By
Mayowa Adebajo
April 19th, 2024
Telegram founder Pavel Durov wrote in his public channel on Tuesday that the Telegram Open Network (TON) project would be discontinued due to the company’s ongoing legal fight with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).
Founder of the popular messenger Telegram Pavel Durov said the company decided to close the TON blockchain project. Durov added that any project based on TON or using its name will not be related to the Telegram.
Unfortunately, it seems that the company couldn’t go through an endless battle with the U.S.Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).
Durov tried to explain in his letter:
“Today is a sad day for us here at Telegram. We are announcing the discontinuation of our blockchain project. How? Imagine that several people put their money together to build a gold mine – and to later split the gold that comes out of it. Then a judge comes and says: ‘These people invested in the gold mine because they were looking for profits. And they didn’t want that gold for themselves, they wanted to sell it to other people. Because of this, they are not allowed to get the gold.’”
Today’s Announcement about TON from Telegram Came as a Surprise
Those who have been following these soap know that the U.S. court made it impossible for the messaging service, used by more than 400 million users, to continue the development of Telegram Open Network.
However, even though we already wrote how TON developers, some major PoS validators, and community enthusiasts decided to launch Free TON powered by the native token TON Crystal that was believed that it will help to overcome all the issues with the SEC, today’s announcement came as a surprise.
Let’s also mention that just recently Telegram tried to convince people that it would launch TON by April 2021 and offered investors a refund of $1.2 billion, a significant part of their investment, or 110% in a year after the supposed launch of TON.
Be it as it may, Durov said today that the U.S. court declared that Grams could not be distributed even outside of the United States, because it had suspicions that the U.S. citizens may try to search for other ways to access the TON platform.
Durov therefore said:
“Sadly, the US judge is right about one thing: we, the people outside the US, can vote for our presidents and elect our parliaments, but we are still dependent on the United States when it comes to finance and technology.”
Stay Away From Ton Independent Versions
Two months ago, U.S. District Judge Kevin Castel of Manhattan issued a preliminary injunction in favor of the suit by the SEC to bar the launch of TON blockchain platform.
Benchmark and Lightspeed Capital, as well as several Russian investors, put up $1.7 billion in exchange for the promise of future Grams.
Durov warned:
“I want to conclude this post by wishing luck to all those striving for decentralization, balance and equality in the world. You are fighting the right battle. This battle may well be the most important battle of our generation. We hope that you succeed where we have failed.”
He also warned people to stay away from independent versions of TON built by third-party entities by saying:
“So be careful, and don’t let anyone mislead you.”
So, probably that’s the end of the Telegram-SEC saga.