A Brief Discussion on Crypto Traffic Entrances: Telegram, Discord, and PWA

Original Author: Turbo Guo

Original Source: Kernel Ventures

TLDR:

Telegram, which has the potential to become a traffic entry point for Crypto, has garnered significant attention. This article will summarize the Crypto-related applications within Telegram, analyzing their advantages and areas for improvement. Additionally, it will explore why Discord has the opportunity to become a traffic entry point and the reasons for its lack of success, as well as the potential of browsers (PWA) as traffic entry points. The main content includes:

• Telegram has a wealth of Crypto-related applications and offers a good user experience, making it a suitable platform for Crypto applications. However, the mixing of the application center with various bots and chat channels may lead to user inconvenience.
• Telegram is not limited to the TON ecosystem; it allows for easier integration of various chains and protocols. The trading bots and multi-chain wallet tracking applications in the EVM ecosystem are examples of this.
• Discord has the opportunity to take on the current role of TG, and its bot system has a wide range of capabilities. However, due to the potential backlash from its primary user base of gamers, the prevalence of Crypto fraud affecting user safety, and unclear regulations, DC has not fully embraced Crypto.
• Browser applications are well-compatible with the existing Crypto ecosystem, but on mobile, the traffic entry point may not be Metamask, but rather specific applications, with Friend Tech being a good example.
• Who will become the traffic entry point largely depends on user experience and regulation. In terms of user experience, applications like TG and FT, which have built-in Crypto features (built-in wallets), are very attractive. Regarding regulation, traditional social media giants face significant pressure, which provides many opportunities for applications with weaker regulation or native applications.

Telegram as a Traffic Entry Point

Telegram has hosted many Crypto applications, and we will first discuss the forms of these applications and how to access them.

Image Source: Kernel Ventures

There are two types of "apps" in Telegram: one is the Telegram bot that interacts through the chat box, and the other is the Telegram Web App (TWA) that calls a small web window. In the image below, the Unibot on the left is a typical bot, while the football game on the right, along with many chain games in Telegram, are TWAs. In terms of implementation, TWAs use JavaScript, HTML, and CSS to achieve various functions through a small web browser within Telegram.

There are three ways to access applications in Telegram: through links, searching for the application name, and entering from the Telegram apps center. The methods of using links and searching for names are similar to joining a channel, while entering the apps center is also done through links or by searching for @tapps_bot.

Image Source: Unibot and Fanton Fantasy Football Interface

In Telegram, there are not only TON chain ecosystem projects but also applications based on other public chains, which will be introduced separately.

TON Ecosystem Applications

First, there are wallets. Telegram has had many wallets in the past, such as Tonkeeper, MyTonWallet, and Tonhub. However, with the introduction of the official custodial wallet Wallet and the built-in non-custodial wallet Ton Space, previous wallets will face significant challenges.

Wallet is a custodial wallet that supports payments using USDT, TON, and BTC. Inside Wallet, there is a non-custodial wallet called TON Space that is currently in testing. In the future, users will be able to access DeFi applications such as DEXs, staking, and lending protocols within TON Space, as well as directly access third-party dapps on the TON blockchain. Additionally, TON Space allows wallet recovery using an email, which is very user-friendly in practice, although it may pose security risks.

In terms of DeFi, the TON ecosystem is still in a very early stage. DEXs include Megaton Finance, STON.fi, DeDust.io, and the cross-chain STON, while lending protocols include Evaa and derivatives include Storm Trade. Furthermore, the TON ecosystem already has a launchpad called Tonstarter and a domain service called TON DNS.

The NFT ecosystem of TON is also taking shape. NFT markets include Fragment and Getgems, where users can purchase Telegram Usernames and Anonymous Numbers on Fragment, while Getgems allows buying and selling usernames and anonymous phone numbers, as well as other NFT projects on the TON chain. However, currently, the trading volume on Fragment is still greater than that on Getgems. As of September 25, the NFT market of TON has shown good growth, with project content not significantly different from that of the Ethereum ecosystem, featuring projects like TON Diamonds and TON Punks.

Image Source: nftscan, 2023/09/25

Another major category is games integrated with TON, such as Fanton Fantasy Football, a P2E idle football card game where players earn tokens by winning, seamlessly connecting to the TON ecosystem; punkcity, a turn-based game where players earn tokens by winning; and Tongochi Game, another P2E MMORPG currently in the demo stage.

In addition, there are many auxiliary tools, such as the TON Wallet Tracker and TON Notify Bot for tracking token and NFT flows for a specific address in the TON ecosystem; NFT TONificator for tracking listings and sales of a specific NFT series; community onboarding bounty tool community; and Ton Gifts Bot for sending gifts to friends. There is also a comprehensive auxiliary bot called Friends All-in-One BOT, many of whose features are not yet online. The team hopes to deliver translation, new NFT mint reminders, and NFT floor price alerts, which will also be provided by three independent bots.

