Qiwi Co-Founder Reissues $17M TON Investment as Loan to Telegram

Sergey Solonin, co-founder of the Qiwi group, and TON investor to the tune of $17 million has decided to reissue his investment as a loan to Telegram, according to a report by Forbes Russia, May 16.

Telegram Open Network troubles

Following Telegram’s well-documented court battle with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), the company missed its April 30 deadline to launch the TON network and was prohibited from distributing its Gram tokens.

Investors were given until the end of Friday, May 15 to decide whether to accept an immediate refund of 72% of their initial investment, or provide the money as a loan, receiving 110% of its value on April 30, 2021.

The hope at the time was that those investors who chose the loan option may have been issued Gram, or another cryptocurrency, once the SEC dispute had been settled. However, Telegram has since publicly abandoned the TON project, as reported on May 12.

Solonin believes 30% of the investment will be converted

Solonin’s decision to take the loan option on his $17 million investment means that he will receive $18.7 million at the end of the term.

He believes that around 30% of the $1.7 billion raised by investors in the 2018 Initial Coin Offering (ICO) will be converted to loans. This would leave Telegram with an obligation to the remaining investors of around $500 million.

I think that should be enough for a year of work, taking into account the risks arising from the settlement of relations with the SEC. I hope that during this time Pavel will be able to come up with sources of income or a way to finance the company further.