WSJ: Telegram has decided not to hold a public ICO. Durov will have enough $ 1.7 billion
It seems that the public ICO messenger Telegram will not take place. According to sources of The Wall Street Journal, the team raised enough funds during the closed sale of the tokens and now does not want to attract excess attention from regulators.
What is known?
Initially, the project of Pavel Durov planned to attract about $ 1.2 billion at the initial placement of coins. There was no shortage of those who wished, and on two closed rounds Telegram collected $ 1.7 billion. In February, developers received the first $ 850 million from 81 investors, and in March - another $ 850 from 94 investors.
Holding a public ICO can create more problems for the team. The fact is that the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and other organizations want to regulate the crypto-currency market. Nobody knows how this will happen, and companies do not want to become a victim of a failed experiment.
Why Telegram ICO?
The creators of the messenger are planning to launch the blocking platform Telegram Open Network (TON) with its own crypto currency Gram, and the funds raised for ICO will be directed to the development of the project. On the basis of the block, a decentralized payment system will be created, which can become an alternative to Visa and Mastercard. At the same time, Telegram already has a user base of more than 200 million people .