Initial investors and supporters of Telegram’s 2018 ICO sale will have to wait longer to get their Gram tokens as the privacy-focused chat messaging app giant pushes back the launch of the Telegram Open Network (TON) tentatively to April 2021. Telegram lost the legal battle against the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) in March, where a temporary injunction was filed against Telegram, disallowing the firm to distribute the Gram tokens promised to its investors, both domestically in the US and overseas.
According to an investors’ letter obtained by Coindesk, due to the delayed launch and uncertainty of Telegram’s plans from here onwards, the firm is offering to return up to 72% of the funds each investor has pledged into the project. It was stated in the 2018 ICO sale that investors would be able to get a refund should Telegram not meet its intended launch deadline.
However, investors who are willing to wait as Telegram attempts to wade through regulatory waters and negotiate their case with the necessary authorities will also be rewarded next year.
“As a token of gratitude for your trust in TON, we are also offering you an alternative option to receive 110% of your original investment by April 30, 2021, which is 53% higher than the Termination Amount,” the letter reads.
The SEC has successfully created substantial roadblocks for several well-known crypto projects in the past 12 months. Facebook’s Libra was forced to revise its original whitepaper to appeal better to US financial regulators and its court battle with Canada-based Kik is currently still ongoing.
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