The settlement, which was reached on June 11 and effectively ends a six-month court fight with the agency, also indicates that the messaging platform will be responsible for a $1.22 billion disgorgement that is offset by $1.19 billion paid as “termination amounts” in investors purchase agreements and the amounts that some investors loaned to Telegram earlier this year. Telegram has 30 days to pay the SEC penalty and up to four years to pay back investors, under the settlement.
Additionally, Telegram should notify the SEC if the company wants to issue “‘cryptocurrencies,’ ‘digital coins,’ ‘digital tokens,’ or any similar digital asset issued or transferred using distributed ledger technology” at any point over the next three years. The notification – which is not request for an approval – should come 45 days prior to the planned issuance, the settlement reads.