Pavel Durov's blockchain platform should be launched on April 30, otherwise, the founder of Telegram will have to return the money to investors. However, his plans are still unknown due to a lawsuit with the U.S. regulator.
On March 25, the Southern District Court of New York granted the request of the SEC against Telegram. Then, judge P. Kevin Castel stated that in the $1.7 billion collected from investors, the court sees unregistered securities. Thus, the court granted the petition of the U.S. regulator that considered that Durov’s company violated federal law.
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The final verdict on the blockchain platform of the Durov brothers was to be issued on April 30, but experts did not give a chance for a successful outcome for TON. A few days before the deadline for the release of TON, U.S. litigation is still pending.
If TON does not launch before April 30, Durov promised to return 72% of the investments – he was going to spend the remaining 5% on the further development of the project.
New York-licensed attorney at Buzko Legal and head of the firm's U.S. law practice, Evgeny Krasnov, explained that the proceedings were being delayed for objective reasons. Although a decision was made on a preliminary ban on the release of Gram cryptocurrency, Telegram immediately filed an appeal in March.
Telegram filed a motion for an expedited review, and the proceedings are ongoing in the court of appeal. However, the SEC opposed, and for the court, there was no reason to decide on this case before April 30.
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Krasnov explains that the deadline on April 30 is conditional because it has already been moved at least once. Telegram may once again try to negotiate with investors and postpone the launch to a later date. There is not enough time for consideration until April 30, because according to the law, 90 days are allowed for the regulator's response, although the SEC agreed to meet 60 days in advance.
It turns out that the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has time until May 26 to respond to the appeal. After that, you will have to wait for the court to consider all the materials. Without the decision of the court of appeal, the trial court will not be able to continue consideration.
Investors do not know what to do, and it was previously reported that at least 10 TON investors are ready to leave the project and get their investments back.
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Other investors are sure there will be anything, but not a refund. Starting a blockchain project without a court decision is fraught with a criminal case.
After a possible loss in court, experts see four scenarios. We wrote about them earlier.
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