Blockchain Association Sides With Telegram Against SEC, Says Grams Are Not Securities - Coindesk

The Blockchain Association, a U.S. advocacy group uniting the industry’s leading startups like Coinbase, Circle, 0x, Ripple and others, has filed an amicus curiae brief in the ongoing SEC vs. Telegram case. It’s the second industry’s motion in as many days to support Telegram's fight against the SEC allegation it broke the U.S. securities law by selling future tokens (called grams) for its TON blockchain to accredited investors in the U.S.  On Tuesday, the Chamber of Digital Commerce filed its own amicus brief, supporting Telegram’s argument that “digital assets may be the subject of an investment contract without being a security.”.

The Blockchain Association’s brief strikes a more straightforward note, arguing that Telegram made sufficient efforts to meet the SEC criteria, adding that the regulator's court action could harm both Telegram’s investors and the market in general. Repeating long-held concerns that blockchain and cryptocurrency companies have not received clear and unambiguous guidance from the SEC for years, the brief argues the agency's litigation against Telegram makes the situation even more gray: “The SEC’s lawsuit also raises novel questions regarding whether companies are forbidden from raising funds from sophisticated U.S. investors, under well-established regulatory provisions, to build blockchain networks.”

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