Telegram founder and CEO Pavel Durov revealed in an interview with well-known media person Tucker Carlson on April 18 that he has held hundreds of millions of dollars worth of fiat currencies and Bitcoin over the past 10 years.
Founder Pavel Durov: Telegram doesn’t need financing
According to the interview compiled by The Block, Pavel Durov mentioned when asked why he did not accept venture capital financing:
The company wants to remain independent, and it has never been about money. I had hundreds of millions of dollars 10 years ago in my bank account, in Bitcoin, but I didn’t spend it, I didn’t own any real estate, private jets, or yachts. I don’t think this lifestyle is for me, I prefer to focus on what Telegram is doing.
Pavel Durov did not specify what proportion of Bitcoin and fiat currencies he holds. According to foreign media reports, his net worth in 2023 is US$7.5 billion, including holdings in Bitcoin, TON and Telegram.
He emphasized:
For me, I would rather spend money on building communication software that affects a billion people than buy some expensive furniture that only me and my relatives and friends will see.
He later clarified that Telegram did receive some external funds after issuing bonds three years ago, and also tried to issue coins through an ICO, but ultimately gave up due to the SEC's intervention.
(Telegram settled with the SEC! It needs to pay a fine of US$18.5 million and must notify any currency issued within three years)
Ep. 94 The social media app Telegram has over 900 million users around the world. Its founder Pavel Durov sat down with us at his offices in Dubai for his first on-camera interview in almost a decade. pic.twitter.com/NEb3KzWOg8
— Tucker Carlson (@TuckerCarlson) April 16, 2024
Committed to communication privacy protection
Tucker Carlson went on to mention that as the government increases surveillance of technology, privacy of private messages has become more difficult.
Pavel Durov said that he had previously encountered cases where the FBI tried to persuade Telegram to install backdoors to facilitate surveillance, but he was still optimistic about the future of communication privacy:
I predict that we will be able to build new secure communication hardware devices in the future, similar to the hardware money that stores cryptocurrency today. Maybe we will have such devices in the future. This is not difficult to implement.
This article Telegram founder Pavel Durov: Having held hundreds of millions of dollars in Bitcoin for ten years, Telegram does not need financing first appeared on Chain News ABMedia.
