How far can a preliminary injunction from an American court reach? The answer to that question is everything for Telegram'due south embattled TON blockchain project.

TON has been nether legal fire since shortly after the SEC became aware of its token sale. The drama is ongoing as recently every bit this week, when a federal district court judge issued a preliminary injunction confronting Telegram for its x-figure initial money offering. The allegation is that Telegram'southward GRAM token, operating on the TON blockchain, was illegally existence sold as a security, and the guess effectively took the SEC's side on the case.

Filing an opinion with the New York Southern Commune Court, Approximate P. Kevin Castel wrote this week that "the SEC has shown a substantial likelihood of success in proving that Telegram's nowadays plan to distribute Grams is an offering of securities under the Howey exam."

The Howey test is a legal yardstick used to determine if a fiscal instrument meets the definition of a security — to laissez passer the Howey exam is to be named a security (and therefore be subject to regulation).

Now Telegram'due south lawyers are firing back with their ain paperwork in lodge to larn more than. They wrote a letter to the judge to ask nigh the injunction in particular.

(The) Defendants respectfully seek to clarify whether the scope of the preliminary injunction set forth in the Social club applies but to Purchase Agreements with U.S.-based investors. We capeesh the Court's attention to this matter and are available should the Court require more information regarding this asking.

In other words, their question is: does this injunction apply only to ICO investors based in the US, or to anybody?

Telegram raised $1.7 billion during its ICO, and a distinct majority of that money came from outside US borders. If the injunction only applies to US-based investors, it's theoretically feasible for Telegram to launch TON anyway without American money.