Pavel Durov and colleagues had it clear from the start. Your ICO was never going to be public. The move is masterful: collect a record number and leave without arguments all the governments that thought to launch on Telegram as vultures with regulations in hand.
Allowing the ICO of Telegram to reach all users was a utopia. Telegram is a ungrateful application for governments accustomed to always having a red carpet back door. The great value of Telegram is to have put the privacy of its users above all else.
But his plans go much further. According to the TON Whitepaper, which was leaked a few months ago, the one that is going to be assembled may leave Bitcoin and the currencies of several countries shaking. Telegram is already, potentially, more than a regular country. With its 200 million users, which will undoubtedly increase at a good speed, it can transform itself into a power with a gross domestic product based on tremendously powerful virtual services.
Russia, for example, should not be very happy with Telegram since it is still the most valued messaging application there; despite all attempts to block it. Telegram has already provided means to avoid that blockade but what is coming is going to be huge.
With their plans based on their own blockchain that they can now develop without economic hardship, Telegram is going to be a nightmare for anyone trying to control it.
Cloud storage
Distributed and incensurable Torrent-like protocol, in which files are always available through intelligent contracts and enabling users to obtain an economic return by ceding space on their devices.
Privacy layer
Through their own proxy and DNS services Telegram can transforms itself into a totally unblockable application The only option would be to knock down the Internet. And, even so, it is possible to think of a B plan.
Decentralized applications
A world of possibilities of which the famous telegram bots will be just an interesting but primitive idea.
Its own currency, the TON.
Imagine at least 200 million people using the same currency. People who can pay between them and physical and online merchants accepting payments in TON without the need for more paraphernalia than the Telegram itself, which will also be an ultralight wallet.
Payment systems
Visa and Mastercard should put one's skates on. Certainly with TON, in principle, you can not get money for an ATM. But who cares if you can pay many things with that currency? It is not utopian. The Telegram user base that will undoubtedly grow much more is not nonsense.
The doubts
Many people will think, not without reason, that having obtained all that money from just 200 private investors will be conditioned to their whims. However, as we know, Telegram has always marked its own route. Its reason for being and the reason for its success is not only an excellently developed work, a messaging application that is unrivaled in terms of characteristics and technical qualities but, very especially, the commitment of Pavel Durov and Telegram to never give in to blackmail of any government or public or private corporation. In other words: Telegram will never sell our data or risk our privacy since that would be its end.
Investors want profits, make their investment multiply as much as possible. And that is quite likely to be achieved. Telegram will encounter many more obstacles but it will not be sold because it is pressed. Among other things because Telegram will be infinitely more decentralized and there will be no government that can knock it down. Do you think this statement is excessive? Just tell you, never before in all history plans of this caliber had been made. And the Telegram team is, without doubt, one of the most qualified to make them a reality. In not too long we will see it. Re-read me by this time in a year.
Meanwhile, install Telegram and enjoy the best messaging application ever.