The US Securities and Exchange Commission has stopped the spread of Gram, Telegram’s digital currency. As a result, the crypto coins cannot be distributed in the United States, and possibly elsewhere in the world.
The financial watchdog published a statement on its website explaining that the issuance of so-called Grams, with a value of $1.7 billion, has been stopped. According to the SEC, Telegram should have registered its activities as a cryptocurency or digital token, but has not done so, making it an illegal activity.
About a billion Grams have been sold in the United States, according to the SEC, and Telegram has promised to ship them out before the end of the month, or else give investors their money back. Telegram wanted to raise a sum of money with the release of its digital currency to further develop its blockchain technology. It is unclear whether the development of the technology is now at risk; Telegram has not yet responded.