On the eve of dawn, TON may be the earliest value path to achieve mass adoption

40 million users, 6 million daily active users, Notcoin is considered another breakout project in the Telegram ecosystem after the TG bot. With a star halo and meme attributes, it has received official support from TON, and its token NOT has been listed on multiple exchanges including Binance, OKX, and LBank, attracting over 30 million users to trade, successfully igniting the Telegram mini app and TON ecosystem.

This traffic has also boosted other TON projects that have not yet issued tokens, such as Hamster Kombat, which has surpassed 150 million users (expected to issue tokens in July), and Catizen, which has 20 million users. These impressive user statistics are heights that most crypto projects find hard to reach. Currently, over 100 million people are playing Tap to Earn games on Telegram, which seems to have found a way to effortlessly bring the next billion users into the cryptocurrency space.

What Opportunities Does the Introduction of Mini Apps Bring to Telegram Users?

For a long time, the adoption of cryptocurrency has been hindered by multiple factors, and the barriers to mass adoption can usually be categorized into the following: lack of compliant channels for institutional funds to enter and exit, high entry barriers for ordinary users, lack of trust, an incomplete developer ecosystem, infrastructure unable to support large-scale applications, and a lack of investment targets that appeal to the masses.

Or from a more intuitive perspective, the core of achieving mass adoption is: low barriers and a viral effect.

Undoubtedly, the current popular projects on Telegram, Notoin and Hamster Kombat, provide a great reference for promoting Web3, largely thanks to the emergence of mini apps.

Mini Apps are web applications fully embedded in the Telegram environment, providing a user experience similar to native apps and offering a highly flexible platform that supports various interfaces built with JavaScript. Additionally, mini apps support common payment methods from 20 payment providers, including Google Pay and Apple Pay.

Imagine that millions of people could be introduced to cryptocurrency through Telegram's mini applications, which serve as an open platform for projects to build and deploy crypto-friendly applications. This would enable cryptocurrency teams to distribute their products to non-crypto users, who may not even realize they are using crypto products—whether it's a fun click game like Notcoin or a DeFi protocol.

Backed by Stablecoins, the TON Ecosystem is Thriving

On-chain data shows that TON's total locked value has reached $615 million, and since March 2024, its TVL has grown by 26.95 times.

Moreover, according to on-chain active wallet data, the number of activated wallets has reached 8,889,704, with a daily active wallet peak of 577,848 and a monthly active wallet count of 5,520,846.

In addition to the memecoin craze, the entry of stablecoins has undoubtedly boosted the TON ecosystem. Since April, the native USDT on TON has been launched, making seamless P2P value transfer a reality. So far, the authorized issuance of USDT on the TON chain has surpassed $580 million. Users can send cryptocurrency to friends as easily as sending messages on WhatsApp, leading traditional banks by decades.

Furthermore, the Telegram wallet allows users to send or receive USDT, BTC, TON, and Notcoin directly within Telegram, reducing the complexity of concepts like private keys for traditional users. It also increases the channels for purchasing cryptocurrency with credit cards, avoiding the forced narrative of "Web3 concepts," and alleviating the hassle of switching between screens, thereby improving retention rates. Users can utilize TON's embedded wallet for payment and transfer functions.

On April 16 of this year, Telegram launched an advertising revenue sharing program, with ads paid in TON. Channel owners can receive 50% of the advertising revenue displayed in their channels. This indirect airdrop reward is undoubtedly a pioneering "sharing" economy model unprecedented in social platforms.

Supported by the TON Foundation, the On-Chain Ecosystem is Flourishing

To attract more project teams to settle in the TON ecosystem, the TON official not only provides basic tools such as TON SDK, TON Connect, TACT language, and Blueprint framework but also hosts programs like Open League, Grants, and Accelerator. In addition, TON has established a $250 million TONcoin Fund to invest in TON ecosystem projects, covering areas such as Infra, DeFi, gaming, and social finance.

One of the main initiatives of the TON ecosystem is the Open League, a long-term incentive program aimed at rewarding builders and users. Launched in March, it started with 18 projects participating in the testing phase and has now grown to include about 40 TON applications, 57 tokens, and 22 NFT series. The foundation has distributed over $45 million in rewards, with a total grant amount of $150 million, and plans to further expand the scale of the program.

On June 13, TON launched the fourth season of the Open League event, which has shown remarkable results. The leading DEX on TON, DeDust.io, has achieved a TVL of over $200 million in the TON/USDT pool, further bridging the gap with other chains in terms of capital absorption capabilities.

As described by Justin Hyun, the investment director of the TON Foundation, "TON is actually the only hope for the large-scale adoption of Web3 technology. It will benefit Web3 technology just as the Apple Mac did for personal computing. Not every household has a computer, but every pocket has cryptocurrency."

Although the TON ecosystem is not yet fully developed, and there is still a significant gap in the DeFi sector compared to more mature ecosystems like Solana and Optimism, the current number of active users and the reachable user base on the market show that TON is far ahead among public chains, blurring the gap between Web2 and Web3, lowering the entry barriers to the TON ecosystem, and achieving an acceptable optimal user path.