Many people were excited when Telegram announced its TON blockchain venture. Two and a half years later, the venture has been officially cancelled, allegedly due to pressure from US regulators. 

It was seemingly a matter of time until Telegram’s blockchain would be scrapped.

No TON Blockchain After All

Initial delays in delivering on the blockchain effort did not go over well with investors.

Not too long ago, the team even offered partial refunds to early investors due to additional production delays.

Yesterday, the entire TON blockchain venture was officially scrapped.

That also means that the native Gram cryptocurrency will not see the light of day.

According to a blog post, a US court has disrupted the entire TOR blockchain project.

The judge ruled that no one should be able to sell or buy Grams like they do with other cryptocurrencies.

Moreover, the issuance of Gram would never be allowed to happen.

It is a very problematic turn of developments, at least from a legal perspective.

At the same time, it may force companies to embrace existing crypto assets, such as Bitcoin and Ethereum, rather than creating their own.

What will happen next, is anyone’s guess.

Telegram has officially pulled out, but the TON code may be used by others at some point in the future.