With over 7.3M+ users onboarded in just two months, what makes Cygnus the next Web3 mass adoption giant?

Author: Cygnus

Recently, Cygnus released its Q1 2025 review on its official Twitter. From the latest chart data, Cygnus' ecosystem has achieved rapid growth across multiple dimensions, with the industry's first Instagram App Layer standing out remarkably and drawing widespread attention. In February 2025, Cygnus launched the first phase of its Instagram App Layer — InstaPlay. Over the course of two months, Cygnus, as the first Instagram App Layer, has surpassed 7.3 million Instagram users and over 1 million daily active users (DAU), marking a significant leap from zero. Meanwhile, supported by the Cygnus Omnichain Liquidity System (LVS), Cygnus Chain has ensured asset liquidity and provided distributed validation services, allowing users to earn staking yields, LVS fees, and ecosystem incentives from both on-chain and off-chain assets. Currently, the total number of Cygnus users has exceeded 8 million, with a total value locked (TVL) of over $900 million — an increase of 592.31% in Q1 2025. In addition, users' cumulative real yield has exceeded $17 million, growing by 67.86% in Q1 2025. Cygnus is redefining how social media users interact with Web3, aiming to bring the next billion users into the Web3 ecosystem.

The First Web3 Instagram App Layer: What Does Its Product Positioning Look Like?

In 2025, Web3 has entered a new phase of mass adoption. A key challenge that urgently needs to be addressed is how to accelerate Web3 adoption and directly convert users at scale. Through close collaboration with emerging networks and in-depth user observation, Cygnus found that users care more about how to access the Web3 world easily and enjoy high on-chain yields—rather than dealing with the complexity of decentralized technologies. As a result, lowering the barrier to entry has become a top priority.

Against this backdrop, Cygnus chose Instagram—the world’s largest social platform—as the bridge connecting Web2 users to Web3. With over 2.5 billion users globally, Instagram’s unique social nature and massive user base make it the ideal gateway for Web3 expansion.

To simplify onboarding, Cygnus introduced Account Abstraction (AA) technology, allowing users’ Instagram accounts to function as Web3 wallets. This eliminates the need for complex steps like wallet creation and connection, streamlining the entire onboarding process. In other words, users can now experience full Web3 interactions simply through their Instagram accounts, dramatically reducing both technical barriers and the learning curve.

Cygnus’ Current Development Roadmap

Instagram-powered user growth:

• By launching the InstaPlay Hub and enabling auto-generated AA wallets, Cygnus turns Instagram accounts into Web3 wallets, lowering the entry barrier and enabling seamless interaction with Web3 content. (Launched in February 2025)

Creator economy and revenue sharing:

• Enables Instagram creators to earn blockchain-based rewards, while offering users flexible support mechanisms—paving the way for a more sustainable decentralized monetization model.

Data sovereignty and AI integration:

• Ultimately, users will own and monetize their social data, which will power decentralized AI models and ensure fair and transparent value distribution.

You may recall that in the summer of 2024, the TON ecosystem experienced explosive growth momentum, largely fueled by Telegram’s strong user traffic. The combination of lightweight mini-games, social identity logins, and rapid community virality was once regarded as a new paradigm for large-scale Web3 adoption. Cygnus, in many ways, is an extension and upgrade of that path. Built upon stronger on-chain yield capabilities, Cygnus positions itself on Instagram —transforming a user's Instagram account into a Web3 wallet, enabling content interaction, creator monetization, and data sovereignty. In doing so, Cygnus has established a more comprehensive and sustainable long-term growth framework.

So, how exactly do Cygnus and TON compare? Let’s break it down further.

Cygnus vs. TON — Key Similarities

1.Backed by massive social platform user bases

Cygnus and TON share one common foundation: both are backed by large-scale social media platforms. Cygnus is built on Instagram, while TON is closely tied to Telegram. According to 2024 data, Instagram had over 2.5 billion monthly active users, while Telegram had around 950 million. These user bases represent enormous potential for promoting Web3 and crypto adoption. In addition, both project teams have deep ties with their respective platforms—TON is led by the founding team of Telegram, while Cygnus' core team includes former Meta (Instagram’s parent company) employees. Need to mention, Cygnus has also been officially verified as a Tech Provider by Meta.

2.User acquisition and social identity integration

TON attracted users through “Tap to Earn” games and enabled logins via Telegram accounts, effectively achieving lightweight identity binding where a social account acts as a wallet. Cygnus adopts a similar approach by launching the first-phase product of its Instagram Layer—InstaPlay Hub—which draws users through engaging mini-games and interactive experiences, lowering the conversion barrier.

3.AA wallet authentication built on social platforms

Both TON and Cygnus utilize Account Abstraction (AA) technology, allowing users to generate Web3 wallets directly through their social accounts. This significantly simplifies the onboarding process by eliminating the need for wallet setup and mnemonic backups. It provides a true “click-to-use” Web3 experience with minimal friction.

