8 Ways Telegram Thinks Its Own ICO Could Go Wrong.

'Something went wrong'

1. 'Uncertain regulation'

Anyone who's been following initial coin offerings knows that there are a lot of question marks about what regulators might do. As the document states, "It is difficult to predict how or whether governmental authorities will regulate such technologies."

A government could impose liquidity requirements on Telegram or find that grams are a regulated equity, requiring registration, the document warns. If regulation in one place became too onerous, Telegram might exit the country or even shut the project down, it says. 

On the other hand, Viktor Mangazeev, CEO of blockchain fantasy sports platform MyDFS, says Telegram may have a regulatory edge over rival messaging platforms that makes it uniquely suited to do a fundraiser like this.

2. 'Legal and Regulatory Factors'

"The TON Blockchain will operate in a new and developing legal and regulatory environment. There is no established body of law or court decisions concerning blockchain and smart contracts," the document says.

3. 'Government and private actions'

Perhaps most disconcerting for a project like Telegram's, U.S. regulators are far more likely to regulate by way of enforcement actions early on, because cases take less time than promulgating new rules.

4. 'Development and launch of TON'

The paper says, "Telegram may not retain the services of developers with the technical skills and expertise needed to successfully develop the TON Blockchain and progress it to a successful launch."

Luckily for investors, Telegram has written in a refund provision for investors. That said, the company also reserves for itself the right to spend the money on all kinds of things. 

5. 'Risks inherent to blockchains' 

The document delineates risks inherent to open blockchains. These include the possibility of mistakes in the code.

Quantum computing could break all the encryption. Later on, as major changes are needed, nodes may not move to make them and the system could break down.The popularity of this offering is no doubt driven by Telegram's large and active user base. If for some reason the team fails to integrate the TON blockchain with the mobile messenger, the document says, "adoption of grams as a form of currency within Telegram Messenger's existing ecosystem may be more limited than anticipated."

6. 'Integrating TON and Telegram'

The popularity of this offering is no doubt driven by Telegram's large and active user base. If for some reason the team fails to integrate the TON blockchain with the mobile messenger, the document says, "adoption of grams as a form of currency within Telegram Messenger's existing ecosystem may be more limited than anticipated."

7. 'Issuer and use of funds'

Telegram doesn't have any restrictions on how it uses the funds, so even if it fails to build TON and it needs to terminate the contract with the token buyers, it may not have any money left to distribute back to holders of grams when that happens.

8. 'Blockchain and crypto might never catch on'

Notably, Telegram's risks document doesn't list one of its most significant threats, that of Google or Apple's removal of its mobile app from their respective stores.

Gurinovich described this by writing: 

(www.coindesk.com)