In last spring, Telegram, the ubiquitous encrypted messaging app, held the largest initial coin offering (ICO) in history. The ICO aimed to raise funds for the development of Telegram's blockchain platform, called TON (The Open Network). The primary focus of the ICO was the TON token, which was supposed to be the native cryptocurrency of the TON ecosystem.

Telegram's co-founder and CEO, Pavel Durov, had announced the plans for Telegram Open Network in 2018, and the company raised an astonishing $1.7 billion through the ICO. The funds were raised over a period of about two months, during which time Telegram sold TON tokens to over 1.5 billion registered investors from all over the world.

At that time, the Gram token was expected to become a widely accepted and used cryptocurrency in the TON ecosystem. The TON network was supposed to be a community-driven platform that would enable developers to create blockchain-based applications and services. Telegram aimed to create a network that would be extremely secure, with the potential to process a large volume of transactions per second.

The sale price of the native cryptocurrency was set at $0.033 per unit, telegram官网 but the token sale saw several rounds. During the pre-sale round, high net worth individuals were offered Gram tokens at $0.38 per unit, but the public sale price remained the same.

However, the TON project faced many bureaucratic hurdles. The US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) launched an investigation into Telegram's ICO, and in October 2020, the SEC ruled that the TON tokens were securities. The court ordered Telegram to pay a fine of $18.5 million and banned the company from selling Gram tokens in the United States.

As a result, the TON project was put on hold until further notice, and the future of the Gram token is still uncertain. The SEC's ruling dealt a significant blow to Telegram's ambitions for a decentralized blockchain platform.

While the TON project is currently on hold, Telegram continues to be one of the biggest messaging apps in the world. Despite the challenges faced by the company in the blockchain space, its user base and revenue continue to grow.

In conclusion, the Telegram ICO was one of the most highly anticipated events in the history of cryptocurrencies. The Gram token was expected to become a significant player in the cryptocurrency market, but the legal issues faced by Telegram have cast a shadow over the future of the TON project.