Crypto-research firm, The Block, breaks down the drama behind the Telegram ICO that culminated in the SEC sueing to stop Telegram, Inc. and Ton Issuer, Inc from continuing an “ongoing illegal offering of digital-asset securities called Grams.”
Does this have anything to do with today’s SEC/FinCEN/CFTC statement? While it's hard to know if the timing was a coincidence, this lawsuit was filed on the same day as a joint policy statement on AML and anti-terrorism reporting and compliance requirements for the digital asset industry under the Bank Secrecy Act. Although this Complaint does not allege any BSA violations, it does note as a concern militating in favor of stopping the distribution that Telegram will have no access to KYC/AML information for users of future services and that it's "uncertain whether identification of parties to transactions in the secondary market for Grams will be ascertainable."