Onetime NASDAQ vice president and banana general counsel warned the TON Community confronting launching Telegram'southward blockchain network until the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has its say.

Condom Harbor is non on SEC's agenda

Manny Alicandro, a New York City lawyer with vast feel in traditional finance equally well as in cases involving crypto assets, shared his concerns near the drastic plan put forward by the TON Community with Cointelegraph. He noted that in the foreseeable futurity, all issuers have to respect the Howey examination. This may only change:

"... if the Iii-year Safe Harbor proposal past Commissioner Peirce is ultimately canonical. With that being said, Commissioner Peirce's term expires in June 2022 and the proposed Safe Harbor is not on the SEC's rulemaking agenda. In the instance that information technology is added and put out for public comment, this process can take years to seek final blessing."

No time for rash deportment

Alicandro was referencing the announcement fabricated by the TON Community that they may launch the fork of Telegram's open-source TON blockchain, despite the unfavorable decision of the court in its battle confronting the SEC. According to the Customs'due south spokesperson:

"The community was ready for this (or another) scenario. We have several options, including the launch of TON by TCF [TON Community Foundation]. I will say more, no ane (no ane) can prevent the launch of TON".

Also, Alicandro supposes that at present is not the time for rash actions:

"Telegram has already filed a find of entreatment to the 2nd U.Due south. Circuit Court of Appeals. I wouldn't recommend that they practise anything until the 2d Circuit entreatment is decided. There is no need for urgency, especially since the world is in lockdown because of COVID-xix".

On the other hand, Alicandro believes there is no way for the U.Due south. government to prevent the launch of the decentralized open up-source network since neither TON Labs nor the TON Customs are based in the U.Southward.

Tezos sets precedent for Telegram?

As Cointelegraph reported on March 26, Telegram is seeking clarity from the SEC equally to whether the injunction prohibiting the distribution of Gram tokens applies to all investors in its Initial Coin Offering or just U.S. residents. Alicandro believes that it applies to all, citing the Tezos case as precedent:

"The Courtroom in Tezos performed an analysis of extraterritorially whereby Tezos had enough contact with the U.Southward. - server locations, marketing efforts fabricated from the U.S. that the Court determined that it had jurisdiction over Tezos".

With none of the stakeholders seemingly willing to compromise, this battle may get nasty.