On May 28 2025, Telegram has finally closed the convertible bond offering it announced back in January 2019 that saw it successfully raise $1.7 billion. The bonds have a 9% coupon rate and offer investors the ability to convert their holdings to equity at a 20 percent discount to an IPO in the future. On Monday, the offering was initially set at $1.5 billion, but it will grow in size after a $1 billion increase amid robust demand from investors. Big investment firm BlackRock and Abu Dhabi’s Mubadala Investment Company were among the notable participants in the bond sale.
There are two main purposes for which the proceeds from the bond issuance are put. The $955 million will pay down older debt from a previous bond issue that matures in 2026. And $745 million out of that is fresh capital that will help fund Telegram’s growth initiatives and its operations.
The response from investors was phenomenal, Telegram’s co founder, Pavel Durov, said. Investment funds which have sponsored us over the years deserve our deepest gratitude. Because demand was so strong, we jumped the initial $1.5 billion, but demand still very much outstripped what we were able to allocate.”
The offering comes at a time when Telegram is steadily growing and is newly pertinent as a player in tech and crypto. A cryptocurrency community favourite, it is also widely recognized as a vehicle for mainstream adoption.
Apart from the bond sale, Telegram has also agreed in principle with artificial intelligence company xAI owned by Elon Musk, according to one person familiar with the matter. In return, Telegram users will get roce access to xAI’s Grok AI model for one year. Telegram, in turn, would get $300 million in cash and equity and 50 percent of the revenue from subscriptions sold on the Telegram platform of its new content marketplace xAI. Still there are formalities to be settled about this deal.
After xai announced their potential partnership with Telegram, Toncoin (TON) launched as the only digital asset accepted by the social media company to access services on its app and jumped up over 20 per cent to $3.69 on May 28.
Telegram’s record bond offering, alongside all new strategic partnerships, is further proof of Telegram’s growing influence in a rapidly changing digital communication and cryptocurrency world.
