Looking for the center of the action in cryptocurrency today? Bitcoin is so passé – the big money is now in Initial Coin Offerings (ICOs).
Part investment security (although they’re not), part ‘altcoin’ token with true utility (although there isn’t), ICOs are nevertheless attracting billions of dollars in speculative investment from hundreds of thousands of people with more money than sense.
At the center of this frenzy is one upcoming ICO, whose purported $2 billion valuation dwarfs all others – Telegram.
Founded by Russian entrepreneurs Pavel and Nikolai Durov who cashed out of their social media company VKontakte to the tune of $300 million, Telegram is a secure messaging app that competes with the like of WhatsApp.
‘Compete,’ however, is misleading, because Telegram has no viable business model, as it makes no money – on purpose.
In fact, Pavel Durov covers all its expenses out of his own pocket. “Pavel Durov, who shares our vision, supplied Telegram with a generous donation, so we have quite enough money for the time being,” claims the FAQ on the Telegram web site. “If Telegram runs out, we will introduce non-essential paid options to support the infrastructure and finance developer salaries. But making profits will never be an end-goal for Telegram.”
Read the entire article at https://www.forbes.com/sites/jasonbloomberg/2018/02/17/telegram-ico-scam-among-cryptocurrency-scams/.
Intellyx publishes the Agile Digital Transformation Roadmap poster, advises companies on their digital transformation initiatives, and helps vendors communicate their agility stories. As of the time of writing, none of the organizations mentioned in this article are Intellyx customers. Image credit: Andy Powell.
