Soon after missing the April 30 deadline to launch the Telegram Open Network (TON), Telegram sent another letter to its investors. In the new letter, Telegram reportedly said that American TON investors will not be able stay in the TON project for another 12 months. American TON investors will be only eligible for an immediate 72% repayment instead of a 110% refund option in April 2021, Russian news agency RBC reports on May 4. Telegram had to retract the 110% option due to regulatory uncertainty in the U.S. The news comes after Telegram offered to refund its investors on April …

After years of unsuccessful efforts to block Telegram in Russia, the country’s government is now considering lifting the ban due to the coronavirus outbreak. According to an April 22 report by Russian news agency Kommersant, two deputies at the State Duma have prepared a draft bill on terminating the ban of Telegram’s encrypted messenger app in Russia. If you can’t beat it, join it In the bill, the State Duma deputies reportedly argued that Telegram has become an “official service” used by state authorities to raise awareness about the measures to mitigate the COVID-19 pandemic. The officials elaborated that local …

A group of international Telegram Open Network (TON) contributors have submitted a court document criticizing United States regulators’ line of attack against the project. The group has formed a non-profit association, “The TON Community Foundation,” and collectively submitted the brief on Feb. 14 in the form of an amicus curiae. An amicus curiae is a brief that offers expertise or insight into a given case on behalf of an entity that is not formally party to the case itself — i.e. an entity that is neither a plaintiff, defendant, nor legal counsel for either side. The court can decide whether …

A Feb. 3 paper authored by Nikolai Durov, a Telegram co-founder, lays out the details of Telegram Open Network’s consensus mechanism, named Catchain. The proposed solution is a Byzantine Fault Tolerant (BFT) Proof of Stake (PoS) algorithm, similar to that used by NEO or Cosmos. BFT algorithms are attempted solutions to solve the Byzantine Generals problem, where actors of a particular network need to maintain its functionality even if some nodes are unreliable or malicious. How Catchain works Catchain will work for as long as one third of nodes are not malicious, which is equivalent to the theoretical limit outlined …

On Jan. 27., the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) fortified its case against Telegram, saying its Gram token is worth less than donuts. The SEC’s counter In the latest in their battle with Telegram and the Telegram Open Network (TON), the SEC argued in a memo to the Southern District Court of New York: “Telegram offered and sold Grams as securities when it promised to deliver them in exchange for funds pursuant to the Purchase Agreements. That reality will not have changed if the Court permits Telegram to deliver Grams to the Initial Purchasers as part of a broad public …

Pavel Durov, founder and CEO of major encrypted messenger Telegram, argues that Apple’s cloud service iCloud is “now officially a surveillance tool.” Citing a Jan. 21 Reuters report, Durov claimed that applications like WhatsApp — which rely on iCloud to store private messages — are “part of the problem.” Telegram CEO delivered his verdict in a post on his official Telegram channel on Jan. 21: “iCloud is now officially a surveillance tool. Apps that are relying on it to store your private messages (such as WhatsApp) are part of the problem.” Apple dropped its end-to-end encryption plans for iCloud two …

In the latest chapter of Telegram's legal battle with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), the firm’s founder Pavel Durov will give a deposition along with two Telegram employees. On Nov. 25, District Judge P. Kevin Castel of the New York Southern District Court ruled that the deposition will take place on Jan. 7 or 8, 2020, at a location agreed upon by the relevant parties. Ilya Perekopsky, vice-president of Telegram, will testify as well. Perekopsky’s deposition is set for Dec. 16, 2019. The deposition of Shyam Parekh, a Telegram employee engaged in the $1.7 billion Gram (GRAM) …

A new report on the Telegram Open Network (TON) by Russian research agency Aton — published today, June 14, on Cointelegraph — reveals new details about one of the most anticipated projects in the crypto space. TON is a blockchain platform developed by encrypted instant messaging service Telegram, which is widely regarded as one of the primary means of communication within the blockchain and crypto community. The blockchain network reportedly aims to gain wide usage due to the active, crypto-friendly Telegram community. According to the report, TON will facilitate internal payments, host decentralized applications (DApps) and provide wallet services, among …

Liquid’s intention to sell encrypted messenger Telegram’s token, GRAM, is not connected to the company, a source close to Telegram told Cointelegraph in private comments on June 11. As Cointelegraph reported earlier Tuesday, cryptocurrency exchange Liquid had announced that on July 10, it would be the representative of sales of Telegram’s GRAM tokens for Gram Asia. Gram Asia is allegedly the largest holder of the token in Asia, Liquid’s press release notes: however, a source close to Telegram noted that it was the first time that they had heard of Gram Asia. The source close to Telegram has stated to …

Global messaging app Telegram has reportedly launched a private beta testing of its blockchain, Telegram Open Network (TON), Russian media outlet Vedomosti reports on April 11. According to Vedomosti, Telegram has opened access to a testing version of TON Blockchain to a limited number of global developers, including Russian dev teams. Citing two anonymous persons who acquired the early access, the news agency reported that the dev teams were enabled to set up TON Blockchain nodes. While testing has not provided any specific outcomes, the unnamed testers revealed that the TON Blockchain has demonstrated an “extremely high transaction speed.” However, …

The most popular social media platform in Russia, VKontakte (VK), is considering developing its own cryptocurrency, local news outlet RNS reported on March 28. Per the report, an unspecified person familiar with the company’s plans told the outlet that the project involves the creation of individual cryptocurrency accounts for all the users of the platform. Still, the article also claims that the firm has not yet made a final decision about whether or not to launch the coin. According to the report, RNS has obtained a presentation from the VK that shows how one of the ways users would be …

Purchase agreements for messenger service Telegram’s Gram tokens will be terminated if the Telegram Open Network (TON) does not launch by October 31, 2019. An apparent purchase agreement with the said terms was obtained by Cointelegraph on Feb. 21 though the Telegram channel Tgram, devoted to news about the TON network. The agreement details the legal niceties of Gram token purchases, outlining regulations for different jurisdictions in regard to the distribution of the tokens. Notably, it states that, should network not be released by October 31, 2019, the contract will be considered null and void. While the document provides the …