GameOn TON Global Game Hackathon opens in Singapore, industry leaders unite to lead the new development of Web3 games in the TON ecosystem

On September 19, 2024, the modular payment protocol AEON, in collaboration with the TON Foundation, Nomad Capital, and TOP, officially launched the GameOn TON Global Game Hackathon in Singapore. This milestone event brought together leaders from the blockchain and gaming industries to explore investment opportunities, the background of the TON ecosystem, and strategies to promote its large-scale application, laying the foundation for innovation and collaboration in the Web3 gaming sector.

The event was co-hosted by AEON along with well-known partners such as OKX Wallet, Gate.io, Alibaba Cloud, Draper Associates, One Piece Labs, Gam3Girl Ventures, Winking Studios, ZAN, and Innovation Accelerator. Additionally, the hackathon invited guests from top blockchain projects and companies, including OKX Ventures, Gate Ventures, CEFFU, Mantle, Animoca, Catizen, TonX, and Blum, to support discussions and development within the TON ecosystem.

In his opening speech, Steve Yun, Chairman of the TON Foundation, emphasized the immense potential that TON offers to developers, urging them to seize the opportunity presented by this hackathon and pointing out that this is the best time for building and innovating within the ecosystem.

Eddie Li, CEO of AEON, provided a comprehensive overview of the hackathon's background, highlighting the crucial role of gaming in driving the mass adoption of cryptocurrency. He explained how AEON's modular payment protocol serves as infrastructure and introduced plans for integration with multiple public chains, offering diverse payment solutions for developers and applications to facilitate game monetization.

Han Lin, CEO of Gate.io, showcased key data about the TON ecosystem in his keynote speech titled "Gateway to the TON Ecosystem." According to projections, Telegram's user base is expected to reach 1.5 billion by 2028, while the TON Foundation anticipates that the number of monthly active TON users will reach 500 million within five years. He particularly emphasized the significant role of the gaming sector in driving growth on the TON platform. However, despite an increase in active addresses, Han Lin pointed out that the total value locked (TVL) in TON and the trading volume on decentralized exchanges (DEX) remain low, and developer resources are relatively scarce. He identified three major challenges facing the ecosystem: the need to reduce token distribution and transfer costs, lower transaction fees, and improve cross-chain stablecoin trading. To address these issues, Gate.io offers pre-market and pre-mint features, as well as high-performance spot trading and stablecoin cross-chain transfer solutions.

Siddharth, a partner at Nomad Capital, echoed similar sentiments, noting that now is a golden period for developing mature applications and games. He emphasized that the TON ecosystem has a vast user base and tremendous growth potential, especially in the current industry downturn, where providing high-quality and user-friendly experiences is more crucial than ever. Siddharth believes that the GameOn TON hackathon will attract outstanding developers and drive the growth of the TON ecosystem.

The investor roundtable gathered industry leaders, including William Li from OKX Ventures, Tiffany Chang, Vice President of Investments at Gate Ventures, Zurab Kazhiloti, Founder of BitScale Capital, and Juanita, Head of Partnerships and Strategic Solutions at CEFFU. Their discussions covered important topics shaping the gaming ecosystem, including how to transition users from Web2 to Web3 and enhance user engagement through referral systems. Participants emphasized the necessity of achieving long-term profitability and sustainability in the gaming industry, particularly regarding compliance and the challenges and opportunities of project diversity. They also discussed the difficulties in attracting new users, highlighting the critical role of sustainable founders and robust token economics in driving ecosystem growth. Security issues were also a focal point, with discussions warning of potential scam risks and emphasizing the importance of protecting the ecosystem.

Mike Massari, Vice President of Research at AEON, along with industry leaders David Ching from Animoca's Strategic Investments and Partnerships, Ricky, Founder of Catizen, Awesome Doge, Co-founder of TonX, and Kai, Chief Operating Officer of MEET48, conducted an in-depth analysis of the current state of the TON ecosystem. They discussed the development of blockchain and decentralized technologies, focusing on user experience, mass adoption, and the importance of decentralized payment infrastructure. Participants emphasized the need to seamlessly integrate Web 2.0 user behaviors into Web 3.0 technologies, especially in the gaming and entertainment sectors. Additionally, they highlighted the importance of carefully designed token economic models to align tokens with user behaviors and facilitate smooth transactions. The overall goal of these strategies is to create a user-friendly ecosystem that promotes widespread adoption and fosters sustainable growth in the blockchain space.

Another group of guests from various fields of the gaming industry, including Vladimir Masliakov, Chief Technology Officer of Blum, GeeZee, Head of Gaming at Mantle, Alan Cui, Founder of TellerX Labs, Simon Davis, CEO of GOAT Gaming, and YAWN RONG, Co-founder of STEPN GO, shared their personal experiences and strategies in the gaming industry. Key topics included the importance of multi-chain strategies and how to guide users into the ecosystem, managing infrastructure challenges with high user volumes, and the difficulties of converting users into active traders. They also discussed the challenges of creating sustainable, user-friendly economic models. Furthermore, the conference addressed challenges such as commercialization barriers, infrastructure stability, and user acquisition, with a focus on how to leverage Telegram's features to drive adoption and enhance user engagement.

The GameOn TON Global Game Hackathon, co-hosted by AEON, the TON Foundation, Nomad Capital, and TOP, and jointly organized with OKX Wallet, Alibaba Cloud, Gate.io, Draper Associates, and Gam3Girl Ventures, is the largest game hackathon in the world focused on the TON ecosystem. The total prize pool exceeds $4 million, including direct investments, funding, and rewards for top teams and individuals. The event will last for three months, spanning cities such as Singapore, Dubai, and Sydney. The main goal of this global game hackathon is to attract top developers and innovative gaming projects, promote innovation in Web3 gaming, and facilitate the adoption of the AEON crypto payment protocol.

The GameOn TON Global Game Hackathon sincerely invites developers to participate and build a prosperous gaming ecosystem together. Sign up for the GameOn TON Hackathon, where developers will have the opportunity to learn about the latest technologies in blockchain game development, engage in in-depth discussions with industry experts, and have the chance to turn their innovative ideas into reality. For more information, please visit the official website of the GameOn TON Global Game Hackathon https://aeon.xyz/gameon.

About AEON
AEON is the next-generation modular payment protocol designed to unify cryptocurrency payment standards and achieve seamless connections with the real world. By simplifying the integration, processing, and settlement of cryptocurrency payments, AEON provides low-cost, verifiable, and secure payment processing services.
AEON is committed to developing a robust cryptocurrency payment standard akin to Visa, connecting Web3 infrastructure with large-scale application scenarios, ensuring adaptability, liquidity, and efficiency, and supporting on-chain payment methods such as subscriptions, global fiat channels, and tipping.
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About the TON Foundation
Founded in 2023 and headquartered in Switzerland, the TON Foundation is a non-profit organization fully funded by community donations. The TON Foundation acts in the community's interest by supporting various initiatives that contribute to the mission of The Open Network.

The TON Foundation empowers TON projects but does not control TON technology. It is one of many network contributors in the decentralized TON community. TON operates on an open-source basis, allowing anyone to contribute, with no single controlling authority.

About Nomad Capital
Nomad Capital is an operational fund focused on providing substantial support to projects to help them grow and scale. We not only have extensive investment experience but also practical experience in building and managing businesses, enabling us to assess investment opportunities more comprehensively than other funds.

About TOP
TOP (The Open Platform) is dedicated to bringing Web3 into everyone's pocket by distributing and simplifying TON blockchain services.