Page 29 - BNE_magazine_06_2020 Growers

bne June 2020 Companies & Markets I 29
happened with TON (the mine), its investors and Grams (the gold). A judge used this reasoning to rule that people should not be allowed to buy or sell Grams like they can buy or sell Bitcoins.”
Durov had promised to return most of the $1.7bn to investors if he missed the deadlines, and until recently the investors were happy to wait. In the latest delay Durov offered to return 72% of investment to anyone that wanted to pull out now or 110% of the original investment if they would wait until the new planned launch date on April 30, 2021. Most investors said they were willing to wait. Durov is covering the part of the money already spent with his shares in Telegram, which is not listed but estimated to be worth north of a billion dollars.
The new delay was announced last week and Telegram
wrote to the TON investors, saying they could ultimately receive “Grams or potentially another cryptocurrency on the same terms as those in their original purchase agreements.” However, the company said further progress depends on how the talks with the relevant authorities go. It appears those talks have gone sour.
E-grocery surges in April, could more than triple in 2020
bne IntelliNews
The volume of orders for grocery deliveries online surged in April and could more than triple this year, according to the data released by e-commerce consultancy INFOLine, released on May 13.
INFOLine’s data for the first quarter this year and April’s trading results surged and could rise 3.3x to RUB135bn ($1.8bn) in 2020, with the express delivery channel to top RUB30bn ($406mn), almost quadruple the RUB700mn of sales in the same period a year ago.
“In March-April, the demand for online food shopping surged after lockdown restrictions were imposed, while client acquisition costs diminished. Express delivery mimics the service of the convenience format and was particularly
The US court's decision to ban TON was global, as the judge said that US citizens might go overseas to use it. That opens the possibility of US sanctions on international investors if TON was launched in another jurisdiction like Europe and in effect puts a global ban of the launch of the blockchain.
“And yet despite that, we have made the difficult decision not to proceed with TON,” Durov said in the statement. “Sadly, the US judge is right about one thing: we, the people outside the US, can vote for our presidents and elect our parliaments, but we are still dependent on the United States when it comes to finance and technology (luckily not coffee). The US can use its control over the dollar and the global financial system to shut down any bank or bank account in the world. It can use its control over Apple and Google to remove apps from the App Store and Google Play. So yes, it is true that other countries do not have full sovereignty over what to allow on their territory. Unfortunately, we – the 96% of the world’s population living elsewhere – are dependent on decision-makers elected by the 4% living in the US.”
Durov did not mention if or how he would return the $1.7bn invested in the ICO in the statement.
April’s e-grocery trading results surged in April and could grow 3.3x to RUB135bn ($1.8bn) in 2020.
popular in densely populated areas. The key players saw April sales comparable with 1Q20, while leading players Yandex. Lavka and Samokat reached comparable turnover of RUB850- 900mn, according to the agency,” reported VTB Capital (VTBC) in a note.
“In the medium term, e-grocery could be the most rapidly increasing segment of e-commerce, but turnover of RUB135bn in 2020 would still represent only 0.8% of the food retail market. Within online FMCG goods, INFOLine notes the leading position of Ozon in 1Q20, with turnover of RUB6.1bn. The roadmap for the e-grocery transformation is presented
in our E-Grocery sector – Quarantine canteen, of 8 April,” VTBC added.
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