On July 13, 2026, the world faced a massive incident: Telegram's short links in the t.me format stopped opening in browsers worldwide. The reason, as it turned out, lies not in a malfunction of the messenger itself, but in actions by the registry at the .me domain zone level. This event affected billions of users and jeopardized the TON blockchain ecosystem, valued at billions of dollars.
What actually happened?
The t.me domain received the serverHold status in the .me zone registry, managed by Identity Digital. This EPP code is the prerogative of the registry exclusively, not the registrar. It completely excludes the domain from the global DNS system, resulting in an NXDOMAIN error for all queries. Technical WHOIS records confirm: the domain now has eight status flags, including serverHold, clientDeleteProhibited, and serverDeleteProhibited. Notably, the domain registration period is valid until 2035, ruling out non-payment of renewal. DNS servers still point to Google's cloud infrastructure, meaning delegation is not broken—the registry simply overrode resolution at a higher level.
Causes: sanctions or pressure on Durov?
No official statements have been made yet by Telegram, the .me registry, or Identity Digital. However, two main versions are circulating online. The first links the outage to a sanctions context: on the same day, OFAC (the U.S. Office of Foreign Assets Control) published a press release adding the service First VPN Service to the sanctions list. Among the specified addresses is t.me/FirstVPNService. The second version points to a coincidence in timing with the fourth interrogation of Pavel Durov by French investigators in a case related to his arrest in August 2024. However, there is no direct evidence linking these events to the domain block yet.
Consequences for TON and the crypto market
The scale of the outage is colossal. t.me links are the primary tool for distributing account addresses, channels, bots, and, critically, for accessing the TON blockchain ecosystem. Through t.me/wallet, users launch Telegram's custodial wallet, buy, store, and transfer assets such as USDT, Bitcoin, and Gram. The outage effectively cut off the main user entry point into the Gram token ecosystem, valued at approximately $4.3 billion. This is a serious blow to the infrastructure of a project that was positioned as decentralized and independent.
Telegram has already begun technically bypassing the issue: when copying links to chats and channels, URLs in the telegram.me format are now generated. However, the backup domain is in the same .me zone, which does not guarantee protection from similar registry actions. Restoring t.me functionality depends solely on the registry, and according to industry practice, this process can take from several hours to several days.
My analysis: This incident is a warning signal for the entire crypto industry, which relies on centralized DNS infrastructures. Dependence on a single point of failure, such as the t.me domain, represents a systemic risk for the TON ecosystem and its users. Decentralization should apply not only to financial transactions but also to the basic elements of internet infrastructure.