As per the ban, people on the sanctions list of the US, the UK, European Union or United Nations are also barred from participating in the program. In fact, the ban applies to all people living in sanctioned territories. The document points out that such territories are now the following: the Crimean Peninsula, Cuba, Iran, the Democratic People’s’ Republic of Korea and Syria. In early January, TechCrunch reported Telegram’s plans to launch its own blockchain: the Telegram Open Network platform and Gram, its homegrown cryptocurrency. Telegram has some 40 million Iranians among its subscribers. Iran is also planning to launch its own national virtual currency, Financial Tribune reported.