Telegram Launches Test Gram Wallet In Defiance of SEC

Most people know Telegram as the encrypted messaging platform many people use on a daily basis. However, they’ve been dabbling in the creation of their own blockchain with its own cryptocurrency and have added an early test app of their “Gram” to macOS, Windows, and Linux 64 bit.

A New Crypto

Users are capable of downloading the app on their website. They will be able to get their keys on the TON testnet and use the 24 seed words it provides along with your own password to facilitate payments. With all this under the belt, users will be allowed to send a test version of the grams token.

The app greets new users with the mandatory praise of the blockchain network, stating that the wallet is under their control and no bank or intermediary will be involved in its transactions. Since this is just a testnet, users can gain new grams by talking to the special Testnet Telegram bot to send you any amount of tokens between 5 and 20. While the transactions were relatively quick, the bot makes a habit of warning you that the transaction times will rise as traffic rises.

A Good Start

The TON blockchain project was started by Telegram and raised a whopping $1.7 billion from investors through a closed token sale that happened last year. It was scheduled to launch earlier this week on the 31st of October, but due to the SEC’s meddling they were forced to delay it. The TON team already sent the code for a validator node, a block explorer, and a full node. These actions indicated that the blockchain was still well in development.

The project also released its wallet app’s terms of use at the start of October. They asked investors to share public keys via TON’s key generator and the developers stated that the same generator is built within the app, speaking through their community chat groups.

SEC Interference

The app’s release date was forced to be postponed by the SEC suing Telegram and its TRON blockchain. The reason for the lawsuit was that the SEC deemed the Gram cryptocurrency as an unregistered security. They subsequently demanded that the court should bar Telegram from delivering their tokens to investors because of it.

The court dates were postponed to February 2020, and Telegram managed to convince its investors to unanimously vote for a delay in the release date. Telegram was so confident in its release that it actually promised all the investors a refund if they did not launch in November. It took a few votes to have all the investors stay and not enact a refund as well as delay the launch until the 31st of April, 2020.

The future of Gram is semi-clear, and will mainly be determined by the results of the court case that happens in February. Even if Telegram is not allowed to give tokens, the eventuality will be that blockchain technology will play a significant part in the technology and financial industries. All the SEC will do by forbidding Gram is delay the inevitable.