Telegram has been forced to abandon its cryptocurrency initiative, with its founder Pavel Durov blasting the US for seeking to crush any attempt at decentralization in order to maintain its global financial dominance.
Telegram founder and St. Petersburg native Pavel Durov announced the move in a post to his own Telegram channel on Tuesday, stating the crypto project – the Telegram Open Network (TON) and its currency, known as “Grams” – would have to be shut down.
“Unfortunately, a US court stopped TON from happening,” Durov said, adding that the court ruled “people should not be allowed to buy or sell Grams like they can buy or sell Bitcoins.”
As the project got off the ground last year and Telegram raised $1.7 billion through sales of the future crypto, the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) sued the company in federal court, arguing it committed “ongoing illegal offering of digital-asset securities.” The agency also obtained an emergency restraining order barring Telegram from continuing to sell the currency, creating major legal obstacles for the initiative which culminated in the recent ruling.
“Today, we are in a vicious circle: you can’t bring more balance to an overly centralized world exactly because it’s so centralized. We did try though,” Durov said, adding that Washington controls the “global financial system” and can coerce ubiquitous tech giants like Google and Apple to serve its agenda.
According to the tech entrepreneur, TON was designed to “share the principles of decentralization pioneered by Bitcoin and Ethereum,” but would have superior speed and scalability when integrated with Telegram, allowing for “for an open, free, decentralized exchange of value and ideas.” The project now ceases to exist, with Durov “wishing luck to all those striving for decentralization, balance and equality in the world.”
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