Issuing tokens is the peak, the dragging tactic, moving to other chains, is the TON ecosystem's mini-games heading towards dusk?

Author: Zen, PANews

The TON ecosystem mini-game applications have become an unavoidable topic in the crypto industry this year. With click-to-earn games like Notcoin and Hamster Kombat gaining popularity, the TON ecosystem has experienced unprecedented growth. Particularly, the launch of Telegram game tokens like Hamster Kombat on the TON network has caused the number of TON wallet addresses to surge from just 4.3 million at the beginning of the year to over 100 million.

However, beneath the impending prosperity of large-scale applications, there are some concerns within the TON ecosystem. Not only does the phenomenon of projects like Hamster Kombat come with many controversies, but its "followers" have also frequently disappointed players and users. It seems that the vast majority of mini-applications cannot escape criticism from the community, as well as a fleeting existence.

Market Cap Below $40 Million, X Empire Cannot Escape Airdrop Curse

Last week, the Telegram click-to-earn game X Empire, themed around Elon Musk, launched its X token on the TON blockchain. This mini-game, claiming to have 50 million players, had previously created a buzz and received support from many mainstream exchanges, including OKX, Bybit, Bitget, KuCoin, Gate.io, and MEXC. However, the grand marketing and hype did not translate into a strong token price performance, but rather led to widespread criticism and complaints from the community.

The community's grievances erupted after X Empire announced the X token distribution on October 18, mainly coming from players who were inexplicably excluded from the airdrop. It is worth noting that X Empire had announced on October 8 that its player count had surpassed 50 million, yet only 6 million users were eligible for the airdrop.

Project founder Alex Falcon argued that "active friends" are the most important criteria in the final airdrop calculation, alongside hourly profits and task completion rates. He also stated, "Anyone who truly invests time in X Empire has a chance to receive this reward." Previously, X Empire had informed players that a transaction fee of 0.5 TON was required to claim the airdrop, but later announced that payment was not a necessary condition for receiving the airdrop.

Such inconsistency has thoroughly angered the X Empire community, with some even directly complaining to Musk on the X platform, stating comments such as "this is completely a scam, very unfair" and "this is a scam project using your name, interrogate the X Empire team." Currently, Musk himself has no connection to X Empire, but the project is filled with elements related to him. From initially using the game name "Musk Empire" at launch, to making him a key theme, and to including images of Musk's animated character in every announcement, X Empire has fully leveraged Musk's traffic.

Additionally, the average trading price before the issuance of the X token was $0.0002, but the actual opening price was about half of that. After the official launch of the X token, its price has generally been on a downward trend. On social media, many players claimed they were losing money, with most earning tokens worth less than $10. As of October 25, the price of the X token was approximately $0.000054, with a fully diluted market cap close to $37 million.

Other "Hot" Applications' Choices: Changing Blockchains and Dragging Feet

Following X Empire, the Telegram mini-apps MemeFi and Tomarket, both claiming to have over 40 million users, have become the next focus, with their tokens set to launch soon.

In a previous article titled "Multiple Projects' Airdrop Dates Missed, Is the 'Killing Frenzy' of Top Click-to-Earn Game Projects a Mystery?" we briefly introduced MemeFi. What sets this project apart is that it chose not to issue its token on the Ton network, but rather on the Ethereum Layer 2 solution Linea. However, MemeFi recently announced that it would move its token to the currently popular Sui network ahead of its token issuance on November 12. The project team stated that they have collaborated with Sui network creator Mysten Labs to develop strategic initiatives around the launch, including marketing efforts and plans to showcase a broader Sui ecosystem.

So far, MemeFi plans to conduct a final snapshot of player activity on November 6 to determine the distribution of tokens in the airdrop, with developers expected to release detailed information about token distribution on November 8. Previously, the MemeFi token was scheduled for issuance on October 9, but was postponed due to the development team reassessing its strategy. Perhaps due to MemeFi's repeated delays, the news of launching tokens on the Sui network did not excite the community; instead, several users began recounting MemeFi's "relocation history" and expressing pessimistic remarks under the official announcement tweet.

However, in terms of community disappointment, Tomarket, which is set to conduct its TGE on October 31, is not far behind. As of October 30, Tomarket, which is about to issue its token, has still not disclosed its tokenomics and distribution methods, and the community's most pressing concern about listing has yet to be addressed. According to Tomarket's roadmap, its $TOMA was supposed to be issued and listed in October, but now only discussing TGE while saying nothing about listing has naturally caused great anger in the community. Additionally, Tomarket has also adopted a similar "routine" as X Empire, claiming to players that the fourth step of TGE is the non-mandatory "TOMARKET Senior Medal," which users need to pay 1 TON to purchase.

Tomarket founder Oliver Tomassi tweeted on October 28 that users would be able to determine their $TOMA allocation starting November 1, stating that a portion of $TOMA has already been allocated to eligible participants, but the specific amount has not yet been determined. Later, he posted on X saying, "Say no to hackers, scammers, and bots." On October 29, Tomassi tweeted again promoting "only two days left until TGE," stating, "Listing is coming soon, and things need to be done one at a time (sweating beans)."

Although MemeFi and Tomarket have yet to officially issue tokens and list them, based on the current reputation and the lessons learned from Hamster Kombat and X Empire, it will not be easy for these two projects to turn things around.

Popular Games Continue to Decline, TON Ecosystem Active Addresses Plummet

According to data from analysis firm IntoTheBlock, as of October 28, the number of active addresses in the TON ecosystem has dropped to 1.18 million, significantly down from the peak of 5.16 million reached a month ago. Additionally, the proportion of active addresses, which peaked at 6.52% at the end of September, has also been on a continuous decline, with the average active address ratio over the past 30 days reduced to 1.76%.

It is evident that, despite the controversies surrounding Hamster Kombat, it indeed brought a massive influx of users and traffic to the TON ecosystem, contributing to the peak data at the end of September.

With the conclusion of Hamster Kombat's super airdrop, its token HMSTR has generally been on a steady decline, with its YouTube channel's video views dropping from over 10 million to around 2 million. According to CoinMarketCap, as of October 30, the price of HMSTR was approximately $0.0028, with a fully diluted market cap of about $286 million, representing a price drop of over 67% since its launch. For many Hamster Kombat players, receiving the airdrop and selling immediately is the greatest respect for the months they invested.

Why Are Popular Games in the TON Ecosystem Struggling to Maintain Their Heat?

Perhaps when we talk about large-scale adoption, we should not forget that the essence of blockchain and Web3 technology is to benefit a broader group. If a mini-application with tens of millions of users cannot bring joy, convenience, or wealth, but instead leads to deception, calculation, and loss, it is unlikely to last long. Therefore, such projects, after TGE and listing, will inevitably be abandoned and swept into the industry's trash heap.