Pavel Durov – co-founder of encrypted messaging service Telegram – isn’t taking his latest defeat sitting down. The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has recently brought the company’s TON blockchain program to a crashing halt, and Durov is frustrated about the situation.
What Does the Defeat of Telegram Mean for the Future?
In a recent interview, Durov explained that the news is bad for other countries in that while they can elect their officials, they are still very dependent on the United States regarding decisions of sovereignty, and that these officials, in the end, are still unable to decide what’s right and wrong in their own governments.
He explained:
The U.S. court declared that grams couldn’t be distributed not only in the United States, but globally. Why? Because, it said, a U.S. citizen might find some way of accessing the TON platform after it launched. So, to prevent this, grams shouldn’t be allowed to be distributed anywhere in the world – even if every other country on the planet seemed to be perfectly fine with TON… We, the people outside the U.S., can vote for our presidents and elect our parliaments, but we are still dependent on the United States when it comes to finance and technology. The U.S. can use its control over the dollar and the global financial system to shut down any bank or bank account in the world… Unfortunately, we – the 96 percent of the world’s population living elsewhere – are dependent on decision makers elected by the four percent living in the U.S.
Clearly, Durov is upset that TON came to such a quick halt, but the situation also gives rise to various other questions. For example, Donald Trump is a noted non-fan of bitcoin. Last year, the president announced that he didn’t have any trust for entities like bitcoin or Libra, and that he wasn’t crazy for anything who’s value was based on thin air. He commented that there was only one major currency in the U.S., and that was the U.S. dollar.
This attack on BTC and the recent outcome surrounding the Telegram suit gives rise to fear that perhaps cryptocurrencies will be at an end in the coming years. While these fears might be a little premature, some believe the U.S. government is likely to move towards banning bitcoin and any potential competitors.
Could BTC Vanish in the U.S.?
Some, like Alex Kuptsikevich – a senior financial analyst at FX Pro – say these worries are unwarranted, as the U.S. likely isn’t concerned with the crypto space given it’s small in comparison to the world of USD and fiat. He stated:
The American regulators could very much complicate the conversion of crypto into fiat. This is not happening just because the market is small. That’s why the issue is not on the top of the agenda. Nevertheless, we cannot rule out such a scenario if the official digital dollar appears.
