Giant chat application Telegram lost its legal battle with crypto regulators in the struggle to launch cryptocurrency project to the public.
Telegram slated April 30 for the launching of its blockchain, Telegram Open Network (TON), but has been postponed till further notice due to the ban placed by an American court on Telegram from sending Gram tokens to people who participated in the Token sale. The action of the court was due to the intervention of the SEC.
A Russian media outlet reported the news after speaking with two contacts close to Telegram confirmed the news. The media claims that it has seen newsletters that Telegram sent to its investors informing them about the postponement.
Telegram's founder, Pavel Durov, must now keep fulfilling his promise of returning 72% of Telegram Open Network investor's stake if the project did not launch by April 30. If that be the case, Durov will have to return a massive 1.7 billion dollars to Gram Token investors.
The newsletter states that Durov is going to return 110% of investors stakes if they are willing to wait until next year. The letter also added that the chat giant plans to settle its debt by selling off the equity in case the project fails to get approval from the SEC before April 30, 2021.
Telegram continues to liaise with the Security and Exchanges Commission to secure approval for the project.
Source: Cryptonews
