The United States’s Securities and Exchange Commission, or SEC, has filed a proposal for final court judgement in regard of the terminated Telegram Open Network project. In a proposed final judgment filed on June 25, the SEC has asked the New York Southern District Court to order million dollar penalties to multiple defendants related to the case. “Defendants are jointly and severally liable for disgorgement of $1,224,000,000,” the SEC wrote in the proposed judgement. As of press time, the judgement has been received by the court. Although the court has “reviewed and approved as to form” the proposed judgment, it …

Telegram, a major privacy-focused messaging app, has suffered a data leak that exposed some personal data of its users on the darknet. A database containing the personal data of millions of Telegram users has been posted on a darknet forum. The issue was first reported by Russian-language tech publication Kod.ru on Tuesday. According to the report, the database contains phone numbers and unique Telegram user IDs. It remains unclear exactly how many users' data was leaked while the database file is about 900 megabytes. About 40% of entries in the database should be relevant Telegram has reportedly acknowledged the existence …

In a sudden turn of events, Russia’s communications watchdog — Roskomnadzor — issued a public statement on June 18, announcing that it has lifted its ban on the popular messaging app Telegram. This decision comes after a two-year period of the Russian government unsuccessfully attempting to block the popular social media messaging app and its various activities within its borders. On the matter, a number of local media outlets claimed that the reason behind the move was the government’s incompetence to curb Telegram’s use within the country. However, a spokesperson for Roskomnadzor made it clear that that the decision was …

After years of unsuccessful efforts to ban Telegram in Russia, local authorities have finally decided to cancel the ban on the major encrypted messenger in the country. Russia’s Federal Service for Supervision of Communications, Information Technology and Mass Media, also known as Roskomnadzor, has officially lifted the two-year-long ban on Telegram. In an official statement on Thursday, Roskomnadzor said that the authority has removed requirements restricting the access to the Telegram messenger in agreement with the Prosecutor General of Russia. Announcing the news, Roskomnadzor outlined that the regulator commends Telegram CEO Pavel Durov’s willingness to confront terrorism and extremism. The …

Telegram founder, Pavel Durov, lashes out at Facebook and Instagram for making money off of scammy ads that use Durov’s name and image. Through his Russian Telegram channel on June 17, Durov accuses the tech giant of turning the deaf ear to user complaints: “For over a year, Facebook and Instagram have been making money off of advertisements promoting scams that are being launched from my name. <...> These machinations are approved by Facebook’s moderators, which allows them the status of advertisement, thus misleading people.” Facebook has enough resources for political censorship One of the scams cited by Durov was …

Pavel Durov, founder and CEO of popular messaging app Telegram, has purportedly resumed his charity activity soon after terminating Telegram’s blockchain project. Known for philanthropic activity, including a $1 million donation to Wikipedia, Durov has donated 10 bitcoins (BTC) to a charity project in Russia. The coins are worth around $96,000 at time of publication. Donation will help people facing financial difficulties due to coronavirus The new donation intends to support a project backed by political activist, Yegor Zhukov — who established himself as a symbol of anti-Kremlin protests. The donated Bitcoin will be spent to help people facing financial …

TON once stood for “Telegram Open Network,” but has changed its name to reflect the messaging giant’s departure from the blockchain project. The project will simply be known as “The Open Network” going forward. Telegram officially terminated its involvement in Telegram Open Network in mid-May 2020. Although Telegram’s version of TON is no longer moving forward, it has given rise to other projects like Free TON and NewTON. The name change was planned from the beginning TON’s white paper revealed that the project’s name has two different meanings — “Telegram Open Network,” and “The Open Network”. Revealed in early 2018, …

On May 12, Telegram officially terminated its involvement in its planned blockchain project, the Telegram Open Network, and its corresponding GRAM token. Apparently ending its long-running legal battle with the United States’ regulators, Telegram still needs to sort out $1.7 billion raised in an initial coin offering, or ICO, in 2018. Prior to abandoning the troubled TON project, Telegram CEO and founder Pavel Durov introduced a reimbursement scheme, offering TON investors two choices — immediate 72% refund, or a 110% refund in 12 months. Major $70 million investor is preparing to quit with 72% According to a May 16 report …

Dr. Steven Waterhouse, a founding partner of Pantera Capital and the CEO of Orchid (OXT), believes that the U.S. government will not let a private enterprise challenge the dollar. In an interview recorded prior to Telegram announcing it had given up on its blockchain project, Dr. Waterhouse said the U.S. government perceives cryptocurrencies issued by companies with hundreds of millions of users as a real threat to the dollar: “The idea that some random startups are going to build their own stablecoins, perhaps with hundreds of millions of installs of a messenger client, whether it's Facebook or Telegram or someone …

Per a May 12 message from Telegram CEO Pavel Durov, the company is calling it quits on the Telegram Open Network (TON) and the linked Gram tokens following a lengthy battle with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission. After announcing the TON network and Gram token back in 2017, Telegram is now officially terminating its involvement with the project, Durov said. U.S. court breaks sovereignty of global jurisdictions, Durov argues In the post, dubbed “What Was TON And Why It Is Over,” Telegram CEO said that they made the decision in response to a U.S. court prohibiting Telegram from …

In a May 7 post, Telegram founder Pavel Durov called the United States a “police state” and discouraged entrepreneurs from moving their businesses to Silicon Valley. Perhaps exhausted by the legal battles around Telegram’s beleaguered token offering, Durov berated the U.S. in his latest post “7 Reasons Not To Move To The [Silicon] Valley.” In the post, he criticized it both as a place to do business and a place to live. The post was only announced in Durov’s Russian language Telegram channel and was published in Russian. Telegram was pressured by FBI The number one reason, in Durov’s opinion, …

Free TON Community, an independent group of developers and users, have just launched a free version of the Telegram Open Network, or TON. During the launch event on May 7, community members answered major questions about the Free TON Blockchain launch. At the launch Zoom call, a number of users were wondering whether the Free TON Blockchain represents a fork of Telegram’s original TON. According to a key community member, the Free TON Blockchain should not be referred to as a fork. “There is no network to fork” Mitja Goroshevsky, CTO at TON Labs — a third-party group of TON …