Telegram Breaks Silence on TON and Gram as SEC Battle Continues

Telegram is currently locking horns with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) after the regulatory body swooped in and blocked the launch of TON in October last year. The TON ICO, which garnered $1.7 billion in private investing, was declared an Unregistered Digital Token Offering right before it was due to launch. This has led to a back-and-forth battle between the SEC and Telegram — with the latest coming together seeing the former demanding Telegram reveal how the $1.7 billion was spent.

Telegram: Grams Are Not for Speculators

One of the first things Telegram has looked to clarify about its blockchain project is that the associated token, Gram, is not intended to be a get-rich-quick scheme. The blog post outlines that the token is not an investment product and that there should be no expectation of future profits or gains. This looks to be a line clearly aimed at the SEC, which is often on the hunt for such securities that do offer these promises. More so, Telegram outline that owning Gram tokens is not the same as owning shares in the company and was at pains to state that Gram tokens are not being bought, or sold, as of yet.

A Decentralized Blockchain

One other concern that has been garnering much speculation has been the issue of Telegram’s control over TON and the Gram tokens. As the parent company, which led a private investment round, many feel that Telegram will have a heavy hand over the control of the project. The company refuted this by stating that it is creating a decentralized platform and the company will have no obligation to maintain it and/or may never maintain it.