- Telegram’s t.me suspension disrupted TON Wallet Mini Apps and crypto access points.
- Telegram redirected users to telegram.me while the registry hold remained in place.
- OFAC-related compliance reports emerged, but no official cause has been confirmed.
Telegram users experienced an unexpected disruption on July 13 after the platform’s t.me domain was suspended at the registry level, temporarily preventing millions of short links from resolving across the internet.
The interruption extended beyond broken messaging links, affecting access to several cryptocurrency-related services built around The Open Network (TON), including Telegram’s custodial Wallet and Mini Apps.
While Telegram’s messaging system remained operational, one of the platform’s primary gateways to its blockchain network became unavailable, leaving users unable to access services that rely on the suspended domain.
Registry-Level Hold Interrupted Key Access Points
The disruption occurred after the .me domain registry placed t.me under serverHold status, an Extensible Provisioning Protocol (EPP) code applied by a domain registry rather than a registrar or domain owner.
According to ICANN documentation, a serverHold designation removes a domain’s DNS records, preventing websites, email, and other connected services from resolving, regardless of whether their underlying infrastructure remains operational.
As a result, Telegram’s widely used short links stopped functioning after the domain was removed from the DNS zone. The outage affected access to TON-based Wallet services, Mini Apps, and other blockchain-related tools that depend on the domain as an entry point.
Compliance Questions Remain Unanswered
According to reports, the disruption stemmed from action taken by Identity Digital, the registry operator responsible for Montenegro’s .me country-code top-level domain. Information shared across multiple social media reports disclosed that the serverHold status was connected to compliance requirements involving the U.S. Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC).
Neither Identity Digital nor Telegram has issued an official statement confirming the reason for the suspension. Earlier reports also noted that registry operators may apply serverHold status for several reasons, including verification issues, unpaid fees, suspected fraud, or other security-related concerns.
Telegram Shifted Users to an Alternative Domain
During the disruption, Telegram redirected users within its applications to the telegram.me domain, allowing new links to continue functioning while t.me remained offline.
The incident prompted online speculation, with some users suggesting the domain had expired or linking the suspension to recent political developments involving Telegram. However, no evidence has been presented to support those claims.
Telegram founder Pavel Durov did not comment on the domain suspension. However, in a separate statement published days earlier, he criticized proposed European Union measures that would require mandatory scanning of private communications, stating that Telegram would not introduce client-side scanning of users’ private messages.
Related: Telegram Founder Pavel Durov Questioned for Fourth Time in Ongoing French Criminal Probe
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