Telegram, the popular messaging app whose CEO was recently arrested and charged to court in France, has released its financial report for last year. According to the report, the platform held $400 million in digital assets at the end of 2023.
The Statistics report also shows that Telegram’s premium user bases have grown in numbers, increasing from around 4 million users at the end of 2023 to over 5 million users today.
However, the company recorded an operating loss of $108 million at the end of the year, while generating $342.5 million in revenue.
A large portion of this revenue, about 40% comes from activities related to digital assets. These include the platform’s “Integrated Wallet,” which allows users to store, send, receive, and trade cryptocurrencies.
In addition, the platform also earns some percentage of its revenue by selling digital collectibles like usernames and virtual phone numbers. Most users can buy and sell these items on the platform and Telegram charges a fee for each transaction.
According to the report, Telegram has raised over $4 billion since its launch, and in just the first two months of 2024, the platform generated $11.66 million in-app revenue.
Moreover, Telegram was able to make a portion of these numbers due to its popularity in India. In 2023, the country recorded the highest number of users, recording 83.9 million users, followed by Russia with 35.06 million users, and the U.S.A. with 29.92 million downloads.