Telegram Files New Form D with SEC Indicating $1.7 Billion will be Raised

Telegram or TON Issuer, has filed a new Form D with the Securities and Exchange Commission that indicates $1.7 will be (or has been) raised for one of the hottest initial coin offerings ever.

According to the Reg D 506c offering document;

“This $850,000,000 offering is in addition to the previous offering and was made under a claim of federal exemption under Rule 506(c) and/or Regulation S under the Securities Act of 1933. The issuers may pursue one or more subsequent offerings.”

The earlier SEC filing referenced indicated a raise of $850 million as well.

This most recent filing indicates that 94 investors have participated in the round.

The news is unsurprising as it has been widely expected that Telegram, a messaging / social media platform, has over 200 million users and is growing rapidly as 700,000 users are signing up each day, according to the company. But not all things are rosy in the Telegram ICO world.

Reports over the weekend indicate that Iran, a country with heavy Telegram utilization due to the oppressive nature of the government, will block Telegram for “reasons of national security.”

The report indicated the parliamentary committee on national security and foreign policy, Alaeddin Boroujerdi said Telegram would be replaced by a “local system.” Boroujerdi labeled Telegram as desctructive pointing to anti-government activity. Apparently there are around 40 million Iranian users of Telegram.

Additionally, the Russian government has been attempting to compel Telegram to hand over the keys to the secret garden of data collected and user information. This is something creator Pavol Durov has vowed to fight.

The rise of Telegram comes at an interesting time as the Facebook debacle has caused some users to stop using the social media platform. Some industry observers believe a blockchain based challenger will unseat Facebook as sentiment has migrated away from allowing unhindered access to user information for the purpose of selling ads and other forms of monetization.