Messaging app Telegram says it'll offer investors a refund if its ICO flops - but there's a catch
- Telegram, the messaging app operator, is looking to raise as much as $1.7 billion in a second token sale at the end of February, according to documents reviewed by Business Insider.
- The company raised $850 million in a private sale for its ICO earlier this year.
- If the company fails to launch the token, investors would get a refund. But the company also said it can't guarantee it would have the money to issue the refund.
Investors thinking of putting money into one of the most widely-watched initial coin offerings of 2018 better read the fine print.
Telegram, the messaging app operator which recently raised $850 million in a private token sale from institutional investors, expects to raise as much as $1.7 billion in a second sale that will begin at the end of February, according to documents sent to potential investors reviewed by Business Insider. In total, that's more than $2.55 billion. The second sale, according to one document, will take place in two "stages."
In the document, the company said it would issue a refund if the product doesn't launch by October 2019. But in a separate document, the company said that there's no guarantee they would have the money to issue a refund. Here's the text:
"There can be no assurance that the Issuer or Telegram will have sufficient funds to make payments of any Termination Amount (as defined in the Purchase Agreements) as and when required under the terms of the Purchase Agreements. Neither Telegram nor the Issuer has any fiduciary or other obligation to use the funds generated by the token sale for the benefit of the purchasers..."
The company plans to use the funds raised from the ICO - which is kind of like a crypto-twist on the initial public offering process - to build a protocol to rival the Ethereum platform. The so-called TON (Telegram Open Network) will host crypto applications. Investors who participate in the fundraise will get so-called Grams in December following a lock-up period.
At more than $2 billion, Telegram's ICO would be the biggest ever. The high valuation of the token sale and its lock-up period have kept some cryptocurrency investors away.
Joe DiPasquale of BitBull Capital is one such investor. He told Business Insider that the amount Telegram has raised and is looking to raise is incredible.
"It would be hard for an Uber to raise that and they have revenues," he said.
When asked about the fine print regarding a refund, DiPasquale told Business Insider it didn't strike him as anything more than "legalese."
"If they can raise $2 billion then it's almost a guarantee the token will launch," he said.
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