The New York court banned the distribution of Gram tokens to US non-residents

   New York Federal Judge Kevin Castel rejected Telegram's request to distribute Gram tokens to investors from other countries that are not covered by the U.S. securities laws.

Judge Kevin Castel said that Telegram could not convincingly prove that it could limit the transfer of tokens to investors in the U.S. in case of Gram distribution in other jurisdictions.

Thus, the court rejected Telegram's request, in which the company asked to clarify whether the ban on distribution of Gram tokens to investors from other countries that are not covered by the U.S. securities laws. Shortly afterwards, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) opposed the discussion of transferring Gram tokens to non-residents.

Recall that in response to an interim court injunction, Telegram proposed to introduce protection measures that would prevent U.S. investors from receiving tokens. In particular, we discussed the inclusion of a clause in the conditions of Gram distribution, which prohibits reselling tokens in the U.S..

In addition, the company wanted to add a feature to the digital wallet that would make it impossible to create addresses for American investors. However, these arguments did not convince the judge.

"Focusing on the original buyers and their agreements to buy Gram overlooks one of the central points of the Court's ruling. In particular, the fact that the entire scheme of Gram distribution originally implied the introduction of tokens to the secondary public market," he wrote.

Castel also stressed that Telegram does not really explain how the company can prevent secondary sales or legally modify the agreement to buy Gram to create this restriction.

"Essentially, TON Blockchain was designed and designed to provide anonymity to those who buy or sell Gram," he wrote.

According to Castel, investors "can simply opt out of using addresses in the United States. The order also notes that the issue of SEC jurisdiction has not been previously raised by Telegram, and it is too late to consider it at this time.

Lawyer Gabriel Shapiro said the judge obviously understands the nature of the siege, and Telegram "underestimates the importance of its request for clarity and exaggerates the effectiveness of the proposed restriction for U.S. investors.

"Apparently, Judge Castel fully agreed with the SEC that Telegram's proposals to limit the distribution of tokens to investors in the U.S. were made too late," he said. "His response to Telegram's request for clarification also demonstrates remarkable technological ingenuity and skepticism, as he acknowledged that Telegram's proposal to impose restrictions on U.S. investors through KYC for TON wallets does not limit the distribution of Gram through other possible open source TON wallets.