
Telegram Raises Target for Biggest ICO Ever to $2B - uptown
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-01-18/biggest-ico-ever-is-said-to-grow-as-telegram-targets-2-billion
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mehrdada
Durov had hoped working with the Iranian government and caving to their
requirements would give him free rein over that market where Telegram was
popular. After eventually facing backlash and blocking from there and
realizing that strategy is not sustainable, so they are essentially pivoting
to something that makes money quickly for them. I don't think there's a more
sophisticated strategy to look for here. Capitalize on the brand, if it is
really worth anything, and cash out.

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hal9000xp
I find a bit suspicious about this ICO. There is no official information about
ICO, there is no whitepaper. Or we are went so far that whitepaper is not
needed anymore?

It took me two months to read about Tezos project and its founders before I
decided to put tiny amount of money into this project (and it still have huge
problems with foundation which I couldn't predict).

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beaner
I don't know enough about it, but maybe it's not a technically novel ICO.
Maybe the coins just represent a type of equity?

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tptacek
Being simultaneously brazen about probably being on the receiving side of a
zero-sum game for retail investor cash _and_ in any kind of network-effect
business (a messenger surely counts) seems like a solid recipe for a heavily-
subscribed ICO.

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diimdeep
Durov just playing with everyone and raising hype.

BTW I submitted white paper, but it didn't make front page
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=16149979](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=16149979)

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meritt
Anecdotally, I don't know a single person in my network who uses Telegram but
I know numerous people who use Signal (including some very surprising non-tech
folks). Is this a common trend or do I just have a really weird network?

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benbreen
I know about 30 people who use Telegram but 25 of those are Iranian. Seems to
be more popular in countries where VPNs are common, I'm told because Telegram
uses less data.

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ReverseCold
The apps are also really nice. Every platform has it's own native application
that runs fast and feels great to use.

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jaequery
not a bad marketing strategy, sure got everyone's attention!

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sillysaurus3
It's kind of strange to see how Telegram and Coinbase turned out. HN was
practically hyperventilating against both of them. (I was a part of that
rabble.)

The words had merit, but it's weird to see that they didn't really matter.

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JumpCrisscross
I mean, why not?

It is unlikely courts will impose support, fiduciary or other requirements on
Telegram, _ex post facto_ , in respect of these tokens. Telegram could cash
out the proceeds to pay a massive dividend and then call it a day ( _i.e._ pay
salaries, dabble, and take lots of vacation days). It might be contested. But
on what grounds?

I think Durov is an honest actor. But what says Durov calls the shots a year,
or five years, or ten years from now? In any case, if you have to trust Durov
to be nice, what is the point of a decentralized architecture?

 _Disclaimer: I am not a lawyer. This is not legal nor investment advice._

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Grazester
Durov has made claims about Whatapps in the past that was not very honest if I
remember correctly

