1 August 2026
Telegram Give Up On Its Blockchain Project Following U.S. Court Order
The founder and chief executive of messaging service Telegram, Pavel Durov made an announcement on 13th May regarding the discontinuation of its blockchain platform Telegram Open Network (TON). The decision was made after following the legal orders by the court.
The US Securities Exchange Commission had compelled Telegram to shut down its TON project after several court hearings. Back in October 2019, the US SEC accused Telegram of conducting illegal security offerings.
The Telegram founder, Pavel Durov wrote a blog post in which he stated that the US court halted TON from happening.
He wrote, “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.’”
“If this doesn’t make sense to you, you are not alone – but this is exactly what happened with TON (the mine) and Grams (the gold). A judge used this reasoning to rule that people should not be allowed to buy or sell Grams like they can buy or sell Bitcoins,” he added.
Expressing the anger, Durov said that people outside the USA, can vote for their presidents and elect their parliaments but still rely on the United States when it comes to technology and finance.
The founder gave another example of the situation stating that the US can ban coffee and demanded coffee shops in Italy be closed because some Americans might go there – we doubt anyone would agree with that. The US court has also not allowed Telegram to issue its token outside the US as some American citizens might find a way to buy Grams.
Discussion
0 comments