Encrypted messaging app, Telegram, has announced that they are launching an ICO that is set to be one of the biggest ones ever. The founder, Pavel Durov wants to develop the platform using a payment platform, that uses a multi-blockchain architecture with the aim of competing with the likes of Mastercard and Visa. They are looking to bring digital assets to the mainstream, with the company seeking $850million in private token sales this month, and $1.15billion in another public ICO in March. Gregory Klumov who is the managing partner of Exante, which trades cryptocurrencies, has spoken about the high demand, adding that a secondary market has been formed to cope. He said; “Some western funds that received a pre-ICO allocation are already offering to resell since the price of the public ICO in March will be twice as high.”According to a new report that has been released by investors, Telegram have increased the target for the largest ICO ever to $2billion. Any participants in the offering will be investing in a Simple Agreement for Future Tokens – a contract that secures the right to receive the tokens as soon as they have been listed in cryptocurrency exchanges. Any investors who take part in the private sale will receive their tokens at more than a 50% of the initial public sale price, and once they have been listed, can hold onto their coins for a lock up period of up to 18 months. There are still challenges to face along the way though. Recent changes have meant that some governments have issued bans of ICO’s and this has caused the price to tumble. They have wiped more than $400billion of the global market value of these digital assets since 8January. Startups have raised more than $4billion last year. The tokens that Telegram sells will be called ‘Grams’. They are due to be listed in January next year, and they have promised that if this does not happen, those who have purchased tokens in the private sale will get full refunds.