Judge makes clear that Telegram cannot sell GRAM tokens even outside of the US.
Telegram is also unable to sell Grams outside of the US, even after the company argued that the tokens would not reach US investors. The New York judge, however, found those claims insufficient as Telegram was unable to adequately address them.
How I know reported, Last week, the US District Court officially halted the sale of Gram tokens following a lawsuit filed by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). Telegram, the firm behind the future blockchain-based project, asked the court to clarify the exact requirements of the SEC. More importantly, if this ban applies to Gram's non-US investors as well. The company promised that they will take the necessary steps to ensure that the reselling of the tokens to US citizens does not happen.
[amazon box="B00R6MKDDE"]Telegram is still unable to advance with TON
Now, the protracted battle between Telegram and the US authorities has taken another adverse turn for the popular encrypted messaging app. United States District Judge P. Kevin Castel of the Southern District of New York, denied Telegram's claim, as it found two vital flaws:
First, Telegram does not explain how the imposition of these new restrictions would be legal modifications of the Gram Purchase Agreements signed in 2018. Second, and more fundamentally, the TON Blockchain was designed and is intended to grant anonymity to those who buy or sell. grams… Therefore, any restriction on to whom a foreign Initial Buyer could resell Grams would be questionable in the world real.
The judge added that American investors could decide "simply refuse to have an address in the United States«. In January of this year, SEC revealed internal correspondence suggesting that Telegram knew that the upcoming Gram token would be a security. Judge Castel once again pointed out that this exact status is causing the problems, regardless of whether the token sale is taking place outside or inside the US:
Transactions involving securities that are not traded on a domestic exchange are domestic if irrevocable liability is incurred or title is transferred within the United States.
