We previously reported here
and here
about the case the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission brought against
Telegraph. In March, Judge Kevin Castel of the Southern
District of New York granted the SEC’s preliminary injunction request
preventing the distribution to purchasers of $1.7 billion worth of
cryptocurrency called “Grams,” which were going to be allotted upon the
launch of Telegram’s TON blockchain. Judge Castel then denied Telegram’s
request that the injunction be limited so as not to have extraterritorial
effect.
Telegram
appealed just Castel’s decision. On May 22, however, Telegram withdrew
its appeal, ending the matter.
Last
month, Telegram offered the investors an exit option of receiving 72
percent of their initial investment, or loaning the amount to Telegram for a
year and receiving 110 percent of the investment in April 2021. For US-based
investors, however, only the first option was available.
Since TON is an open-source project, its entire
code has been published on Github. And, indeed, earlier this month, there
was a launch of a forked version of the blockchain, named Free TON. In
other words, the TON project may yet live on.
Author
David Zaslowsky
Email
David Zaslowsky is partner in the Litigation Department of Baker McKenzie's New York office. He helps companies solve complex commercial disputes in arbitration and litigation, especially those involving cross-border issues and Section 1782 discovery. David has a degree in computer science and, as a result, has worked on numerous technical-related disputes, including, most recently, those involving blockchain and artificial intelligence. In April 2025, Attorney Intel named David one of the top 25 blockchain lawyers in the country. He is the editor of the Firm's blockchain blog and co-editor of the firm's International Litigation & Arbitration Newsletter. David has been included for a number of years in the Chambers USA Guide and Chambers Global Guide for his expertise in international arbitration. He also sits as an arbitrator and is on the roster of arbitrators for a number of arbitral institutions. David sits on the Board and chairs the governance committee of the New York International Arbitration Center, and is a founding member of the International Arbitration Club of New York. For over 35 years, he has written and spoken often on the subjects of arbitration and international litigation.