The price of TON has surged more than 20% over the last 24 hours to now trade above $3.45 and have a $8.14 billion market capitalization after French authorities returned Telegram founder Pavel Durov’s passport.

The move restores Durov’s ability to travel freely and marks the end of a situation that had drawn concerns from privacy and free speech advocates. Durov, who co-founded Telegram, a messaging platform with nearly a billion users, has long been an outspoken advocate for privacy and secure communication.

Read more: TON Down 14% as Telegram CEO Pavel Durov Arrested in France

The TON Foundation, which supports the Telegram Open Network (TON), celebrated the moment on social media. “As part of the decentralized TON community, we have stood in solidarity with Pavel, supporting his unwavering dedication to defending the right to free speech and privacy online.“

TON has also benefited from new features introduced to the Wallet app on Telegram, which include multiple assets, a yield program, an updated user interface, and more.

Read more: Telegram’s Pivot to TON Payments for Ads Boosts Toncoin

Cryptocurrency prices rose modestly during the weekend as investors embraced a risk-on sentiment following Friday’s surge in the US stock market. 

Bitcoin (BTC) held steady above $84,000, while the market cap of all coins rose to over $2.8 trillion. 

The crypto market will have two main catalysts this week: President Donald Trump’s tariffs and the Federal Reserve’s interest rate decisions. A sign of Trump easing his stand on tariffs and a more dovish Fed will be bullish for cryptocurrencies and other risky assets. 

The top cryptocurrencies to watch this week will be Binance Coin (BNB), Cronos (CRO), and ZetaChain (ZETA).

BNB

BNB price will be in the spotlight this week as the developers activate the Pascal hard fork on March 20.  This is one of the three upgrades scheduled for the year’s first half. It is set to introduce newer features, including more Ethereum compatibility, native smart contract wallets, and more security. 

The other two upgrades will improve BNB Chain’s speed and security. This is happening as the BSC Chain becomes one of the best alternatives to Ethereum (ETH) and Solana (SOL). Ethereum has higher fees and is slow, while the Solana network is highly associated with meme coins. 

Cronos 

A key Cronos vote will conclude on March 17. This crucial vote seeks to determine the creation of the Cronos Strategic Reserve. It aims to do that by undoing a 70 billion token burn that happened in 2021. 

If the vote passes, Cronos will create 70 billion tokens and use them to create a reserve that will be used to support the ecosystem. Critics argue that creating these new tokens will dilute existing investors by adding to the supply.

Voting data shows that 45.8% of users have voted in support of the proposal, while 44.4% have rejected it. 9.27% have abstained. If the vote ends like this, the proposal will be rejected as the turnout is less than the quorum. 

ZetaChain

ZetaChain is another top cryptocurrency to watch after its price crashed to a record low of $0.2070. It has dropped by over 92% from its all-time high, bringing its market cap to $151 million. 

One reason for the ZETA price crash is that the total value locked in its ecosystem has crashed to $13 million from its all-time high of near $20 million. 

The other reason is that Zetachain is highly dilutive as it has a circulating supply of 731 million against a total supply of 2.1 billion.

The network will unlock tokens worth over $6.6 million, representing 4.29% of the float this week. Cryptocurrencies are often highly volatile when there is a major unlock. 

Gold exchange-traded funds (ETFs) have overtaken bitcoin ETFs in assets under management as investors shift toward the traditional safe-haven asset as BTC price tumbled more than 19% over the past three months, while the precious metal climbed 12.5%.

Bitcoin ETFs, which saw significant inflows following their U.S. launch in January last year, have experienced major outflows, losing about $3.8 billion since Feb. 24 of this year, according to Farside Investors data. Meanwhile, gold ETFs recorded their highest monthly inflows since March 2022 last month, according to the World Gold Council.

These flows have meant that gold ETFs have now “reclaimed the asset crown over bitcoin ETFs,” as Bloomberg Senior ETF analyst Eric Balchunas said on social media.

Spot bitcoin ETFs listed in the U.S. first surpassed gold ETFs in assets under management in December 2024 as the cryptocurrency market surged after Donald Trump’s victory in the U.S. presidential elections.

Meanwhile, gold has been seeing a significant run. This Friday, it exceeded the $3,000 per ounce mark for the first time ever, with gold futures for April delivery breaking through the same level earlier in the week.

Market volatility and geopolitical uncertainty have been helping the price of the precious metal rise as demand for a safe haven continues to grow.
Read more: Gold’s Historic Rally Leaves Bitcoin Behind, But the Trend May Reverse