U.S. Investors Ineligible for 110% Telegram Payout

Back and Forth

Telegram, the messaging app company embroiled in a drawn out lawsuit with the SEC, is stuck in an apparent back and forth.

After months of refusing to delay the issuance of their GRAM tokens any further, their minds were finally swayed, in recent weeks.  This swaying saw the decision to postpone issuance of GRAM tokens again until April of 2021.

At the same time, Telegram made a surprising move in announcing a buyback program for investors weary of the process.  Their options?  Receive 72% of their investment back now, or ‘tough-it-out’ for 12 months and receive 110% – providing GRAM tokens have not been issued.  It is believed that if a 110% payout is needed, funds would be generated through the sale of equity within Telegram.

Unfortunately however, it is now being reported that investors located within the United States will not be able to take part in the latter of the two options.

Telegram Postpones Gram Token Issuance and Offers Investors Refunds

Commentary

As reported by RBC, the following statement was provided to investors by Telegram, elaborating on their decision to restrict U.S. investor participation in the buyback program.  They stated,

“Unfortunately, based on later discussions with the relevant authorities and our lawyer, we made the difficult decision not to use the option associated with Gram or another cryptocurrency, due to the uncertain attitude of regulatory authorities in the United States.”

Second Time Around

The premise of a buyback program has been floated by Telegram before.  As early as October of 2019, the company had offered to refund 77% of invested funds.  Those affected chose to reject this offer, however, and to continue holding out hope for a positive result.

Telegram Investors Ready to Take Refunds Amid COVID-19 Pandemic

Multiple Attack Fronts

In addition to fighting their battle with the SEC, Telegram has also had to contend with New York Federal Courts; The latter of which recently ruled that if the company were to proceed with the issuance of their GRAM tokens, they would be committing a further violation of securities laws.

It is, perhaps, this recent ruling which spurred Telegram into structuring the recently announced buyback program, as the ruling had only come weeks before.

Telegram

Telegram is a company known for their popular messaging platform.  The company describes their services as a cloud-based platform, meant to provide fast and secure communications.

CEO, Pavel Durov, currently oversees company operations.

In Other News

Beyond catching our attention here at securities.io, the ongoing case between Telegram and the SEC has done the same with many others.  One such example is that of the Blockchain Association (BA).  This was demonstrated in a recently released briefing by the outfit, which essentially argued that the case was riddled with errors by the SEC.  While the SEC has since debased this briefing as being prejudiced, commentary provided by the BA is interesting to read.

Blockchain Association (BA) shows Errors in SEC Telegram ICO Case