Telegram is a free and open source, cross-platform, cloud-based instant messaging (IM) software. This service also provides end-to-end encrypted video calling,[14] VoIP, file sharing and several other features. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Telegram_(software)

On 15 March 2021, Telegram conducted a 5 years public bonds placement worth $1 billion. The funding was required to cover the debts amounting to $625.7 million, including $433 million to investors who bought futures for Gram tokens in 2018 and included purchasers such as David Yakobashvili.[146] On 23 March, Telegram also sold additional bonds worth $150 million to the Abu Dhabi Mubadala Investment Company and Abu Dhabi Catalyst Partners.[147] The Mubadala Investment Company also stated that Russia's sovereign wealth fund participated in its deal through the Russia-UAE joint investment platform to buy convertible bonds.[148] According to the contract, the holders of the bonds will be provided an option to convert them to shares at a 10% discount if the company conducts an open IPO.

In 2017, in an attempt to monetize Telegram without advertising, the company began the development of a blockchain platform dubbed either "The Open Network" or "Telegram Open Network" (TON) and its native cryptocurrency "Gram".

Originally:

Telegraphy is the long-distance transmission of textual messages where the sender uses a semaphore system with a code known to the recipient, rather than a physical exchange of an object bearing the message. Thus flag semaphore is a method of telegraphy, whereas pigeon post is not. Ancient signalling systems, although sometimes quite extensive and sophisticated as in China, were generally not capable of transmitting arbitrary text messages. Possible messages were fixed and predetermined and such systems are thus not true telegraphs. The earliest true telegraph put into widespread use was the optical telegraph of Claude Chappe, invented in the late 18th century. The system was extensively used in France, and European countries controlled by France, during the Napoleonic era. The electric telegraph started to replace the optical telegraph in the mid-19th century. It was first taken up in Britain in the form of the Cooke and Wheatstone telegraph, initially used mostly as an aid to railway signalling. This was quickly followed by a different system developed in the United States by Samuel Morse. The electric telegraph was slower to develop in France due to the established optical telegraph system, but an electrical telegraph was put into use with a code compatible with the Chappe optical telegraph. The Morse system was adopted as the international standard in 1865, using a modified Morse code developed in Germany in 1848.[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Telegraphy#Telegram_services cf Western Union