Encrypted messaging app Telegram informed gram token investors that it was using banking services of Wall Street giants like BNY Mellion and Credit Suisse for transferring and storing fiats raised in the token sale.
The revelation was made in a recent court filing by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).
Last year, Telegram raised $1.7 billion by selling gram tokens, which could be utilized on its upcoming proprietary Blockchain called TON. The token sale was conducted in two rounds, which turned out to be one of the top token sales to date.
Ties with big banks
While explaining the flow of funds from the investors to the company to a group of potential investors in one of the token sale rounds, Shyam Parekh, an employee of Telegram, said: “We will receive the funds through BNY, which will forward the funds to CS (Schweiz) AG for final credit to Credit Suisse AG.”
He also provided an international banking code necessary for wiring money to Credit Suisse.
The involvement of both these Wall Street giants with Telegram’s Initial Coin Offering (ICO) ) came in the public domain for the first time. BNY Mellon, however, was also selected as the transfer agent for the Bitcoin exchange-traded fund (ETF) proposed by Bitwise, which was later rejected by the SEC.
Though the Telegram ICO was banned inside the United States, many major tech investors laid their hands on the gram tokens by benefiting from the loopholes in the system.
A number of US investors put their money on a California-based fund managed by Elysium Ventures, which ended up investing $12 million in the blockchain project of the messaging company.
Meanwhile, the SEC also requested the court to get permission from the High Court of England and Walsh to get the testimony of John Hyman, the former chief investment officer at Telegram.
