While there has been increasing clampdown on ICO ads on different platforms in the world to reduce the potentials of ICO, messaging app Telegram has revealed it has successfully generated $1.7bn according to a public document it shared with its community. This is a big boom for Telegram, a messaging app that has not made a dim before its ICO was released. In a Form D release sent to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on Thursday, the founder aired that the fund generated were “purchase agreements for cryptocurrency.”
Telegram is potentially viable
In late February, Telegram made known that it has generated $850 million in the first ICO phase. The amount came out to be the largest raised in the history of token sales till date. Then it on Thursday says it has doubled the generated fund. The last $850 million raised is an addition to the previous $850,000,000 generated in late February, which confirms that the messaging app has gone beyond the targeted amount, accruing $1.2 billion in a short time.
The SEC filing revealed that the accrued fund is to be used for the development and maintenance of Telegram Messenger, TON Blockchain, and for other miscellaneous activities described in the ICO materials.
With the ICO investors undisclosed, the secured messenger app, which Telegram founder, Pavel Durov branded as encrypted and hack proofed has 180 million users, with 40 million from the Middle East Iran. It as well attracts more than half a million every day.
Telegram and Scam: Any Link?
The yielding result of Telegram’s ICO which many branded as a scam is surprising. Analysts have weighed in on the ICO saying it is laden with atoms of scam, and may not have a good end in the long run. Forbes contributor, Jason Bloomberg, maintains that “it is scam among cryptocurrency scams”.
Gregory Klumov, CEO and Founder of STASIS, says Durov “would’ve eventually run out of money,” and “therefore he opted for an ICO as a mechanism to raise funds without getting outside investors into Telegram’s shareholder capital.”
Travis Scher, Vice President of Investments at Digital Currency Group also sees the ICO as an intellectual scam.
“It really felt like it was one of these start-ups that’s burning through cash and needs a way to bring money in to keep funding their operations.”
Telegram, according to the platform policy, is said to be a non-commercial project. Telegram, prior to this time was not intended to acquire revenue, the platform says it will never sell ads or accept outside investment. This is one of the reasons enthusiasts say it is a new generation scam.
“It also cannot be sold. We’re not building a “user base”, we are building a messenger for the people.”
The platform was managed directly with Durov’s fund, until recently when the game changed. After it changed to a platform where income would be generated, many have raised concerned on what the money would be used for, and why it has to declared it is going into cryptocurrency.
Meanwhile, it is no news that there are many a number of encrypted messaging apps available for download, the possibility of Telegram becoming a viable name in the crypto space is slim. On that point, it is also real that Telegram lacks a business model for the fact that it was built majorly not for profit. However, it is becoming a dependable messaging app due to its standardized security and privacy account.
The CEO and founder of 3.0 Capital says “Telegram is my crypto world…It’s one of the first things I check in the morning and one of the last things I do at night.”
Going by the recent clamp down on ICO ads, Telegram has the potential to be the next space where crypto news would be announced on the go. Ryan Gilbert, Partner at Propel Venture Partners in a sentiment made known that “Telegram users are really at the epicenter of the whole crypto boom…Secure messaging should be free for everyone.
Nonetheless, the news that Telegram is having a yielding ICO is beyond a shock to those who believe the messaging app does not need to come close to offering coin to investors. Telegram was regarded a scam, but it is becoming a big market, suddenly. It has high potential of becoming another cryptocurrency boom, rather than the said ticking time bomb many level on its coin, when the ICO was first announced.
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