{"id":250853,"date":"2020-02-17T17:11:52","date_gmt":"2020-02-17T22:11:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/insidebitcoins.com\/?p=250853"},"modified":"2020-02-17T17:11:52","modified_gmt":"2020-02-17T22:11:52","slug":"ton-developers-weigh-in-on-telegrams-case-with-sec","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/insidebitcoins.com\/news\/ton-developers-weigh-in-on-telegrams-case-with-sec","title":{"rendered":"TON Developers Weigh in on Telegram\u2019s Case with SEC"},"content":{"rendered":"
The case between the mobile messaging platform Telegram and the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has continued to heat up since it was first announced.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Both parties have gone through the motions, trading filings, and leveling accusations in preparation for a case whose resolution could set a precedent for how financial regulators across the United States will be treating crypto tokens being released from here on out.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n The latest development in the case, however, is the entry of developers on the Telegram Open Network- Telegram\u2019s blockchain platform that houses the company\u2019s GRAM digital tokens. In an\u00a0<\/span>amicus curiae<\/span><\/a>\u00a0submitted on February 14, the \u201cThe TON Community Foundation,\u201d a non-profit organization made up of TON developers across the world, argued for the London-based tech giant and criticized the SEC\u2019s<\/a> approach to the landmark case.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n An amicus curiae is a legal document in which an entity that isn\u2019t part of a legal case offers insights into the matter at hand. While it doesn\u2019t usually factor into the resolution, the court- or parties to the case- could choose to take its suggestions into account at their discretion.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n In this particular filing, the TON Community Foundation explained that they were formed as a \u201cprofessional community of active participants in the TON project in whose interest it is to see the TON blockchain mainnet launched as soon as possible.\u201d They urged the court to immediately curtail the SEC\u2019s powers and prevent it from having oversight of Telegram\u2019s blockchain project, explaining that the agency will impose an \u201cinnovation-suffocating regime\u201d that will defeat the purpose for which both the TON and the GRAM were built.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n The report went on to criticize a review of the TON, which was given by Maurice Herlihy, the An Wang Professor of Computer Science at Brown University, for the SEC. The Herlihy report was submitted in defense of the SEC\u2019s case last December, and it made several arguments- including the fact that the tech company had misled investors by claiming that it might not support TON<\/a> after the blockchain\u2019s launch.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Herlihy also explained that Telegram hadn\u2019t provided evidence of the state of TON\u2019s development at launch, and that the company had intended to publicly distribute GRAMs (as evidenced by its sale of the token to initial purchasers).\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n In its rebuttal, the developers\u2019 explained that Herlihy was relying on a definition of \u201cblockchain:\u201d that had become obsolete since it didn\u2019t account for the prominence of smart functionality. They also hammered the professor\u2019s \u201cacademic scrutiny\u201d and \u201cunrealistic standards of pre-launch performance, security, and maturity,\u201d claiming that these standards would have destroyed projects like Bitcoin and Ethereum in their infancy as well.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Given the Foundation\u2019s affiliations with Telegram, it\u2019s unlikely that their recommendations will be adopted in the court. However, they do provide some insights as to what many in the crypto community have been saying for a while now- the SEC doesn\u2019t seem to have the best interests of the crypto space at heart.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"No Love for the SEC\u2019s Approach to Regulation\u00a0<\/span><\/strong><\/h2>\n
Academic Reviews Were Biased and Unrealistic\u00a0<\/span><\/strong><\/h2>\n