Telegram closes its ICO: blame for the arrival of new rules?

Telegram closes its ICO: blame for the arrival of new rules? Analysts ready to blame SEC's new rules.

Telegram has canceled plans for its public ICO, for reasons that are still unclear, although analysts believe it may be the consequence of increasingly stringent regulations in the sector criptovalutario.

In particular, with reference to what happened, the Wall Street Journal reported how the current regulatory context had strongly changed the "rules of the game" for Telegram, causing the company to end up being checked by authorities such as the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Though Telegram for the moment it does not seem to have responded to the numerous requests for comment in this regard, observers seem to be particularly convinced that the main reason behind this behind the front is precisely the attitude of the SEC, which in March launched an investigation into more than one a dozen companies involved in raising funds through ICOs, lest the scammers try to take advantage of the growing interest in the sector.

On the other hand, in 2017 alone more than $ 6 billion has been raised through ICOs, with around 12 billion dollars collected overall since the launch of the first operation, four years ago. About 2 billion dollars belonging to this figure come from small private investors.

Analysts have questioned the credibility of some businesses, while a recent study suggested that over 80 percent of all ICOs were actually fraudulent. Of course, this does not mean at all that the ICO was to be considered a scam, but the context still seems to be quite unfavorable.

Clearly, the closure of the public ICO doesn't mean at all that Telegram will interrupt his plans (indeed). A whitepaper published earlier this year described Telegram's cryptocurrency, Telegram Open Network (TON), as an asset that can overcome the limits of other major virtual currencies such as Bitcoin. In particular, using a more efficient blockchain technology than that of its more established rivals, TON would improve transaction times and related commissions, while allowing the 200 million Telegram users to make payments with it.