Telegram will pay a $18.5 million fine to the Securities and Exchange Commission. The company is doing so because of the unauthorized issuance of its Gram cryptocurrency. Telegram is also paying back $1.2 billion to buyers.
The settlement between the SEC and Telegram has been approved by the court, reports the American stock watchdog. The parties have agreed that Telegram’s offer of its Gram tokens was in violation of the law. Telegram and its affiliated Telegram Open Network, or TON, had not registered as a provider of cryptocurrency or digital tokens and selling the Grams was therefore illegal.
Under the settlement, Telegram will repay more than $1.2 billion to buyers of the tokens. In addition, the makers of the chat app will pay a civil fine of $18.5 million to the SEC. In October last year, Telegram was halted by the American stock market watchdog. As a result, Telegram was no longer able to sell its crypto coins in the US.
In May this year, Telegram decided to completely shut down its blockchain platform TON and the associated Gram crypto coin. Telegram’s intention was to integrate the platform into its chat app.