The lawsuit of the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) against the owners of the Telegram messenger and the TON blockchain platform , which turned out to be in the public domain, revealed many facts that were not previously known.
Mostly they relate to the issue of the digital currency Gram, but there are also those that are related to the Telegram messenger and its actual owners – Pavel and Nikolai Durov. Here are some of them.
In the spring of 2018, Telegram talked about an audience of 200 million unique users per month and has not shared such statistics since. According to the SEC, to date, the number of monthly active users has increased by half – up to 300 million people. It should be borne in mind that these are estimates that are not confirmed by the Telegram administration, and may not correspond to reality.
Telegram attracted 39 US investors to the project of its digital currency and sold them more than one billion coins, receiving $ 424.5 million from them. SEC considers these transactions to be illegal.
Some TON investors remain in the shadows and are unknown.
In total, $ 1.7 billion was raised from investors from around the world to develop the TON blockchain network, the Gram cryptocurrency and the Telegram messenger. Of this amount, about $ 218 million was spent, the rest of the money is in Telegram's reserve. Part of the money spent went to the personal needs of the owners of Telegram, which is provided for by agreements with investors. $ 520 million of the amount of attracted investments will be spent in 2019 – 2021 on the development of the Telegram messenger.
Telegram conducted the initial issue of Gram coins in order to prevent speculative fluctuations in the exchange rate.
When concluding transactions, the team of Pavel Durov promised investors a return of 10-50 times.
The recommended price of the Gram coin at the time of launch is $ 3.62. Subsequently, the course may change.
The first Gram investors can’t sell coins right away, it’s supposed to have a lock-up period: selling tranches at a maximum of 25% 3, 6, 12 and 18 months after the launch of the platform. There are no such restrictions for later investors.
TON and Gram marketing was initially dealt with by Pavel Durov. Who is currently promoting these projects is unknown.
Pavel and Nikolai Durov intend to receive 100 million Gram coins.
To popularize the Gram, Telegram users are planned to give out 250 million coins. This is supposed to create a liquid market.
Pavel Durov has two citizenships (Russia, Saint Kitts and Nevis), and his brother Nikolai has only Russian citizenship. Both live in the UAE with the Telegram development team.
SEC has sued the Telegram Group and TON Issuer and is trying to achieve a ban on the sale of Gram to US residents, and also wants to invalidate previously completed transactions.
The launch of the TON platform and the Gram digital currency was scheduled to take place before October 31, 2019. The lawsuit from SEC forced Telegram and TON to turn to investors with a proposal: to postpone the start of projects until the end of April 2020 or to receive a return of about 77% of the invested funds. Agreements with investors provide for a complete disclaimer in the event of force majeure, which includes injunctions and claims from regulators.
Publication date 10/18/2019
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