Telegram investors have turned down the offer of a refund on their investment in the TON ICO despite an injunction by the SEC delaying the launch of the network.
Telegram, which is an important part of the crypto ecosystem due to its encrypted communication abilities, has been embroiled in a dispute with the US Securities and Exchange Commission, which argues that its planned blockchain, Telegram Open Network (TON), is a security, meaning the ICO was actually illegal. The commission issued an injunction last week preventing the company from launching TON as planned this month.
As a result of the injunction, investors in two separate ICOs have been offered the chance to receive 77% of their initial investment back, but have instead decided to back Telegram’s blockchain plans and have accepted an extension on the launch of TON until April 30, 2020.
“We are happy to share with you that we have successfully obtained the consent of a significant majority of investors in both the Pre-Sale and Stage A to extend the deadline for the Network Launch to 30 April 2020. We would like to thank everyone for your support. This extension allows us to proceed with the necessary regulatory work described in our last e-mail,” according to an email sent from Telegram to one group of investors.
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Telegram began raising capital to fund its blockchain project from two separate offerings, which took place between January and March of last year. The company reportedly raised $1.7 billion USD from the sale of 2.9 million Grams. One billion of these tokens went to a group of 39 US investors, meaning approximately $424 million of Telegram’s capital came from the US, which falls under the jurisdiction of the SEC.
A court hearing was due to take place today on the question of whether Grams constitute a security, but that has now been pushed back until February 19, 2020.
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