Chainfeeds Introduction:
After reading the interview with Telegram founder Pavel Durov, crypto researcher starzq.eth gained a deeper understanding of Telegram's mission and the value of TON to Telegram. starzq.eth compiled the highlights of the interview and added some background information/Comments/analysis of TON.
Article Source:
https://x.com/starzqeth/status/1818075092481622443
Article author:
starzq.eth
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starzq.eth: In order to maintain independence in the early stage, Telegram did not introduce third-party investment institutions, because its mission of pursuing "free speech" may not be consistent with that of investment institutions, and Pavel can provide funds for Telegram's initial operations. However, as the number of users increased, Telegram's annual operating costs reached hundreds of millions of dollars. It was impossible to rely on Pavel to provide operating funds all the time, so a series of fundraising methods were tried. Pavel mentioned bond issuance, but what is more important is the two attempts at blockchain: - In January 2018, Telegram announced the launch of "Telegram Open Network" (TON), a high-performance blockchain that hopes to expand to millions of transactions per second and provide fast and secure decentralized payment, digital identity and other services to Telegram's more than 500 million users at the time. It raised $1.7 billion through the initial coin offering (ICO) to fund its construction. At the same time, no shares of Telegram were sold. - This ICO was stopped by the SEC in the first quarter of 2020. Telegram returned the funds to investors and paid a fine of $18.5 million. In March 2021, Telegram issued a $1 billion bond with an annual interest rate of 7-8% (which looks like an emergency response to the ICO suspension). - After the ICO was suspended, Pavel handed over control of TON to the "community". An open source developer team called NewTON took over the project and changed its name to TON (The Open Network) Foundation in 2021. - In August 2023, Telegram launched a TON-based crypto wallet that can be used by Telegram's 900 million users worldwide. So far, the price of Toncoin has also started to soar, with FDV and Market Cap both entering the Top 10. At this point, we should no longer doubt the close relationship between Telegram and TON. TON can build a strong and healthy profit model for Telegram on the basis of protecting user privacy. - Advertising creates the main profits for social networks such as Facebook/Instagram, but Pavel has been known for not liking advertising since the VK era. On the one hand, it will expose user privacy data, which conflicts with Telegram's mission, and on the other hand, it is not a good user experience. Currently, Telegram has opened advertising based on channel subscriptions, but because it cannot open user privacy data, it will affect the accuracy of advertising delivery, and it is difficult to generate large-scale revenue in a short period of time;- Value-added services and financial services are both related to payment. The reason why Telegram focuses on mini-games and supports Ton is very clear: through the value-added services of mini-games, on the one hand, it creates huge revenue, and on the other hand, it increases user activity;- Ton essentially realizes the underlying ability of global payment for Telegram. With payment, Telegram has the two most basic functions, sending messages and sending money, and it is natural to establish various financial services.
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