- Confidential and Proprietary - Luminar Annual Threat Landscape Report Page 9 apps, including Instagram. 15 + In January 2021, Telegram gained more than 25 million new users sign-ups in just 72 hours, following a WhatsApp update to its terms of service agreement, sharing data with the parent company Facebook. Telegram reached 500 million registered users for the first time. 16 As of June 2022, Telegram claimed to have 700 million active users. With that achievement, the company announced it would launch its premium model, giving users access to exclusive additional features: sending files as large as 4 GB (up from 2 GB); supporting faster downloads; providing improved chat management, and more. The premium monthly subscription costs about USD $ 6 in the US and the UK, and USD $ 2.2 in emerging markets, such as India. 17 As of December 6, 2022, less than 6 months after its launch, the premium model has attracted 1 million subscribers. 18 Telegram also developed a blockchain platform with its own cryptocurrency. In December 2017, Telegram announced it would begin monetization in early 2018. The company stated it plans to launch its own blockchain platform and native cryptocurrency, powering payments on its chat app and beyond. This platform was named The Open Network (previously known as the ‘Telegram Open Network’, aka TON) blockchain. 19 However, in May 2020 Telegram withdrew from the development of TON following a lawsuit from the US Securities and Exchange Commission over the firm’s USD$ 1.7 billion token sale that the agency deemed an unregistered securities offering. Nevertheless, in late 2021, Pavel Durov expressed his support for developers who picked up the open TON project, rebranded as Toincoin. According to Durov, Toincoin will be independent from Telegram, unlike the original TON. Furthermore, on November 30, 2022, Durov also announced that Telegram would build a set of decentralized tools, including a decentralized cryptocurrency exchange and non-custodial wallets. Owners of such wallets would have full control of their private keys and hence their crypto assets. 20 15 https://techcrunch.com/2019/03/14/telegram-gets-3m-new-signups-during-facebook-apps-outage/ 16 https://www.theverge.com/2021/1/12/22226792/whatsapp-privacy-policy-response-signal-telegram- controversy-clarification 17 https://www.business-standard.com/article/technology/telegram-crosses-700-million-customers-launches- premium-subscription-model- 122062000556_1.html#:~:text=Instant%20messaging%20app%20Telegram%20on,the%20platform%20calls%2 0sustainable%20monetisation. 18 https://techcrunch.com/2022/12/06/telegram-premium-tops-1-million-subscribers/ 19 https://techcrunch.com/2018/01/08/telegram-open-network/ 20 https://www.forbes.com/sites/ninabambysheva/2022/12/02/telegram-to-build-crypto-wallet-decentralized- exchange-following-ftx-collapse/?sh=1cd9c65259e9