Telegram on track for $1 billion ICO?

Will Telegram make good on their $1.2 billion ICO?

It has been reported that this just may be the case. A recent report to the SEC claims that the messaging company has raised $850 million, which is far and away the most money that has been raised by an ICO. The next two highest amounts raised by an ICO are $200 million and $150 million. And the interesting part is that this is only the beginning; this presale of the Gram token was aimed at whales and hedge funds and was expected to net $600 million. They beat that number by almost 50% and there is going to be another, public sale that was expected to net another $600 million. If the public has as much interest, they could be looking at over $1.5 billion! That will not only set a new record for the most amount raised, previously $200 million, but will set the bar pretty high for the future!

What this may mean for the future

Telegram is an example of an established company with an established product not only incorporating blockchain technology into their business model, but expanding into the space to create a whole ecosystem. This could be the model for other companies in the future. With the amount of money that they have generated already other companies should be paying close attention, if not making plans to launch their own ICOs. This is the kind of money that could really change a company. If Telegram is successful and does everything that is outlined in their whitepaper then we could be looking at the evolution of established business models as we know them. The whole ideas of blockchain technology can make the business cheaper to run and the fact that investors are willing to dish out that much money to help evolve and expand the business makes it practically a no brainer for any company looking to incorporate this technology. Or to entice other companies that had no intention of doing so start to consider the move to the blockchain. If Telegram is successful, this may be a huge step towards universal acceptance of cryptocurrency in general and may make the stodgy old banks start to take the movement seriously and start to work with the tide not against it. Which could mean huge influx of money to protocol coins as their blockchains are used for implementation and also Ripple/XRP being that it is sort of go between for fiat and crypto for institutions. Check out my article on Ripple/XRP as a potential stop gap crypto.

If Telegram is not successful somehow than this could also turn into the largest media FUD that we have seen so far. Forbes is already alleging that the ICO is a scam and has brought up questions for people to consider. The article takes the stance that the team is young, the homegrown security software is relatively untested when compared to more seasoned protocols, and that this is just a free way to fund a company that is designed not to make money. Read the article for yourself for a counterpoint. The one point that they brought up that I thought was the most unfair was talking about all the scam websites that have popped up alleging to be the way to get in for the average investor. This kind of thing happens all the time is not a reflection of what Telegram is doing; that is why you have to do your due diligence and make sure you are well informed before making any investment in the crypto space. As the saying goes, a fool and their money will soon be parted.

Conclusion

However this turns out, I will be watching this closely. I believe we could be experiencing a genesis moment here for the crypto space and the integration of blockchain technology into current business models. We are in living in the formative years of this movement and much like the internet back in the 1990's, the things that happen now could set the tone for accepted practices and resonate through history. We are living in very exciting times indeed!

Check out my other crypto posts:

Here We Go Litecoin!
Big Gains for Ripple on the Horizon
If You Can't Fight 'em, Join 'em: Salon Offers Ads or Bitcoin Mining
XRP (Ripple): The Gateway Crypto

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