Telegram will not share its financial records with the US Securities and Exchange Commission as the case takes another turn. The company refused to hand over the details about the ICO from two years ago which was requested by the market regulator as reported in our cryptocurrency news.
After it managed to raise up to a billion dollars in two token sales in 2018 for the development of its Telegram Open Network blockchain, the company gained a lot of attention to itself. The SEC reacted instantly and halted the token sale saying that the company failed to comply with existing regulations. The situation escalated more when the SEC requested another court order to allow them full access to the financial records of the company. According to the court order, Telegram’s future coin Gram falls under the securities category and the company failed to register it as a security.
However, Telegram will not share the records:
“Defendants are now refusing to disclose the bank records concerning how they have spent the $1.7 billion they raised from investors in the past two years and to answer questions about the disposition of investor funds.”
The SEC officials stated that all of the records are essential to resolve the dispute. The records will be used to prove how Telegram operated with the raised funds when it comes to developing the TON blockchain. Gram was supposed to be launched in 2019 but it was delayed after gaining a lot of attention from the crypto community. People started speculating that this was an attempt from the company to create a scam coin. Tone Vays even commented:
“Are they creating money for the world? Or are they simply finding a way to monetize their company? If you’re monetizing your company, you’re supposed to do it through the equity space. You are supposed to give shares of your company. You’re not supposed to invent money.”
Before concluding that the Gram token could turn out to be a scam, it is worth noting that it is not the first project that got delayed. It comes from a large and established company that provides a certain level of trust. With that being said, Telegram is not doing itself a favor by declining access to the financial records thus delaying the coin release.
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