Messaging app Telegram has rolled out a new update enabling users to create accounts using blockchain-based anonymous numbers, as opposed to cell phone numbers. Telegram already hides people’s private phone numbers from non-added users on the app, however, users will now be able to hide numbers from everyone, which is likely to please people who value privacy-focused features. The messaging platform has become a popular app for crypto enthusiasts. The move is part of a 9.2 update launched on Dec. 6, which also enables users to auto-delete timers on messages in new chats. Ultimate Privacy: No-SIM Signup, Auto-Delete All Chats, …

Telegram co-founder and CEO Pavel Durov has expressed excitement about the Telegram Open Network (TON) technology still developing after Telegram officially abandoned the project last year. “I'm proud that the technology we created is alive and evolving. When it comes to scalability and speed, TON is still years ahead of everything else in the blockchain realm,” Durov said in a Telegram post on Thursday. He noted that the project rebranded from TON to Toncoin. Unlike the original TON, the new project is independent of Telegram. “But I wish its team the same success. Coupled with the right go-to-market strategy, they …

Da Vinci Capital, a major investor in Telegram’s Gram token $1.7-billion initial coin offering, has reportedly requested compensation for the failed launch of the Telegram Open Network, or TON. Investors at Da Vinci Capital reportedly sent a letter before claim to Telegram CEO Pavel Durov, stating that the fund is planning legal action against TON Inc. and Telegram, Forbes Russia reported Monday. Citing anonymous sources close to Da Vinci, the report initially stated that the fund has demanded $100 million in compensation from Telegram and other firms involved in the Gram ICO. According to the report, Telegram now has two …

Major encrypted messaging app provider Telegram has expressed support for the mass protests in Belarus against sitting President Alexander Lukashenko. On Aug. 25, the Telegram app introduced a new animated emoji to replace the national flag of Belarus with the white-red-white flag. Opposed to the official red and green flag of Belarus, the white-red-white flag is used as a symbol of the opposition to Lukashenko's regime. With the new feature, the emoji of Belarus’ national flag automatically turns to the animated opposition flag when a single symbol is typed in a message. Telegram’s latest gesture of support for the opposition …

Most days, there is little love lost between the United States Securities and Exchange Commission and the world of crypto. As the regulator of the world’s largest capital market, the commission’s continuing work to track down sales for tokens it considers unregistered securities has left a fair bit of the crypto market viewing the commission like a boogeyman. Which is not fair. There are controversial cases, but the ICO boom was rampant with predation, fraud and theft: Exactly the sort of issues you keep a regulator around to stamp out. Right now, though, the SEC is faced with a wide …

Pavel Durov, CEO of the popular encrypted messaging platform, Telegram, has denied reports that the firm is preparing to sell the company after the failure of Telegram’s blockchain project. According to an Aug. 5 report by local tech publication iXBT, Russia’s internet company Mail.ru is one of the parties interested in acquiring Telegram. Another is an as yet unidentified Russian billionaire. The information was reportedly shared by Russia-based trader and analyst, Kirill Promzin. As reported by iXBT, Promzin predicted Bitcoin’s 2017 bull run back in 2012, even calling the asset’s eventual high of $20,000. Shortly after the iXBT’s report was …

Two icons of tech — one American, one Russian — are hard at work trying to win back the jilted governments of their home countries by stirring up concerns over foreign competitors. When nationalism meets tech In a hearing tomorrow before the congressional Antitrust Subcommittee, Mark Zuckerberg plans to portray Facebook as the American champion to meet Chinese tech. Meanwhile, Pavel Durov has waged a similar campaign to rehabilitate Telegram in his native Russia, largely by painting U.S. tech as an invading force. It’s an interesting strategy, especially since the PR for both Facebook and Telegram has historically leaned into …

In her July 21 speech for Blockchain Week Singapore, Securities and Exchange Commissioner Hester Peirce, known among the industry as ‘CryptoMom,’ spoke out on her opposition to the SEC’s recently concluded suit against Telegram. SEC action against Telegram served neither investors nor mission Peirce’s speech, entitled “Not Braking and Breaking,” emphasized the roles and responsibilities of regulators regarding innovation, particularly in the light of the case against Telegram that came to an end in June. Telegram had sold $1.7 billion in contracts for GRAM tokens, which would be the native token of the Telegram Open Network. As preface, the commissioner …

In a July 7 fireside chat courtesy of Unitize, Commissioner Hester Peirce of the Securities and Exchange Commission continued to advocate for regulatory clarity for crypto as a means of opening up capital markets to innovation. Innovation and regulation “I believe in the power of our capital markets to transform people’s lives,” said Peirce. “I wanted to make sure that our regulatory structure was flexible enough to accommodate innovation.” She noted that the the size of the U.S. economy makes its regulations critical to global fundraising: “The race to the bottom is something we should be concerned about. But that’s …

Although Telegram has terminated its blockchain project, Telegram Open Network (TON), in May 2020, the TON test net has been apparently running for almost one year. In a July 6 update, the official TON development group on Telegram announced that it would be discontinuing its support of the test network for TON. Remaining TON validators will be turned off by August 1. In the post, the TON official recommended network participants save all their relevant data and stop their testing processes. Despite the testnet being set to shut down less than a month from now, network participants will still be …

Shortly after lifting the country’s Telegram ban, Russian authorities began investigating potentially fraudulent offerings involving the company’s unlaunched token, Gram. The token was at one time meant to serve a new blockchain ecosystem known as the Telegram Open Network, or TON. Reports indicate that Russian prosecutors are set to investigate a British firm that allegedly sold fraudulent tokens related to Telegram’s terminated blockchain project. The news was reported on July 3 by the local news agency, Baza.io. According to the report, the action was brought to a local investigative committee by “several Russian entrepreneurs” that claimed to have purchased $11.7 …

Telegram, the creator of the failed Gram (GRM) token and the Telegram Open Network, or TON, was well into investor reimbursement weeks before a court in the United States ruled that the firm had to return $1.2 billion. A U.S.-based TON investor tells Cointelegraph that he got his 72% refund from Telegram in late May 2020. According to a bank statement seen by Cointelegraph, the investor received $7.2 million out of the original $10 million investment through a wire transfer. Telegram CEO says that the firm has repaid over $1.2 billion already The investor’s statement backs up Telegram’s recent announcement …