Neither Gram nor blockchain: investors have lost their faith in the plans of Telegram to launch Ton

Investors of the blockchain platform of Pavel Durov received a new offer from Telegram. Having studied it, some of them concluded that the Durov team abandoned the plans for launching blockchain and cryptocurrencies.

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What's happened?

On Wednesday, May 6, Telegram investors, who were able to confirm that they are outside the United States and are not citizens of this country, received a new offer from the company, two of them told The Bell.

It describes the terms of the transaction: investors are invited to issue their investments in the Ton project as a loan under 52.77% per annum - then they will be able to count on a return of 110% of their initial investments in 2021. At the same time, Telegram reserves the right to repay this loan at any time - in this case, they will receive 72% of the initial investments plus the interest on the loan, which will have time to accrue until the date of its repayment (but not less than three months of using this loan).

Last week, the Telegram team offered investors who will decide to stay in the transaction for the third time to postpone the date of launch of the project on April 30, 2021. Now, from the promise to launch a blockchain and give investors to the cryptocurrency Gram Telegram, in fact, refuses.

About whether the team of Pavel Durov is going to continue to work on the Ton project, nothing is said in the new letter. Investors with whom the Bell talked about this doubt.

What the investors say

Since April 30, investors almost every day receive new letters from Telegram, but what exactly is going to do next - do not understand, three interlocutors The Bell say.

“We tried to find out from the team. Nothing is clear to the end, but so far they say about the following: “We tried, we didn’t succeed. The truth was to give out the plan a year later, but after consultations with the organs we threw it away,” one of them retells. - Now the team only promises to return the money, but with the right to terminate the loan agreement in three months - the option is so -so. Of course, there is hope for the launch of Ton, but this is rather my personal hope. ”

“I think that for current investors they will not produce cryptocurrency in any case,” the other is sure. Whether Telegram will continue to develop a blockchain in general is difficult to say, but there is a chance that the project will pick up someone from the outside, he believes. “It is likely that in order to resolve the issue C sec the team decided to break all the old obligations,” he admits.

“It is very similar to the fact that they are moving quietly from the topic with blockchain,” says the third investor with whom the Bell spoke. “I fully admit such a scenario: Durov will sell 20-25% of Telegram shares with conditional Arab investors and will simply return the money to everyone. But I think this will not end there: there will be showdowns and courts. There were a bunch of intermediaries and many transactions did not go in the legal plane. ”

How the promises of Telegram changed

On April 30, the second deadline is the East, after which Telegram promised to launch a blockchain and distribute GRAM investors. The company was not able to do this again due to a trial in the United States in the lawsuit of the securities commission (SEC). The American regulator through the court imposed a temporary ban on the distribution of GRAM.

April 29 , the day before the offensive, Telegram sent investors a letter in which he offered investors to choose from:

• pick up 72% of investment investments now;
• Wait another year and get either cryptocurrency if the blockchain is launched, or 110% of the initial investment (in total Telegram in 2018, attracted $ 1.7 billion for the creation of TON);
• The company promised to earn money in order to pay with investors by selling part of the share in Telegram, which now belongs to Pavel Durov 100%.

On May 4, Telegram sent investors a new letter, and in two versions at once:

• American investors received a message that, due to regulatory risks, the company cannot allow them to continue to participate in the project, the only option available to them is to pick up 72% of invested now;
• Investors from other jurisdictions were invited first to confirm that they are not US citizens and are not in America. In this case, they were given the right to continue participating in the project, but on new conditions. The company proposed to draw up relations with investors as a loan at 52.77% per annum, returning it to them 110% of the originally invested amount in a year. But even a year later, the company refused to take on the obligation to issue cryptocurrency, explaining this by regulatory risks.

Where did the figure come from 52.77%? Durov's company promises to return to those investors who want to pick up their money now, not 100% of their investments, but 72% (the remaining 28% of the collected $ 1.7 billion Telegram since 2018 spent on the development of Ton). Those who agree to wait further are promised a return of 110% of the invested. If you take these 72%, then the 110%promised in a year will be more than the amount of repayment by just 52.77%. For example, if the investor invested $ 1 million in Ton, now he can get $ 720 thousand, and a year later - $ 1.1 million.

But on May 6, investors learned from the next letter that they may also not get 110% of their investments. For investors, not from the United States who agree to issue a new agreement with Telegram as a loan, an important clarification has been added: the company reserves the right to repay this loan in a year, but at any time. Then investors will receive their money back according to the formula: 72% of the attached plus commission for the actual time of using money, starting from the date of entry into force of the new agreement (but not less than three months). The commission itself will be calculated based on the same 52.77% per annum.

The representative of Telegram at the time of publication did not answer the request of The Bell.