Encrypted-messaging startup Telegram Messenger LLC has canceled its public initial coin offering after having raised $1.7 billion from some 200 private investors, according to a report from The Wall Street Journal.

The Telegram ICO, first reported in January, saw the company raise an initial $850 million in presales by Feb. 18 and then another $850 million by March 29. The original plan was to raise $2 billion in total with the presale process, to be followed by a public ICO that would allow potentially anyone to buy “Gram” tokens up to the cap. But as the report noted, Telegram believed it had raised enough money and likewise also wanted to avoid scrutiny a public ICO would entail, referencing the ongoing attention ICOs have attracted from the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

Telegram officially intends to use its $1.7 billion war chest to build a “third-generation” blockchain named TON that will use the Gram token as its native cryptocurrency for transactions. The company used various buzzwords around the proposed the technology, such as describing it as an “open network” that “can become a Visa/Mastercard alternative for a new decentralized economy.”

But some have complained that the offering lacks transparency. CCN noted that “Telegram has been notoriously opaque about its token sale, with even prospective investors complaining about an inability to convince the company to provide them with concrete details about the offering.”

Others are more skeptical yet. Analyst Jason Bloomberg on Forbes called the ICO a “scam among cryptocurrency scams,” claiming that the fundraising was nothing more than an attempt by a company with zero revenue to continue trading. “Telegram has no viable business model, as it makes no money – on purpose,” he added.

Whether the skeptical view of the company is correct or not is yet to be determined. But clearly, given the amount it has raised, those with money see value in it.

Although Telegram has never officially said who participated in the ICO presale, names linked to it include Russian billionaire Roman Abramovich, Sergei Solonin, the founder of payment service provider Qiwi and David Yakobashvili, founder of Wimm-Bill-Dann foods, along with Silicon Valley venture capital firms Benchmark and Sequoia Capital.

Image: Telegram