American Blockchain Association Intervenes In Telegram Conflict With SEC

The Chamber of Digital Commerce, an American nonprofit organization advocating blockchain rights in the United States and Canada, has petitioned for its appointment as an independent third party in the Telegram case against the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The petition already submitted to the CourtListener database.

The Chamber of Digital Commerce was founded in 2014. This is the largest blockchain association in the world – it represents the interests of more than 200 companies that work in the cryptocurrency industry. The organization deals with the issues of cryptocurrency regulation, compliance with anti-money laundering and terrorist financing requirements, and also trains specialists for both blockchain companies and government agencies.

In September last year, Christopher Giancarlo, the former chairman of the US Commodity Futures Trading Commission, joined the Chamber as an advisor.

The organization does not hide that it does not know whether Gram tokens should be recognized as securities. However, she insists that an asset cannot be considered a security just because it is the subject of an investment contract, as the SEC insists.

The petition says that “it is impossible to identify the subject of an investment contract with the investment contract itself.” The Chamber believes that when conducting the Howey test, which is used to identify signs of an investment contract, it is necessary “to pay attention not to the nature of the underlying asset, but to the facts and circumstances of the proposal.”

It is not known whether the court will satisfy the organization’s request. Recall that the hearing on this case is scheduled for February 18. SEC accuses Pavel Durov of selling unregistered securities. The agency demanded to disclose the financial statements of the company – the court granted this petition.

At the end of last week, the SEC announced the correspondence of Telegram employees in which they talk about Gram tokens as a security. In addition, Durov himself was interrogated with partiality – the SEC investigator interrogated him for at least 16 hours. On January 15, both parties made mutual petitions – they asked the court to consider the case in an expedited manner.

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