Interestingly, mobile is a lifestyle service tool for purchasing esim cards, making it easier for people to use the internet while traveling internationally. More importantly, it can be paid for not only with credit cards but also with TON wallets.

Ethereum Ecosystem Applications

Image Source: DUNE @tk-research

For this category, we will introduce previously popular trading bots. If we abstract away the underlying details, we see that trading bots are essentially a proxy commission business. In terms of weekly trading volume, TG bots have experienced a surge in popularity but are now in a phase of declining interest.

Unibot is essentially a scientist proxy. It requires users to deposit coins into an official wallet and then trigger limit buy and sell orders through the Telegram chat window, automatically following orders and executing commands like buying coins at the first opportunity. In principle, Unibot first helps users create an EOA, and then users deposit money into it. When users initiate a trade (for example, selling coins on Uniswap), theoretically, the user's EOA can interact directly with Uniswap, but currently, it goes through the Unibot router contract first, which then calls the Uniswap contract to execute the sale. By routing through Unibot's official contract, many actions can be performed, such as collecting fees. Each time Unibot updates its contract, it may be for feature enhancements, and the current contract is not open source.

Unibot Transaction Flow Image Source: Kernel Ventures

Similar trading bots include Banana Gun, Maestro, and DexCheck. Banana Gun requires users to input their private keys or generate a new address through the official bot. Its advantageous features include canceling trades when detecting risks of being squeezed and optimizing block bribes. Maestro, also a trading bot, provides whale tracking and token trading. DexCheck also tracks wallets and targets new token contracts for trading.

In terms of trading volume, Unibot ranks highest, followed by Banana Gun. In terms of DAU, Maestro ranks highest, but only slightly above Banana Gun and Unibot.

Image Source: DUNE @whale_hunter, 2023/09/25 1:10

Additionally, there are service projects that issue tokens based on the Ethereum ecosystem. For example, LootBot can help users automatically claim airdrops, and holding $LOOT tokens allows participation in profit distribution. IMGNAI has created a bot that allows users to send messages in channels to generate images, with the project team promising that holding tokens will provide future benefits, and the tokens are on Ethereum. ChainGPT has many business lines, and its developed tele bot can serve as a general LLM to generate smart contract code and perform contract verification. $CGPT is mainly used for purchasing services within ChainGPT, and the official team also provides staking for earning and other token services, with the tokens also being on Ethereum. This also involves issuing tokens based on Ethereum, and the tokens will be used to purchase services, giving them relatively more utility.

Multi-Chain Ecosystem Applications

On Telegram, we can also see applications that support multiple chains, mainly data services or auxiliary tools, with four representative examples:

• Cielo is a relatively comprehensive wallet tracking bot that performs well in multi-chain support. It can track various operations of a single wallet across dozens of chains, including swaps, lending, NFT minting, etc., and can also track large transactions of a single token. Notably, Cielo offers a good user experience.
• Pessimistic Spotter can detect whether a contract is being attacked, supporting contracts on Ethereum and BSC, such as Uniswap.
• CoinCrackerBot can track coin prices and send price alert notifications. This product offers a good experience, as receiving information push notifications through chat software is clearly more convenient.
• Crypton research is used to track project progress, allowing users to subscribe to projects like 1inch and Aave, and then choose whether to receive all news or key news. Once selected, the bot will push messages to users.

Advantages and Areas for Improvement of Telegram as an Entry Point

Telegram's smooth user experience is a significant advantage. Every transfer, opening an application, and interacting with bots is very seamless, which is better than the experience of most web3 products, and even surpasses that of web2 products like Discord.

However, the method of launching the Telegram apps center is somewhat complex; it cannot be directly found in the original Telegram interface and requires entering through an external link or actively searching. Additionally, the apps center and all apps are mixed with existing channels, making them easy to overlook. If users are to pin them themselves, they will also be mixed with important chats. Furthermore, many applications in Telegram create a new bot for each function, which can lead to user management confusion. It may be necessary to establish a separate interface for apps and make it easier for users to find commonly used apps.

Currently, TG meets the needs of ordinary users for transferring funds well, while EVM-based TG bots satisfy retail users' needs for catching new token launches. How TON will build large-scale DeFi applications in the future is worth further exploration.

Trading bots provide us with a new perspective: Telegram can serve as the frontend for various applications across different chains. Not only can DeFi protocols have a common frontend, but various protocols can also be integrated on Telegram. If there are projects that help users manage this, users may not even need to be aware of the existence of various chains, which is very promising to achieve on Telegram, significantly lowering the barrier to using Crypto. Of course, there are issues with directly using Ethereum in Telegram, such as how to conveniently trigger signatures within Telegram.

Currently, the official team is vigorously promoting the development of the TON ecosystem, while bots like Unibot, based on non-TON ecosystems, have also made significant progress. The future will need to be tested by time.

