Telegram poised for new cryptocurrency offering
By Neil Dennis
15:00, 10 January 2018
Messaging app Telegram is poised to leap onto the crytocurrency bandwagon later in the year with a so-called "initial coin offering" (ICO).
Differing financial goals have been reported by several media organisations that sees the WhatsApp competitor seeking to raise anywhere between $400m to an ambitious $1.2bn.
Last year's largest ICO was Filecoin, which raised about $252m, according to the data storage company founded by Juan Benet of Palo Alto.
The Financial Times says that it has seen a white paper from Telegram that specifies a $500m target to fund the creation of a blockchain platform that would allow payments through its app.
Coindesk, meanwhile, cites "three people familiar with the offering" to claim a $1.2bn target is sought, which would represent the largest crypto token sale in history.
The proposed Telegram Open Network is an ambitious project, says coindesk reporter Brady Dale.
It would seek "nothing short of decentralising online communication with a suite of services from file sharing to anonymous browsing, purchasable with the new crypto tokens".