What is the Truth About Telegram's Currency and Revenue?

The virtual currency known as Cryptocurrency has transformed from an unfamiliar concept to a well-known one over the past years, especially with the remarkable rise in Bitcoin's value towards the end of 2017, prompting many users to consider investing in various virtual currencies. In this context, technology companies and entrepreneurs worldwide have sought to raise capital to realize their ideas, leading to the popularity of the Initial Coin Offering (ICO) concept. If Telegram wants to engage in financial transactions with European countries and the United States, it cannot transact with countries on the EU and US sanctions lists; as you know, Iran is on these lists. A significant point in this fundraising method, compared to the traditional method of giving shares to investors, is that in an ICO, the fund seeker does not give any shares of their company or service to the investor but instead provides a certain number of virtual currency units, such as 1000 coins. In this way, the provider of the virtual currency obtains the necessary capital for business advancement without giving any shares to anyone, and the investor receives a specific amount of virtual coins, hoping their value will increase in the future for profitable sales. Recently, one hot topic among Iranian users has been the ICO of Telegram's virtual currency named Gram, which faced significant reactions from Iranian media after the news of its purchase prohibition for Iranians. Additionally, claims about Telegram's million-dollar revenue from Iranian users were published by various news agencies, such as Young Journalists Club, which has also been cited as a reason for the platform's filtering. Therefore, to clarify these two important points - the separate currency and Telegram's revenue - I will analyze these two issues to reveal the truth. Why can't Iranians buy Telegram's currency? The answer to this question relates to the various Western and US sanctions against Iran, which prohibit any financial exchange between Western companies and Iran. Just as Iranians cannot use Visa or MasterCard, they also cannot directly buy and sell various services and tools, including virtual currencies. Regarding Telegram, since it has used American and European investors for selling its virtual currency, it must comply with all EU and US regulations. Thus, any financial exchange with Iran and its citizens is prohibited. An important point that many news agencies have not mentioned is that Iran is not the only country that cannot purchase Gram; people from Cuba, North Korea, Syria, and the Autonomous Republic of Crimea also cannot buy Telegram's digital currency. Does Telegram have billion-dollar revenue from Iranians? Given the answer to the previous question, if Telegram wants to engage in financial transactions with European countries and the US, it cannot transact with countries on the EU and US sanctions lists; as mentioned earlier, Iran is on these lists. Therefore, the idea that Telegram has billion-dollar revenue from Iranian users is not entirely accurate, and even if Telegram wanted to generate revenue from Iranian users, it would not be possible as it would violate US and EU sanctions. In summary, Telegram or any other foreign company is not very interested in financial transactions with Iran due to Western sanctions, particularly from the US, even with the existence of the JCPOA, as many current financial sanctions date back to the US embassy hostage crisis in 1979.