Telegram accelerated its demise by “refusing to disclose the bank records concerning how they have spent the $1.7 billion they raised from investors in the past two years and to answer questions about the disposition of investor funds” [1].

[1] https://finance.yahoo.com/news/sec-claims-telegram-refuses-s...

I thought David Gerard's summary was better: https://davidgerard.co.uk/blockchain/2020/03/24/telegram-ico... & https://davidgerard.co.uk/blockchain/2020/03/30/news-telegra...

Another way this battle could be avoided is if they didn't issue these tokens in the first place.

Is there any reasonable argument for why the world is or will be better off if Telegram gets its way and these tokens exist? Is there any reasonable argument as to why they got almost $2 billion dollars besides intentionally creating a product to further financial speculation?