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Telegram wallet temporarily blocks access to UK users due to restructuring

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2024-09-26 01:08:12
Telegram announced that due to the company's restructuring, Telegram wallets for UK users will be temporarily restricted until the company registers as a crypto asset provider with the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA). Users can still withdraw funds to external wallets for free during this period.
Telegram said it registered as a crypto-asset provider to comply with existing regulations. Meanwhile, the platform's decision to share user data, including phone numbers and Internet Protocol Addresses, with law enforcement under a "valid legal request" following the policy change has raised concerns among privacy and anti-censorship advocates. Pavel Durov, Telegram's founder, has defended the measures as designed to protect users from criminal activity.
In addition, Telegram announced that it would disable the personal geolocation function and change it to the "nearby merchants" option, and stop supporting the "Telegraph" blogging tool because some users misused the platform to spread illegal content. Durov stressed that most users did not take advantage of this feature, but a small number of criminals posed a threat to law-abiding communities.