In February, Telegram, the secure messaging service, launched a presale for its cryptocurrency prior to an Initial Coin Offering (ICO) where it raised $850 million from 81 investors. Now, it appears that the service launched a second private presale where it aimed to double the previous amount. According to a report from Bloomberg Technology, the company did just this and has raised a total of $1.7 billion in March between the two sales times.
In a filing with the Securities and Exchanges Commission, Telegram says that it raised an additional $850 million from 94 investors in the second presale, which brings the total to $1.7 billion. The service said that it might “pursue one or more subsequent offerings” beyond these first two sales.
The service is looking to launch Telegram Open Network (TON), which is an Ethereum-like ecosystem with apps, services, and a store for physical and digital goods. Per the filing, it plans to use the proceeds from the ICO to fund the developer of TON.
