The Telegram faced an unexpected outage this Monday (13) after the domain t.me, used as the main shortcut to its services, was placed under serverHold status by the operator of the .me domain. The measure made the platform's short links unavailable and affected access to important resources linked to the The Open Network (TON).
Although the messaging app continues to function, several services dependent on t.me stopped responding. Among them are Telegram's integrated wallet, Mini Apps, and features that use TON's infrastructure to offer payments, digital assets, and decentralized applications.
In practice, the problem hit one of the main entry points to Telegram's cryptocurrency ecosystem. Addresses such as t.me/wallet, used to access the platform's wallet, became inaccessible. This service allows users to store, send, and receive Bitcoin, USDT, Gram (GRAM) and other assets compatible with the TON network.
The interruption is not related to a blockchain failure. The block occurred because the domain received the status serverHold, a code applied directly by the registry responsible for the .me domain. When this happens, DNS records are removed from the internet, preventing any service linked to the address from functioning normally.
This type of block is usually used in specific situations, such as administrative issues, the need for registration verification, security issues, or suspicion of improper use of the domain. Until the publication of this news article, neither Telegram nor the operator of .me had officially informed the reason for the suspension.
The impact goes far beyond the digital wallet. A large part of the integration between Telegram and TON uses t.me as an access point. The platform's tradable usernames are registered as digital assets on the blockchain, while digital gifts transformed into NFTs also depend on this structure to be accessed by users.
Mini Apps represent another affected segment. Many of these applications use the TON Connect protocol to authenticate wallets and execute operations on the blockchain. As many of them are opened through t.me links, the domain's unavailability interrupted this access flow.
TON holds a prominent position among the largest blockchains in the market and moves billions of dollars in market value. Telegram has become one of the main channels for the network's adoption by integrating blockchain features directly into the application, reducing the need for external platforms to use cryptocurrencies.
As long as the domain remains suspended, users continue to have limited access to several TON features within Telegram. Market expectations are now focused on the removal of the serverHold status or the creation of an alternative that restores access to the platform's blockchain services without relying exclusively on the t.me.
