Former Binance executive launches exchange Blum: Aiming at Telegram users, attracting millions with mini-games
Blum's trading feature has not been launched yet, but it has already gained 10 million users through the mini-game mining and points earning model.Author: Frank, PANews
Recently, the click-screen mini-games in the TON ecosystem have experienced a surge. In addition to Notcoin, mini-games like Hamster Kombat and tapswap have also surpassed 30 million users. Among the top 10 global channels on Telegram, 5 are currently crypto community channels. Notably, Blum is a rapidly rising community, with its channel subscription exceeding 7.63 million, gaining 6.6 million subscribers in a single month, ranking fifth globally on Telegram.
Founded by former Binance executives, selected for Binance Labs Accelerator Program
In March this year, Gleb Kostarev and Vladimir Smerkis announced the establishment of Blum Exchange. Kostarev previously served as the regional head for Binance in Eastern Europe, the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS), Turkey, Australia, and New Zealand, while Smerkis was the General Manager for the CIS region. Additionally, Degenie, the former design lead for Binance and Trust Wallet, is currently the VP of Blum and one of the co-founders.
According to official information, Blum is a decentralized exchange that offers token trading from both centralized and decentralized platforms, as well as simplified derivatives trading. A mobile app and a mini-app will be launched within Telegram. Blum will provide futures trading and the ability to purchase tokens from various networks. Furthermore, Blum does not hold user funds; users can create MPC wallets or connect existing wallets such as Ton Wallet, Trust Wallet, Metamask, etc.
In March, Blum was selected for the seventh season of the Binance Labs MVB Accelerator Program, although being selected does not mean that Binance Labs will invest in it. According to Bloomberg, Kostarev revealed in March that they were negotiating financing matters and hoped to complete the financing within the month. As of now, Blum has not disclosed its financing status.
A gaming-only exchange gains millions of users
Currently, Blum's trading features have not yet launched, but it has already gained 10 million users through a mini-game mining system to earn points. Blum's gaming model is divided into several parts.
Similar to traditional airdrop processes, users need to subscribe to official social media accounts or invite friends to earn points.
Blum has launched the Drop game, a game mode where users earn points by clicking the screen to catch falling coins.
The Farm mode, which does not require users to deposit tokens but automatically mines points over time.
According to information from the official TG channel, users are currently in the stage of collecting Blum points, which can be exchanged for tokens. On May 24, Blum officially launched a witch reporting program. Reporters can receive a 1% point reward. Perhaps to limit the number of witches cheating to recruit others, Blum currently restricts each user to invite only 10 friends to earn rewards. According to its official roadmap, trading and self-custody wallets will be opened in the second quarter of 2024, along with a Public Launch.
Mini-game airdrop struggles, TON emerges as the biggest winner
The TON ecosystem's mini-games have recently achieved remarkable results, with Hamster Kombat announcing on June 6 that its user count has surpassed 100 million, with 31 million daily active users, and tapswap announcing over 30 million players. This has shown many projects the explosive potential of quickly converting Web2 users on Telegram. However, so far, the only project that has achieved success in the token economy through mini-game models in the TON ecosystem is Notcoin, with most participating players hoping that the newly emerging mini-games can replicate Notcoin's success.
From another perspective, several popular mini-game projects have yet to launch their token airdrop plans, primarily due to the large user base, which would result in very little reward per distributed point. Additionally, many games did not set up filters for witches during the initial traffic acquisition process, leading to a significant number of bot accounts behind these figures. Tapswap announced that it would postpone its pool launch to July 1, explaining that the delay was mainly due to discovering that many bots had obtained unrealistic shares. Hamster Kombat had announced on May 31 that it would issue tokens on TON, but as of now, no specific date has been announced.
Currently, it seems that the TON public chain is reaping the "fisherman's profit" from the mini-game craze. According to tokenterminal data, TON chain currently has over 4.8 million monthly active users, with a monthly growth of 223%. This figure was less than 500,000 before mid-March, and after the mini-game explosion triggered by Notcoin, it has increased nearly tenfold in three months. As of now, several popular applications, including Hamster Kombat, tapswap, and Blum, have not yet launched airdrops. Once the airdrops are officially implemented, it remains to be seen whether the previous drop in activity during the airdrop period will occur in the TON ecosystem.
