With Binance's backing and strong support from the TON ecosystem, has the meme coin REDO—defying Doge—become the cultural king of the TON chain?
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With Binance's backing and strong support from the TON ecosystem, has the meme coin REDO—defying Doge—become the cultural king of the TON chain?
If you're following TON, right now the TON ecosystem is aggressively promoting a dog coin called REDO.
Navigating Web3 tides with focused insightsAuthor: Followin
On Binance, TON's icon has been replaced with an image of this dog.
This meme coin REDO was born in January 2024 and currently has a market cap of $81 million, with a 24-hour surge of 148%.
Image: Resistance Dog
The dog is named the "Resistance Dog," embodying Telegram’s spirit of defiance. With Telegram's founder recently arrested in France, the Resistance Dog has instantly taken on symbolic significance and could become the leading meme token within the TON ecosystem—and even a broader symbol for free speech advocacy and resistance against censorship in the crypto industry.
What Is REDO?
REDO was personally drawn and named by Telegram founder Pavel Durov back in 2018. Its full name is "Resistance Dog"—a dog wearing a hat.
According to X user ttty, the first appearance of REDO dates back to a 2009 anti-Putin movement within Russia. On that day, Durov received an email from the Kremlin demanding he help shut down Alexei Navalny’s VK account and provide related user data.
Durov responded by sending a photo of a small dog sticking out its tongue, wearing a blue hoodie. To make sure the message was understood, he added: “This is my answer.”
In 2014, during Ukraine’s internal unrest, Russian troops entered Crimea, which later voted via referendum to leave Ukraine and join Russia. One day, Durov received another request—this time to hand over information about a Ukrainian politician.
Durov said it was complicated—his mother is Ukrainian, his father Russian—“these two countries are probably the closest relatives in the big family of nations.” He didn’t want to take sides.
So again, he replied with two photos of the little dog.
Since then, the image of a dog wearing a hat became a spiritual totem for Telegram. In many subsequent posts, Telegram’s official channels have interacted with the REDO Resistance Dog.
Thus, REDO has unofficially served as the mascot representing Telegram’s vision of resisting censorship.
What’s Happening in the TON Ecosystem?
On Saturday night, Durov was arrested in Paris. The charges stem from an initial investigation involving allegations including terrorism, drug trafficking, fraud, money laundering, and child abuse.
Durov was arrested due to his social media platform Telegram. Following the incident, both Telegram and the TON blockchain ecosystem actively posted messages in support of saving Durov. Elon Musk posted in solidarity, while Justin Sun brought out his legendary $10 million...
One particular campaign drew significant attention: "Digital Resistance," initiated collectively by members of the TON Foundation, aiming to use technological means to protect personal freedom, privacy, and information security.
Within this movement, REDO—the meme token in the TON ecosystem—gained substantial attention due to its symbolic meaning, emerging as a spiritual emblem of the campaign.
We’ve seen the official TON chain X account change its profile picture to the REDO image. Its pinned post also states: “We recommend the community update their avatars to the Resistance Dog.”
The avatar change originated from TON Society, a community account under TON, which posted yesterday:
“Today, we stand with Telegram’s creator, Pavel Durov. In support of DigitalResistance, we have updated the Toncoin logo and profile pictures across TON community channels to the global symbol of digital resistance—the Resistance Dog. Pavel Durov launched this movement while fighting to protect Telegram users’ privacy and free speech.”
This post, sounding like a call to arms, also urged participants to change their avatars to the Resistance Dog.
The TON community lead even tagged Elon Musk, suggesting that those who change their avatars to REDO should receive expedited blue verification on X. “This is a movement with profound cultural significance.”
This is likely a marketing strategy. Previously, Musk had already expressed support for Durov, emphasizing how crucial free speech is.
Currently, Binance has changed the TON token icon to this dog.
Going forward, REDO’s price trajectory will likely be closely tied to the development of this movement.
Currently, among memes linked to Durov’s arrest, one notable meme coin exists in the TRON ecosystem called FREEDUROV. After Justin Sun voiced support, the token surged but has since pulled back, now sitting around a $1M market cap. In the TON ecosystem, several meme coins have performed well—one exceeding a $2M market cap, though trading volume remains low.
Low trading volume may be a characteristic of meme coins in the TON ecosystem. Investors might not yet be accustomed to using TON-based on-chain products. At present, OKX’s Web3 wallet is one of the more convenient ways to deposit TON from a DEX to the TON chain, and it comes with built-in DEX functionality.
Worth noting: DOGS is scheduled for TGE on the 26th. Also a dog-themed meme coin on the TON ecosystem, it will undoubtedly be influenced by this event as well.
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