Discord as a Traffic Entry Point Opportunity

Image Source: A tweet from Discord CEO

Discord (hereafter referred to as DC) attempted to integrate Metamask as early as 2021. If widely adopted, we can imagine people transferring payments within DC. Various dapps could even develop their own channels or bots to allow users to swap, lend, etc., turning DC into the frontend for the entire Crypto space.

In fact, Discord already has many Crypto use cases. Bankless DAO uses Discord as a governance tool, developing governance bots and processes on it, such as verifying NFTs for identity, granting specific channel permissions based on token holdings, etc. Especially during the NFT summer, DC became the most important community tool for NFT projects, where people would grind roles, obtain whitelist spots, and launch AMMs, leading to a massive accumulation of community members. DC's official team has even solicited user feedback related to NFTs, indicating that they are seriously considering adjusting their product for the NFT community. The DC bot can theoretically implement many functions, and there are already bots available for wallet tracking, NFT trading, and whitelist management.

Image Source: Bankless DAO Discord

But why hasn't Discord continued to push forward? Three reasons can be speculated:

• The backlash from its primary user base of gamers;
• The prevalence of fraud affecting user safety;
• Unclear regulations.

Discord's original vision was "Chat for Gamers," and it started by serving gamers. According to a CNBC report in 2021, 70% of users use DC for gaming or other purposes. Although the company's vision later changed to "Chat for Communities and Friends," broadening its user base, it can be speculated that serving gamers has always been at the core of Discord. When DC attempted to support NFT communities, many users protested, canceling their Nitro subscriptions and expressing strong aversion to NFTs. In fact, the gaming community has long harbored dissatisfaction with the Crypto space; during the POW era, mining caused graphics card prices to soar, increasing the cost of building gaming rigs. After the mining boom cooled down, players found it easy to buy second-hand mining cards (graphics cards that had been used for mining for a long time, which some players believe were overused and not good second-hand cards). It can be speculated that some gamers have extended their dissatisfaction with Crypto from the mining era to the present.

Additionally, the founder tweeted that there is a lot of spam and fraud in Crypto, and DC is focused on protecting users, so there are no plans for comprehensive integration of Crypto. As a compliant platform, it is entirely reasonable for DC to attempt to reduce fraud. Coupled with the fact that government regulations were also unclear at the time, if they hastily integrated Crypto and caused significant user losses, the cost would be too high for DC to bear.

This also highlights the core differences between DC and TG: the differences in user demographics and platform positioning. DC's primary users are compliant users, many of whom are gamers, while TG has many users in gray areas, so TG's strong push for Crypto does not provoke backlash from its main user group. DC's positioning is more as a community tool, while TG's positioning carries gray attributes, and the impact of spam and regulation on TG is smaller than on DC, which is conducive to TG's more aggressive approach to Crypto.

Browsers (PWA) as an "Entry Point"

Browsers/web pages replacing local applications in certain scenarios is a direction worth paying attention to. Friend.tech uses PWA; Photoshop offers a web version that utilizes cloud storage, allowing users to switch devices while working; and many are exploring cloud gaming. On one hand, with the development of cloud computing power, web applications realized through the cloud can support more functions. On the other hand, PWAs indeed have many advantages.

For example, PWAs can operate offline, support dynamic content updates, and send push notifications, achieving compatibility across different platforms. PWAs can also access mobile hardware like local applications, such as opening the camera or using GPS. The convenience of web pages versus local applications is debatable. Some believe that web pages can be opened via links, making them more convenient than installing applications, while others feel that once an application is installed, opening it directly from the desktop is more convenient than entering a browser to open a website. However, with PWA, both experiences are similar. Currently, the wallet plugin system on the web PC side is relatively mature, and one can even imagine using wallet plugins while playing games on the web or calling other web DeFi applications. Additionally, PWAs can bypass platform fees like those from Apple, which is significant for Crypto applications.

But will wallets continue to serve as "entry points" in browsers? On mobile, friend.tech tells us they will not, as users are open to built-in wallets. Putting money into an application (which may essentially be L2 or even given to the project team) and then operating assets within the application is acceptable to users, as they do not care which wallet they use, and the experience of calling Metamask separately on mobile is not good. Therefore, specific social applications can replace Metamask to capture traffic, and the core of achieving an economic model closed loop lies not in the wallet but in other services, which can be provided by service providers like friend.tech with built-in wallets.

Image Source: friend.tech's Buy Key Interface

Conclusion

Comparing Telegram, Discord, and web (PWA), it can be seen that who will become the traffic entry point depends to some extent on user experience and regulation. In terms of user experience, TG's smoothness is better than that of many Crypto-native applications, which is a significant advantage. Meanwhile, on mobile, applications like FT with built-in wallets will also reduce Metamask's competitiveness as an "entry point." Regarding regulation, traditional social media giants face significant pressure when integrating Crypto, providing many opportunities for applications like TG or FT that are less regulated or native applications.