Telegram’s two recent Initial Coin Offering (ICO) rounds – which raised a combined $1.7 bln – are the reason behind the ban of the messaging service, as opposed to the version provided by Russian officials, which cites Pavel Durov’s refusal to provide the authorities with a way to decrypt user data, local news outlet RBK reports Friday, April 20.
According to a copy of a letter acquired by RBK, allegedly from employee Roman Antipkin of the Federal Security Service (FSB) 12th center, which supervises the System for Operative Investigative Activities (SORM), the possibility of a “completely uncontrolled financial system” is what reportedly led to the block:
“Colleagues, the story is not at all about this, you don’t understand! The story is not about the [encryption] keys and terrorism […] Pavel Durov has decided to become the new Mavrodi (Russian financial fraudster). Having launched his own crypto, we will get a completely uncontrolled financial system in Russia. And this is not Bitcoin for the marginalized, it will be simple, reliable and uncontrolled. This is a threat to the security of the country […] All the drugs, the cash, the organ trade will go through the Pavel’s crypto, and he will say, ‘I have nothing to do with it, you should ban words, that’s what terrorists use.’”
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