CFTC Joins the Telegram Vs. SEC Case, Shedding Light on Likely Verdict

The United States Commodity Futures Trading Commission has recently weighed in on the Security and Exchange Commission's ongoing legal battle with Telegram by filing a letter that contained its views on the case.

On Feb. 18, court documents revealed that an anonymous venture capital firm - known simply as Investor F in the documents - requested authorities to redact a few pieces of evidence that had been submitted as part of the first court hearing between the SEC and Telegram.

The SEC might be trying to make an example out of Telegram.

Following the CFTC's recent involvement in the SEC vs. Telegram case, a number of people are beginning to wonder if regulatory authorities in the United States are making a concerted effort to slow down the progress of digital currencies in America.

Sidharth Sogani, founder and CEO of research and intelligence company Crebaco Global, told Cointelegraph that the SEC and CFTC are concerned about the case because of the size of the Gram token's initial coin offering and the number of users Telegram has.

"According to Telegram, the firm's number of monthly active users will cross 1 billion by 2022. The SEC and CFTC don't want 2.9 Billion Gram tokens flooding the markets, because as of today they are locked, but once released they could go beyond their control."

Now, in regards to Telegram's groundbreaking ICO that took place a couple of years back, it is now public knowledge that TON, or Telegram Open Network, was able to raise a whopping sum of $1.7 billion by selling around 2.9 billion Gram tokens - which the company claims are utility tokens.

Even though Telegram had set up base in the British Virgin Islands for its ICO, the SEC was able to intervene in the matter because the firm raised money from American citizens.

These conditions have not been clarified in detail, and thus Telegram does have a case on its side.

"Telegram's token is not a security ideally, because it's not like a share which gives ownership to the shareholder. It is a utility token which can be redeemed against the services of Telegram or its blockchain Telegram Open Network. The SEC is claiming that because it raised from American investors, it shall be under the regulations which are for STOs. Even if we consider Gram to be a digital token/currency it will still fall under CFT's guidelines."