Editor's Note: This article comes fromCaijingOnchain Finance (ID: CaijingOnchain), Author: Chen Yi, reproduced by Odaily with authorization.
Editor's Note: This article comes from
CaijingOnchain Finance (ID: CaijingOnchain)
CaijingOnchain Finance (ID: CaijingOnchain)
, Author: Chen Yi, reproduced by Odaily with authorization.
On the evening of April 29, Telegram sent an open letter to its investors. The open letter shows that Telegram will postpone the release of its blockchain project TON for the second time, and the new launch date is tentatively scheduled for April 2021.
It is reported that when Telegram first postponed the listing time of TON on October 17, 2019 to April 30, 2020, Telegram stated that if most investors do not agree to the extension, the company will return 77% of the investment funds. A majority of investors voted against the refund, pushing back the tentative sale date by half a year.
When the postponement announcement was released this time, Telegram also stated that if investors do not want to wait for more time, Telegram will return 72% of the investor's investment.
Some people believe that the 5% gap is caused by Telegram's team expenses in the past six months.
According to the information sent to investors when Telegram first delayed the project, investors who had previously raised funds (those who purchased tokens in February 2018 and investors who purchased tokens in March 2018) need to approve whether to agree to the extension. It was decided that Telegram plans to spend an additional $80 million by April 30 if the deadline for issuing coins can be extended.
At the same time, Telegram also introduced another option, that is, investors do not recover their investment, but lend this part of their investment to Telegram in the form of a loan. End investors will receive 110% of the original investment.
According to data previously released by the U.S. court, Telegram raised about $1.7 billion in 2018 from 175 investors including Benchmark and Sequoia Capital through GRAM tokens.
Therefore, if no investor is willing to support the extension of the Telegram project this time, Telegram will need to return approximately US$1.224 billion to investors.
According to a previous report by Chain Finance, Telegram’s business has been in a state of burning money, and the source of funds mainly depends on its founder Pavel Durov’s earnings from other businesses and funds obtained from financing.
According to statistics, Telegram burned $70 million in 2017, mainly for server fees, user verification, and employee salaries. This expense is expected to continue to increase as the size of the team and infrastructure continues to grow. According to the Telegram white paper, starting from 2018, Telegram spends an estimated $620 million in four years.
It can be seen from this that if all investors choose to "cut meat" to withdraw from the project and get back 72% of their investment, Telegram may have difficulties in paying.
According to Telegram's white paper, by April 2021, due to project development, Telegram will consume about US$300 million in fundraising. If investors choose to continue to wait, Telegram must pay investors approximately US$1.87 billion in principal and interest before April 30, 2021.
