Telegram delays TON launch, investors can recover "about 77%" funds

Original: Sharing Finance Neo

Source: Sharing Finance

On October 12th, with the SEC's "temporary restriction order", and worked hard for more than a year, the TON blockchain project, which is finally coming online, has come to an abrupt end.

At that time, there was less than one month left until the scheduled launch time of TON. For Telegram, under the unexpected surprise of supervision, it was only a matter of moments from the expectation of the public.

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Then, in the next few days, including the Telegram itself, many comments and guesses in the circle began.

First, Telegram was suffering, indicating that he had been trying to get in touch with the SEC for the past 18 months. At the same time, he revealed the subtle attitude of wanting to postpone the release of TON. Then, in the Telegram's gambling agreement (if delayed, unconditional full refund), there was a “force majeure” clause, which means that even if delayed, Telegram does not have to fulfill the refund promise.

In addition, there are speculations that Telegram may cost tens of millions of dollars to settle the SEC, and there are also project parties who are enthusiastic about why they should pay attention to compliance, and radicals led by Kik who are determined to fight with the SEC. In short, with the spoiler of the SEC's regulatory authorities, the unremarkable currency circle has finally made a wave of ripples, and Telegram, the “old book” that has been dragging on for two years, is finally to give an explanation to the original investors. .

Continue to bet or cut 23% off

 

As an "encrypted version of WeChat," Telegram's influence has not been said. At the end of 2017, Telegram launched the blockchain project TON after five years of unpaid operation, and raised $1.7 billion in the year, becoming a well-known event in the history of blockchain financing.

For Telegram, choosing the currency to open its unique revenue-generating exposure is also in line with its original intention of encryption. For investors, choosing to invest when the market is crazy, all hope that under the great influence of Telegram, the token gamma of its TON blockchain can fly.

However, contrary to expectations, the TON, which was originally planned to be put into use in December last year, was delayed several times due to serious delays, which was delayed by almost a year.

Time is back to the present, it is obvious that the one-and-a-half-year currency will not be issued, but whether it is fulfilling the gambling agreement or ignoring the investor's willingness to refuse the refund is not a good interest balance. So, Telegram chose a compromise method. The announcement of the postponement has left investors with room for choice.

Today, according to Coindesk, Telegram has informed investors that the TON blockchain project will be launched later than originally planned, and the deadline will be postponed from October 30 to April 30, 2020.

In an e-mail sent to investors by Telegram, Telegram mentioned recent friction with the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), which obtained a restraining order prohibiting messenger applications from issuing TONs and issuing gram tokens. The agency believes that "gram" is an unregistered security.

The Telegram team stated in the email:

"We originally planned to launch the TON network at the end of October. However, the recent litigation by the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) made this timing unreachable. We disagree with the SEC's legal position and intend to actively defend it. We recommend extending the final The deadline to provide more time to resolve SEC litigation and work with other government agencies before the TON network is launched."

It is worth noting that Telegram communicates with two groups of investors (purchasing tokens in February 2018 and March 2018 respectively) and requires the consent of two groups of investors to delay delivery time. According to the mail, the second batch of Telegram investors (purchasers in March 2018) must sign a form to approve the extension before October 23, and if most people choose not to sign, these investors can get back. About 77% of the funds, each round of funds reached 850 million.

The first round of investors received another communication letter from Telegram. If the investor agrees to extend the delivery deadline, but the TON project cannot be delivered as scheduled until April 30, Telegram plans to spend another $80 million by April 30, 2020. After this, investors can only get a 75% refund.

How can Telegram send money smoothly?

 

It is true that from the beginning of 2018 to the present, only a loss of 23%. This is enough "conscience" compared to other currencies in the currency. You must know that with the ravages of the chilling winter, more than 90% of the devaluation of the currency is still abound.

However, on the one hand, it is cutting meat, on the other hand, it is the choice to continue to believe in the potential of Telegram. In this regard, some investors told reporters that they are more willing to wait another six months.

In fact, many investors still have expectations for Telegram's gram tokens. How can Telegram guarantee the smooth payment of coins before April 30, 2020?

Here are a few scenarios for guessing:

First of all, according to the past, the SEC believes that most ICOs are securities, and this time its attitude toward Gram is no exception. In the past penalty, in addition to the tokens that were ordered to stop issuing, the project party chose to rely on money.

A recent example is EOS. On September 30th, the SEC reached a settlement with Block.One (EOS parent company) and Block.One paid a $24 million fine.

In response, Ran NeuNer, CNBC host of US Consumer News and Business Channel, commented that Block.One paid $24 million (0.6%) for $4 billion. Telegram raised $1.7 billion, which would require $10.2 million to be paid to the SEC.

However, for this speculation, BloxTax CEO Tomer Ravid believes that the nature of TON may be more serious than EOS. It said that EOS had almost no other business before ICO, so there was nothing to disclose. However, Telegram is a technology giant with a long-standing business and should disclose more information to the public. In addition, the allegations mention the possibility of a fraudulent investor in Telegram, not for Block.One. It believes that this is a rather severe lawsuit. It is not just a matter of paying for EOS, but asking for a ban on its issuing of tokens. Of course, this may not have a large-scale inflow of its tokens. related.

In addition to paying the money, there is a view that in order to send money, Telegram may also choose to abandon US investors, thus bypassing the SEC's regulatory fence.

In response, some lawyers claimed that the team of Telegram founder Durov also realized that another way he could seek to solve the problem was to return the investment to its 39 US investors. After that, regardless of whether or not the SEC approved, Durov You can continue to issue tokens.

However, as far as Telegram's current performance is concerned, it has a strong willingness to comply compared to abandoning US investors.

Some insiders told reporters that as a Telegram with wide influence in the traditional field, it is not a wise move to choose to avoid supervision. It believes that since Telegram can be blocked by Russia, it can also be blocked by other countries. It has not been blocked, but it has not been threatened to those countries, or the degree of influence is still relatively small.

In fact, the positive response of the SEC is not all bad for Telegram. According to Telegram, in the past 18 months, it has been consulting the SEC for feedback on TON, and after this incident, it may promote further communication between the two. Earlier, some sources said that the team of Telegram founder Durov was confident to resolve all disputes with the US SEC during this time.

It is worth mentioning that the court hearing for Telegram is scheduled to be held in New York on October 24. Prior to this, Telegram plans to stop making further comments to the media or investors.

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