The Cryptonomist had the exclusive chance to conduct an interview with the investors of the Telegram TON token sale and we found out that a part of these investors are thinking about organizing a class action against Telegram.
For privacy reasons they wanted to remain anonymous, but the following represent the replies of a group of investors which are very annoyed and upset with the Telegram’s team, especially after the latest news of the lack of tokens.
How did you succeed in participating in the TON Token Sale?
In our team we always had excellent relations with the crypto world and with some Telegram officials. We liked the project since the beginning and we trusted the Telegram Team. It supported all values we see in the blockchain revolution.
The project was (and is) sound and well realized. The project, announced in 2017, received a first round of financing that we were not able to participate due to lack of time, and succeeded to support the second round of the funding.
What were your expectations for a project of this size?
We expected that it would have succeeded in creating a new excellent blockchain ecosystem. And the project did indeed reach excellent results, with the token working well in the test environment.
We expected that the legal framework would’ve been done “better” and would have avoided all the problems faced with the SEC.
I think that while scientists, programmers, economists, mathematicians did a great job, the lawyers were not at the same level. We expected to receive the tokens and we expected to be treated with more consideration and respect from the Telegram team.
We funded the Gram project and also the messaging platform, allowing it to double its users in 2 years, and now we are being liquidated at a loss without any consideration.
The fact that the official channels/blog of Telegram have never discussed the token sale and everything was somewhat secretive, didn’t scare you? How did you know that everything was true?
The project was not “secret”, it was a strategy and to accelerate the process it was reserved to qualified counterparties. We always received excellent communication at the beginning, until the SEC case. While we respect the need to treat the case discreetly, we, as investors, cannot accept to be treated this way. We financed the development of Gram and we are getting nothing.
Now that you have not received tokens, but you have to decide whether to lose 28% or gain 10% in 1 year what do you think you will do? Will you proceed legally?
There is no certainty of “gaining” 10% in one year, as the loan is callable after 3 months. Telegram can also call the loan in August with a loss of 18% for the project financers. Furthermore, we financed the project to receive Grams not to have a loan to the messenger platform. We asked Telegram to reconsider their position because we are without doubt not happy.
We are in contact with other investors that are organizing a class action against Telegram and we might join them soon.
In any case the most important point is that if Telegram is not going to review its offer, whether investors will accept or act in court, it will lose any credibility as a company and jeopardize the relationship with members or any stakeholders in the future. I do not think Telegram will never be able to qualify for an IPO.
Before the official announcement of the freezing of tokens, did you consider it could’ve happened? Did you try to exit the investment?
Never, we were regularly updated that the token and the platform was working very well so that we were expecting the issuance of Gram even if maybe limited to non-US purchasers (because of SEC). We never considered it as an investment but as a purchase of a future token and we never tried to find exit solutions.
