1.6 Billion: Telegram ICO Ups the Ante for Record-Setting Token Presale

The first multibillion-dollar token sale may be just around the corner — if reports about the Telegram ICO are to be believed, that is.

Having just concluded a record-setting $850 million ICO presale, Telegram — the encrypted messaging application created by Russian entrepreneur Pavel Durov — has sent prospective investors an email informing them that the firm will hold a second private presale, according to a report in tech outlet The Verge.

Citing anonymous sources, the publication said that the second round of the Telegram ICO presale is expected to raise nearly as much as the first one, netting the firm a total raise of more than $1.6 billion — all before the ICO even opens to the public.

But although Telegram does not appear to have any trouble attracting capital to its token sale, many traditional cryptoasset investors are remaining on the sidelines.

Pantera Capital, which was founded in 2013 and describes itself as the first US Bitcoin investment firm, declined to participate in the Telegram ICO, citing reservations about the project’s lack of transparency.