over $100 million in Bitcoin. However, Nikolai hasn’t disclosed any BTC, ETH, TON, or any crypto holdings.
- Despite his secrecy, Nikolai Durov has a video of him teaching Topological Models of Algebraic Varieties on YouTube.
- Durov reacted to a LinkedIn post in 2023, saying, “Having a supportive spouse is a blessing,” indicating he could be married, but this remains unconfirmed.
