As Telegram is at loggerheads with the U.S. SEC, it has delayed the launch of its new network for the second time. Now it will pay U.S. investors 72% of their inputs, while non-U.S. investors may wait for a year and receive either Grams or 110%.
On Monday, investors of Telegram Open Network (TON) received a letter from Pavel Durov‘s team that reads the company will not be paying back to its investors in gram tokens. Besides, it states that American investors will not be able to get repaid 110% of their investments in a year. Instead, Telegram will pay them 72% of their inputs.
According to the Russian media outlet The Bell, U.S. investors only have the right to claim 72% of investments back. Non-U.S. investors have another option: they may sign a loan agreement and wait for a year to receive either Telegram’s native Gram tokens or to be repaid 110% of their initial investment in case Telegram fails to launch the project.
As Telegram has explained, such discrimination results from the company being at loggerheads with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).
The letter reads:
“Unfortunately, based on more recent discussions with relevant authorities and our counsel, we have made the difficult decision not to pursue an option involving grams or another cryptocurrency due to its uncertain reception from the relevant regulators.”
Most Russian investors agreed to wait for another year to get Grams or 110% of their investment. For them, the letter became a huge relief, as they are ready to wait for as much as necessary to get a true value for their investment.
As Coinspeaker has reported earlier, QIWI founder Sergey Solonin, who invested $17 million in TON, said:
“The terms are really good, I think a lot of investors will choose to keep their money in Telegram due to the promise of additional returns.”
Telegram’s Tensions with SEC and Their Impact on TON Investors
Telegram has already postponed the launch of its new network twice. Initially, Telegram planned to roll it out in October 2019. But after the SEC started an investigation into Telegram’s 2018 $1.7 billion ICO for TON, the company delayed the launch to April 30, 2020.
The SEC said that the sale of TON tokens in 2018 qualified for unregistered securities under the Howey Test. The Honey Test determines if certain transactions qualify as investment contracts and subject to securities laws. And since then, a legal battle between Telegram and SEC has been going. In March, the U.S. court blocked Telegram from issuing its Gram tokens, supporting SEC. But Telegram was supported by Blockchain Association. Criticizing the SEC, the Association said that many crypto companies did not have proper guidance.
This April, TON Blockchain did not launch as well. Now investors hope that the project will pay off in April 2021.
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