Hester Peirce, a US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) commissioner, has criticized the SEC's action against Telegram.
Peirce told Blockchain Association Singapore that she refused to support the settlement against Telegram's TON blockchain project because she did not support the underlying action.
"I do not support the message that distributing tokens inherently involves a securities transaction. What the SEC’s Telegram complaint cast as evidence of an illegal securities offering—that “the project would require ‘numerosity’: a widespread distribution and use of Grams across the globe,” I see as a necessary prerequisite for any successful blockchain network," Peirce said.
Peirce — also known in the crypto community as 'crypto mom' — said the settlement had produced an unsatisfying result — the abandonment of the project.
"I also found it ironic that the settlement included $1.2 billion in disgorgement, which will go to repay the initial purchasers, the people the district court determined were an integral part of the securities law violation," the commissioner added.
In May, the Co-Founder of Telegram Messenger Pavel Durov announced the closure of the Telegram Open Network (TON) project.
As the main reason for the closure Durov cited a US court which "stopped TON from happening." Durov also reminded the US court declared that Grams couldn't be distributed not only in the United States, but globally.
Previously, the TON developers announced they will stop supporting the TON test network.
The remaining TON validators will be shut down on August 1, so network participants must save all their relevant data and stop their testing processes.
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