Telegram, the encrypted instant messaging service, has made USD $ 1.7 billion in its initial coin offering (ICO). This amount, considered as the biggest ICO funding of history, will be used for financing the development of its blockchain, and named TON – which will include its own token, the “Gram”.
The milestone was made public via an offering document filled for the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). Taking into account that these last months have been tough for cryptocurrencies due to the market becoming bearish, there has been no obstruction for several tech giants – like Google and Telegram – to turn their attention to development of these economics alternatives, and taking the decision of investing.
It is important to highlight, that an ICO allows investors to buy such digital assets long before they start circulating, establishing initial details of its economy in the process, like for example, how many virtual coins will be available when released in the cryptocurrency world.
For its part, the aforementioned milestone of the messaging company was achieved via two offerings; the first one launched on February with a 600 million dollars goal, exceeding expectations by raising $ 850 million with 81 investors; and the second one began at the end of March, reaching the same amount but with 94 financiers.
Such results highlights even more if compared to previous records on the matter, such as the case of FileCoin, which raised over $ 257 million in September 2017; or Tezos, with $ 232 million collected in July 2017. Furthermore, the company has made public its willingness to “make one or more subsequent offerings,” restricting participation to those willing to invest at least one million dollars.
In relation, it is envisaged that the Gram coin will, in principle, be used exclusively by Telegram, to make it easier for users to purchase it within the app without having to use credit cards, thus avoiding being tracked by traditional methods.
In addition to this, it is rumored that Telegram’s founder Pavel Durov, intends to extend the ICO to reach an already stipulated target of 2.25 billion USD, which suggest both the success of this token and a premature death, since by accumulating too much capital, it can cause the opposite effect and reduce its value.
Coming weeks will be very important for the cryptocoin, due to the company having to make the decision of extending the funding or releasing the currency so the app can use it.
