March 29, 2024

Court requests CFTC to express opinion on SEC v. Telegram

U.S. Judge Kevin Castel has asked the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) to expressOpinion on whether Gram tokens are securities or “consumer goods”.

Judge District Court of the Southern District of New Yorkordered CFTC lawyers to provide their own thoughts on the Telegram ICO at an upcoming trial or in writing. The question is whether Gram tokens are securities.

United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC)insists that yet unreleased tokens were sold to investors as securities, as users purchased them in order to further profit. However, Telegram has a completely different opinion, arguing that after the release of Gram will only be internal TON platform tokens.

"Unlike gold, comic books and donuts,There are those consumer goods to which Telegram equates its tokens, they have no intrinsic value,” the SEC sarcastically stated in a court memorandum, insisting that, according to the Howey test, Gram tokens have the characteristics of securities.

In a statement, Telegram challenged thesearguments, emphasizing that she never positioned her tokens as an investment tool, and in all presentation materials it was indicated that the token's value proposition is to be widely distributed after the launch of the TON platform.

CFTC previously stated that digital assets fallunder the definition of "consumer goods", however, the lawyers of the Commission have not yet expressed their opinion on the Telegram ICO. It is reported that the next hearing in this case was rescheduled from February 18 to 19 due to the delay in another trial.

Let us remind you that last month in support ofTelegram spoke to the human rights group Blockchain Association, proposing that the SEC clarify the interpretation of the concept of “digital assets” and in what case they can be considered securities.

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