Telegram was ordered to halt sales of Gram after it allegedly failed to register an early sale of $1.7 billion in tokens before the launch of its Telegram Open Network.
Investors at Da Vinci Capital, a private equity management firm are reportedly demanding compensation for Telegram’s failed launch of their Telegram Open Network (TON). Da Vinci Capital, which is a major investor in Telegram’s $1.7 billion initial coin offering reportedly sent a letter before claim (LBC) to Pavel Durov, CEO of Telegram on March 1, revealing plans of pursuing legal actions against Telegram and its TON Inc.
Da Vinci Capital is reportedly demanding $100 million in compensation from Telegram and other firms involved in the failed Gram initial coin offering. Telegram was ordered by the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) in October last year to halt sales of Gram ( Telegram’s cryptocurrency) after it allegedly failed to register an early sale of $1.7 billion in tokens before the launch of its Telegram Open Network. Telegram stated then that the funds were dated back to 2018 and were raised from a series of pre-ICO offerings. It however ended up canceling the much anticipated ICO partly due to intense scrutiny from the SEC.
The SEC also accused Telegram of violating US Security laws by allowing Americans to participate in its series of pre-ICO’s in 2018. Telegram officially pulled the plug on its TON project as well as its Gram tokens in May 2020 after legal battles with the SEC.
Telegram was ordered to pay back $1.2 billion to investors according to a US court ruling in 2020. Durov, the CEO prior to the court ruling already had a reimbursement plan in action, refunding up to 72% to some investors. Durov’s reimbursement scheme proposed either an immediate 72% refund or a 110% refund in the next 12 months, due in April 2021. Reports suggest that the majority of investors opted for the immediate 72% refund but it is still uncertain as to how many investors are waiting on the 110% refund.
In the latter stages of 2020, Pavel Durov rebuffed claims that Telegram was involved in discussions about investments and financing. He however revealed that Telegram received multiple loan offers from numerous firms. Durov later published an official post on new monetization strategies for Telegram, revealing that the company’s messenger could see billions of users if they received proper funding.
“Taking a loan is one of the possible ways for Telegram to remain fully independent and true to its values whilst executing the monetization strategy I outlined in December”, the CEO wrote in an official chat.
Telegram was reportedly planning to raise at least a billion dollars in a private bond placement to a specific number of investors across Europe, Asia, Russia and the Middle East.
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