Russian Telegram shares worth half a billion dollars have been frozen under western sanctions, exposing the messaging app’s financial exposure to the country even after founder Pavel Durov sought to cut ties with Moscow.
The company has launched a series of bond offerings in recent years, including a $1.7bn issue in May, to buy back existing debt. According to people familiar with Telegram’s discussions with investors, it bought most of the bonds maturing in 2026.
However, the company said $500 million in outstanding bonds had been immobilized in Russia’s central securities depository because of western sanctions, the people said.
The revelations highlight the extent to which wire remains exposed to Russian capital, with sanctions complicating debt repayment and purchasing opportunities.
EU, US and UK entities have all imposed asset freezes and other restrictions on Russia’s National Settlement Depository (NSD) following Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine – a move that could affect any western organization with Russian bond holders.
However, the asset freeze is particularly troubling for Durov, who has trying to distance himself from his native Russia in recent years, has criticized speculation that he is trusted by the Kremlin as “conspiracy theories”. Telegram declined to comment.
Revelations come as Durov is exploring a potential initial public offering for the company, although these plans have been delayed as he faces legal action in France.
The Russian-born owner of Telegram has been hailed as “Russia’s Mark Zuckerberg” for co-founding the country’s most popular social media network, VKontakte, in 2007.
The billionaire said he left in 2014 after refusing to share the data of some Ukrainian VK users with Russia’s security agency, selling his VK stake to a Kremlin-linked entity under duress.
At the same time, he founded Telegram, later moving the group to Dubai, arguing that it would commit to free speech and resist government interference.
The company has told bondholders it will repay the frozen debt at maturity, with the bond’s paying agent and depositor then deciding whether the payment can flow to Russian holders.
Unlike major US rivals such as Zuckerberg’s Meta and Elon Musk’s X, Telegram has fewer than 100 full-time staff. It has recently started to generate more revenue from its 1bn users through advertising and subscriptions.
According to its unreported half-year disclosure, Telegram had $910 million in cash and cash equivalents as of June 30, up from $142 million a year earlier.
Durov, who has French and United Arab Emirates citizenship, is placed under formal investigation in Paris in 2024 due to the app’s alleged failure to address criminality including child abuse content. Durov denies any wrongdoing.
Telegram’s creditors are closely watching the French case for signs it could be derailed IPO plans drawn up before the French legal action.
The company’s recent bond offerings give investors the option to buy shares in any future flotation at a discount of up to 20 percent.
Telegram told some bondholders in a recent call that the case needs further resolution before it can proceed with a public market listing, but it continues to cooperate with authorities and vigorously fight Durov’s case.
Unaudited financial statements, seen by the Financial Times, show the messaging app continues to post sales growth despite ongoing threats to its leadership from French legal proceedings.
According to filings, Telegram’s revenues in the first half of 2025 jumped more than 65 percent to $870 million, compared to $525 million in the same period last year.
Almost a third of Telegram’s revenue – or $300mn – comes from so-called exclusivity agreements. The nature of the agreements cannot be established but according to FT reporting on Telegram’s previous earnings, it is related to toncoin, a cryptocurrency closely linked to the messaging app.
Advertising revenue rose 5 percent to $125 million in the first half of the year. Meanwhile, premium subscriptions jumped 88 percent to $223 million, compared to $119 million in the same period in 2024 as the number of paying users increased.
The company told bondholders it is now on track to hit its financial targets for the full year, according to two people familiar with the matter, which means more growth in the second half of 2025.
Despite achieving an operating profit of nearly $400mn, the net loss for the half year was $222mn, compared to a $334mn net profit in the first half of 2024. A person familiar with the matter said this was because the company had to write down the value of its toncoin assets, which continued to fall in price in a broad crypto market in 2025.
Toncoin was initially developed in-house by Telegram but is now being developed by an open-source community after the project ran into regulatory troubles with the US Securities and Exchange Commission in 2020.
Since then, Durov has publicly promoted the coin, merged Ton shares with Telegram and forced Telegram advertising to pay for the use of cryptocurrency. The total value of its digital assets stood at $787 million at the end of June, compared to $1.3bn at the end of June 2024.
However, the company told investors in a call in recent weeks that Durov prioritized the improvement of the Ton ecosystem and further included the crypto in the Telegram platform by 2026.
The company told investors that it has sold more than $450 million in toncoin in the year to date. The coin has recently been listed on major exchanges such as Coinbase, Kraken and Gemini.