Telegram To Roll Out ‘Gram’ Cryptocurrency by October 31: Report

Despite increased scrutiny of the cryptocurrency sphere by regulatory bodies, messaging app, Telegram will still be rolling out their cryptocurrency on the 31st of October. Gram, the cryptocurrency developed by Telegram will be available to investors as scheduled and has been touted as a new online currency which will change the way online transactions are done globally. 

Gram Appears to be Right on Schedule

According to a report by NYT, three anonymous investors have confirmed that the coin’s launch is still on as earlier scheduled and Telegram will be rolling out the first batch of the coins to two-thirds of its over 300 million users by October 31st. 

The sources who wished to remain anonymous due to a signed Non-disclosure agreement also disclosed that the application is also planning digital Gram wallets and a testnet version of the Gram network will also be available in the coming weeks. 

  Although not a lot of venture capitalists and firms showed interest in the coin in 2017, Telegram was still able to raise $1.7 billion after it sold 2.89 billion GRAM tokens during the private ICO and did not need to hold a public one as earlier planned. Some of the investors in the coin includes two major American venture capital firms, Benchmark, and Lightspeed Capital. 

Telegram had in 2017 promised to deliver on the cryptocurrency by October 31 or return the investor’s money and as the clock ticks, critics are doubtful on the possibility of Telegram meeting with the deadline. 

Part of the agreement reads

“To the extent permitted by applicable law, Governmental Authorities, and technology and mobile platforms, the Parent shall use its reasonable endeavors to facilitate the use of Tokens as the principal currency used on Telegram Messenger by building TON Wallets into Telegram Messenger.”

David Gerrad a crypto analyst and critic just doesn’t “see how on earth Telegram can possibly get something compliant with regulators in place by the end of October.”

Gram’s Secrecy Might Do More Harm Than Good

The Gram cryptocurrency has not received a lot of scrutinies compared to Facebook’s Libra and Kik’s Kin mainly because the whole process has been shrouded in secrecy with very little updates made available to the public. While this appears to have taken a lot of regulatory spotlight from it, the secrecy surrounding the coin might make it harder for it to be accepted by when it is finally launched on mainnet. Gram’s secrecy might also work against its acceptance by regulatory bodies who have proved very difficult even in the face of Libra’s seemingly transparency. 

 Telegram’s owner Pavel Durov is also famous for getting into trouble with the government and has had to leave Russia as a result of this. Durov’s messaging app, Telegram is also very unpopular with some governments who view the app’s ability to send encrypted messages as a threat. The application is also very popular with protesters in societies where social media and the Internet is generally restricted. 

 The Gram currency will be operated on a decentralized network and Telegram will not be responsible for how the coins are used and will not be able to trace or control it once they have released it. This is one of the major issues regulators may have with the coin. 

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