Liquid, a Japanese cryptocurrency exchange has canceled the sale of Telegram’s soon-to-be-launched cryptocurrency Gram. This is because of the Telegram Open Network’s (TON) launch delay.
Per an announcement the exchange posted, the delay in the cryptocurrency’s issuance due to charges brought by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) forced it to cancel the sale, despite it being the first exchange to hold a public sale of the token.
Liquid said it has now started to refund investors of the token sale’s cancellation, adding that the delay in the issuance of the token violated its terms of service. According to it’s announcement:
The Gram Token Sale on Liquid has been canceled, and all funds previously held in escrow by Liquid have been returned to Liquid users who participated in the Gram Token Sale.
The cryptocurrency exchange noted that under its terms of service, it’s required to “return all funds committed by Liquid users in the Gram Token Sale due to the fact that the TON mainnet was not launched by 30 November 2019.”
Telegram’s token sale was halted by an emergency restraining order filed by the SEC, which considered Telegram didn’t properly register for the $1.7 billion initial coin offering.
The parties will meet in court at the next hearing, which is scheduled for February 18-19, 2020.