Why are regulators not interested in the Telegram blockchain?

The news about the launch of the Libra cryptocurrency project from the social network Facebook caused a strong reaction fromAmerican and European officials. However, regulatory authorities do not show interest in the blockchain from the Telegram messenger. Employees of the Decrypt portal tried to understand this paradox.

Journalists contacted several European andNorth American financial institutions to find out their position on the Telegram Open Network (TON). The press service of the German Federal Bank said that the agency does not have accurate information about TON, so it can not express its point of view about the project. Employees of the office of the Canadian Commissioner for Data Confidentiality also refused to comment on their attitude to TON, citing the fact that the experts did not have the opportunity to test the network.

According to a spokeswoman for the EuropeanThe Central Bank, TON is another cryptocurrency experiment that has not come into the view of supervisory authorities at this stage. The press service of the European Data Protection Inspector said that the Telegram blockchain must comply with the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), while there are no plans to introduce additional requirements to the network.

TON Labs Technical Director(develops tools for the TON network) Mitya Goroshevsky believes that TON is different from Libra and therefore does not cause criticism from government agencies. According to him, the Libra blockchain will be managed by several enterprises that are part of the Libra Association. Thus, the Libra network will be centralized. TON, by contrast, does not claim to be a payment operator and is a classic decentralized blockchain.

Ukrainian lawyer Oleksandr Sinitsa claims thatTON does not violate applicable law. However, according to Sinitsa, regulators will oppose the launch of the network to protect the traditional financial system. TON Labs Vice President Pavel Prigolovko agrees with the opinion of his colleague. He argues that decentralization protects TON from sanctions because officials cannot blame a specific person. In this regard, he proposes to use the model of the functioning of the blockchain, in which most validators control the community, not TON.

During the ICO, Telegram managed to attract$ 1.7 billion for the implementation of the TON project. On September 8, the company's management published a part of the source code, technical documentation and presented a beta version of the blockchain. Less than six weeks are left until the network’s launch, as the company will have to return money to investors if the blockchain does not begin to work before October 31. In the event of a successful start, TON will become the largest blockchain in history. Over 365 million messenger users will have access to it.