Messaging Platform Telegram Has Issued $270M in Bonds to Fund Growth

Messaging platform Telegram issued $270 million in bonds this week to fund its growth until "we reach the break-even point," CEO Pavel Durov announced Tuesday.

The platform is not yet profitable and has rising expenses due to its "massive growth," Durov said: it's onboarding 2.5 million new users a day and earlier this year hit 800 million monthly active users.

"I personally bought about a quarter of the new Telegram bonds, investing tens of millions into Telegram's growth. This comes in addition to the hundreds of millions I spent over the last 10 years to keep Telegram operational," Durov said.

The alternative messaging platform has long been a favorite among crypto enthusiasts. That's partly attributable to the company's defunct efforts to launch its own crypto token, GRAM. While that effort ended in defeat as well as an SEC lawsuit, a related spinoff project continues under the name Toncoin.

"Some people suggested I should have instead bought a house or a jet," Durov said. "But I prefer to stay focused on my work, without 'owning' anything (well, apart from Telegram, some Bitcoin and some Toncoin)."

Toncoin jumped 1% following the announcement.

CORRECTION (July 18, 15:57 UTC): Corrects that the bonds were issued this week, not last week.

Edited by Nelson Wang.