Share this article

Telegram to Raise $1.5B Through Bond Sale Backed by BlackRock and Citadel: WSJ

The funds will be used to repurchase debt and are convertible into equity if Telegram goes public.

Updated May 28, 2025, 5:34 p.m. Published May 28, 2025, 12:00 p.m.
Telegram app on a smartphone (Christian Wiediger/Unsplash)
(Christian Wiediger/Unsplash)

What to know:

  • Telegram is raising at least $1.5 billion through a new bond offering, with investors including BlackRock, Mubadala, and Citadel.
  • The proceeds will be used to repurchase debt from Telegram’s earlier bond issuance in 2021.
  • The firm reported a $540 million profit on $1.4 billion in revenue in 2024.

Messaging platform Telegram is raising at least $1.5 billion through a new bond offering.

The firm is raising the funds through a five-year bond with a 9% yield, which has drawn interest from both returning investors such as the world’s largest asset manager BlackRock and Abu Dhabi’s sovereign wealth fund Mubadala, as well as new entrants including hedge fund Citadel, the Wall Street Journal reports citing sources with the deal.

STORY CONTINUES BELOW
Don't miss another story.Subscribe to the Crypto Daybook Americas Newsletter today. See all newsletters

The proceeds will be used to repurchase debt from Telegram’s earlier bond issuance in 2021, due next March. The new bonds are convertible into equity at a discount if Telegram goes public.

Telegram originally developed layer 1 network TON, before making it an independent operation. In April, tokenization firm Libre said it plans to tokenize $500 million worth of Telegram debt on TON as Telegram Bond Fund (TBF).

Read more: Telegram’s TON Takes On Real World Assets With Libre’s $500M Tokenized Bond Fund

Telegram reportedly has over 1 billion monthly active users and 15 million paid subscribers, having doubled the figure in one year according to Durov.

Financially, the firm turned a corner in 2024, reporting a $540 million profit on $1.4 billion in revenue, up from a $173 million loss in 2023, the WSJ wrote. It projects a profit of more than $700 million for 2025.

Telegram has grown its revenue by expanding its ad business and introducing features like in-app digital gifts and a platform for developers to build apps and bots.

Telegram and Citadel did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

More For You

Protocol Research: GoPlus Security

GP Basic Image

What to know:

  • As of October 2025, GoPlus has generated $4.7M in total revenue across its product lines. The GoPlus App is the primary revenue driver, contributing $2.5M (approx. 53%), followed by the SafeToken Protocol at $1.7M.
  • GoPlus Intelligence's Token Security API averaged 717 million monthly calls year-to-date in 2025 , with a peak of nearly 1 billion calls in February 2025. Total blockchain-level requests, including transaction simulations, averaged an additional 350 million per month.
  • Since its January 2025 launch , the $GPS token has registered over $5B in total spot volume and $10B in derivatives volume in 2025. Monthly spot volume peaked in March 2025 at over $1.1B , while derivatives volume peaked the same month at over $4B.

Sizin için daha fazlası

Coinbase Sees Crypto Recovery Ahead as Liquidity Improves and Fed Rate Cut Odds Climb

Coinbase

The crypto exchange also took note of a so-called AI bubble that continues to go strong and a weaker U.S. dollar.

Bilinmesi gerekenler:

  • Coinbase Institutional is seeing a potential December recovery in crypto, citing improving liquidity and a shift in macroeconomic conditions that could favor risk assets like bitcoin.
  • The firm's optimism is driven by rising odds of Federal Reserve rate cuts, with markets pricing in a 93% chance easing next week, and improving liquidity conditions.
  • Several recent institutional developments, including Vanguard's crypto ETF policy reversal and Bank of America's greenlighting of crypto allocations, have contributed to bitcoin's rebound from recent lows.