SEC's Court Hearing on Telegram Token Delayed Till Next Year

The messaging app company and the SEC will now meet next February to debate the regulator's claim the gram token is a security.

AccessTimeIconOct 19, 2019 at 12:35 p.m. UTC
Updated Sep 13, 2021 at 11:35 a.m. UTC

Telegram will have to wait to make its case to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) that its "gram" token is not a security.

According to the latest court filing (see below), the hearing on the case has been postponed until Feb. 18–19, 2020, pushed forward from an Oct. 24. slot.

The judge hearing the case, P. Kevin Castel, ruled that Telegram should not distribute its tokens before that date, and not until the court makes its decision on the case. Earlier this week, Telegram committed to delaying the launch of the TON blockchain project and gram issuance to the project's investors until April 30, 2020, so it had time to deal with the SEC's concerns.

In a court filing and emails to TON investors, Telegram disagreed with the SEC that grams are securities, expressing frustration over the agency's late motion to halt the upcoming late October launch.

On Oct. 11, the SEC has obtained an emergency restraining order to halt the launch of TON. The hearing at the Southern District Court of New York was then scheduled for Oct. 24.

As it postponed the launch, Telegram further offered investors the chance to approve the date change, adding that if the majority of gram holders disagree with the delay, they will receive 77 percent of their investment back.

SEC image via Shutterstock

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