Telegram's financials reveal heavy reliance on digital asset related activities

Following the arrest of its CEO, Parol Durov, Telegram's financial statements for FY2023 have been revealed by The Financial Times.

Telegram's financials have revealed that the majority of its revenue is generated through activities related to digital assets.

According to the income statement, Telegram achieved a revenue of $342 million for FY2023. However, despite the revenue, the company encountered an operating loss of $107 million, primarily attributed to substantial development and support expenses.

Telegram's financial statements, obtained by The Financial Times, offer a glimpse into the company's financials for the first time. Being a private company, Telegram is not obligated to disclose its financial performance.

A closer examination of Telegram's revenue reveals that a significant portion is derived from activities related to digital assets.

Specifically, integrated wallets and sales of collectables contributed $147 million, accounting for nearly 43% of overall revenue.

According to the report, "Integrated Wallets" allow users to store, send, and receive digital assets and the revenue is from the provision of the API interface to The Open Network Foundation which allows Integrated Wallets to be integrated into Telegram.

Revenue from the sale of collectables refers to usernames or virtual phone numbers sold on the TON network. Revenue is likely to be collected in TON, the native token that has experienced a significant decline following the arrest of Durov recently.

Telegram further categorizes its digital assets holdings into Level 1 and Level 3, with approximately 64% of its digital assets classified under Level 3. However, there are no specifics regarding which digital assets Telegram currently holds.