In what could put an end to a long saga, the US Securities and Exchange Commission announced today that it “obtained court approval of settlements with Telegram and its subsidiary TON Issuer Inc.” “Without admitting or denying the allegations in the SEC’s complaint, the defendants consented to entry of a final judgment enjoining them from …
“A US court stopped TON from happening:” with this simple explanation, VK and Telegram founder Pavel Durov announced today he is giving up his widely hyped blockchain and cryptocurrency project. This is the latest, but probably not the last episode of a saga which started in early 2018 with a controversial $1.7 billion ICO. Many unforeseen developments followed, …
Pavel Durov gives up his blockchain project, shifting the blame to US authorities Read More
[Updated May 7] Last week Telegram, the messaging app founded by Russian tech guru Pavel Durov, postponed yet another time the release of its blockchain platform TON and cryptocurrency Gram. The hypothetical launch is now scheduled for April 2021 with a clawback clause for investors. Through a controversial ICO in early 2018, Telegram raised some …
Is Telegram’s blockchain project heading to legal, technical and financial failure? Read More
Earlier this month Da Vinci Capital – a major EBRD-backed and PE firm focusing on Russia and neighboring countries – announced an investment of 100 million rubles ($1.57 million at the current exchange rate) in BitRussia. BitRussia presents itself as an international blockchain-based crowdfunding platform. It aims to put together projects and investors using distributed ledgers, asset …
Late Friday, the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) announced that it is suing two offshore entities, Telegram and its wholly owned subsidiary, TON Issuer, for holding an unregistered token sale. According to the complaint filed in the federal district court in Manhattan on the same day, Telegram sold approximately 2.9 billion crypto tokens, called Grams (GRM) to 171 buyers for a …
US stock market authority halts TON launch over $1.7 billion ICO Read More
Tech investment volumes in Eastern Europe and Central Asia were modest last year, if compared with the Chinese, US or Western European markets. However, 2018 was marked by giant corporate deals involving international players while a series of smaller venture transactions illustrated the diversity of the regional startup scene. In this review, which encompasses Russia, …
2018 Eastern Europe and Central Asia Tech Investment Overview Read More
The State Duma, the lower house of Russia’s parliament, has postponed the second reading of a long-awaited bill intended to regulate to regulate digital financial assets, including cryptocurrencies, and ICOs. Lawmakers will review the draft law “On Digital Financial Assets” during the spring parliamentary session next year, the house deputy speaker Sergey Neverov announced. In …
Russian parliament postpones adoption of digital assets bill Read More
Waves, a Blockchain solutions developer founded by a Russian team and incorporated in Switzerland, has secured $120 million to develop its project Vostok. Designed for large enterprises and public institutions, this private blockchain platform “lies at the intersection of several disruptive technologies, including blockchain, Big Data, artificial intelligence and the industrial Internet-of-Things,” according to Waves founder Alexander (Sasha) Ivanov. …
RB Partners, a Moscow based M&A, corporate finance and VC advisory, has just released the English version of its bi-annual review of the Russian venture market. The report includes a selection of articles from East-West Digital News which illustrate the industry trends in the first half of 2018. The period was marked by a certain stability, note …
Report: Venture investment grew to $262 million in Russia in H1 2018 Read More
Dbrain, a startup that “turns raw data into real-world AI,” has just raised $5.7 million from Angelvest and Bitfury Group. Two distinct deals were closed in late July, the startup’s press service told us: an equity and a private token sale, of $3 million and $2.7 million respectively, with a group of cryptocurrency traders contributing to the token sale. …
Co-founded in 2012 by Maria Dokshina, Evgeny Gavrilin and Ruslan Tugushev, Russian crowdfunding platform Boomstarter is delving into the cryptosphere. The company has just announced that it “raised $1 million in early financing as venture funds and private companies join its ongoing token sale.” While still operating its classic crowdfunding site, Boomstarter.ru, the company now aims to launch “the first …
Konstantin Khabensky, a famous Russian actor and director, has teamed up with Ilya Zibarev, the ex-chairman of the bank Russian standard, and Nick Evdokimov, the founder of ICOBox, an ICO suport service provider, to launch Cinematix. The news was reported last week by Russian business daily Kommersant. Touted as “the world’s first platform for mass-producing ICOs for …