Cygnus vs. TON — Key Differences

1.Platform Attributes

TON is built on Telegram, an instant messaging platform with a large user base. However, its core functionality revolves around message delivery, resulting in relatively limited forms of social interaction. In contrast, Cygnus leverages Instagram—a visually driven social platform with strong interactive features. Instagram enhances user engagement and immersion through short videos and image-based content. Research shows that visual content has significantly higher transmission power than text, giving Instagram a substantial edge in terms of virality and content spread. This makes it a more effective channel than Telegram for driving user participation in Web3.

2.User Demographics and Commercial Value

Instagram's user base is generally younger and primarily located in economically developed regions such as North America, Europe, and Asia-Pacific, where users have higher spending power. Telegram's users, on the other hand, are largely concentrated in developing regions like Eastern Europe, Southeast Asia, and Africa, with relatively lower purchasing power and commercial value. More importantly, Instagram's high proportion of younger users results in a higher conversion rate—up to 70% in marketing campaigns. Younger users on Instagram also show a stronger willingness to pay, particularly in the creator economy and advertising monetization. By contrast, only 19% of Telegram's user base falls into the younger demographic, resulting in lower conversion efficiency. In terms of ARPU (Average Revenue Per User), Instagram stands at $29.8, while Telegram’s is only $1—a gap of more than 30 times. The disparity is even greater when it comes to ARPPU (Average Revenue Per Paying User). Although Telegram has a large user base, its monetization potential is significantly lower than Instagram’s. Moreover, Instagram enforces KYC verification, enhancing data authenticity, whereas Telegram allows non-KYC users to access its platform.

3.Traffic Acquisition and Ecosystem Development

While Telegram has served as an early user acquisition channel in the crypto space, its ecosystem and user engagement remain at a nascent stage. In contrast, Instagram’s vast creator community and strong social influence allow Cygnus to onboard Web2 users into Web3 much more rapidly. Although TON has some recognition within the crypto community, its on-chain activity and ecosystem projects are still under development. Cygnus, as a Web3 solution built on top of Instagram, leverages the platform’s social ecosystem to accelerate the growth of the creator economy. Importantly, Cygnus doesn’t rely solely on traffic inflow. It builds a real yield layer based on LVS (Omnichain Liquidity Validation System), providing creators and everyday users with sustainable income sources both on-chain and off-chain—including staking rewards, LVS validation fees, MEV earnings, and returns from RWA (Real World Assets). Cygnus is committed to delivering a stable and sustainable yield experience while minimizing inflation, thereby creating a more resilient and long-lasting ecosystem.

The Appeal of the Business Model: A Benchmark of Product-Market Fit

Cygnus’ rapid growth is driven by a business model that closely aligns with user needs. It not only offers a sustainable path to real yield, but also builds a monetizable Web3 ecosystem through minimalistic interaction design and a strong Web2 entry point. This “low-friction entry + high-value output” model exemplifies Cygnus’ precise positioning in terms of product-market fit.

The most compelling aspect of Cygnus’ business model lies in its ability to form a complete and closed growth loop—from user acquisition to content interaction to yield generation. By leveraging Instagram’s massive user base, Cygnus creates an ultra-low barrier to entry, with AA technology enabling Instagram accounts to function directly as Web3 wallets. This is followed by an incentive-driven creator economy that stimulates content creation and user engagement. Eventually, user traffic is converted into on-chain activity through restored data sovereignty, while Cygnus LVS generates real asset returns to provide sustainable economic incentives for the ecosystem.

Under the combined drivers of content, technology, and assets, Cygnus effectively addresses one of Web3’s core challenges: achieving user growth without compromising on real yield. It presents a powerful model that balances user experience with financial value—clearly demonstrating the strength and appeal of its business model. In essence, Cygnus bridges a scalable Web3 adoption path by onboarding massive Web2 users through an ultra-simple interface and a real yield model.

Valuation Potential and Listing Outlook: A Strong Candidate for Major Exchange Debut

As the first Web3 Instagram App Layer, Cygnus not only shows robust growth momentum on the user side, but also holds a rare and compelling narrative. In a market increasingly saturated with homogenous projects, infrastructure platforms with proven Web2 user conversion capabilities are precisely what top exchanges are looking for. Therefore, Cygnus is well-positioned for a potential debut on tier-one exchanges in the coming cycle. Korean exchanges such as Upbit and Bithumb, which favor Web2-user-driven infrastructure projects, are also likely to show strong interest.

Based on current progress and user data, market expectations place Cygnus’ valuation between $2 billion and $10 billion—positioning it as a high-potential project within its category, with a generally optimistic outlook.

Conclusion

With the rapid expansion of Cygnus’ user base and the continuous rollout of its ecosystem strategy, it’s reasonable to believe that more users, developers, creators, and ecosystem partners will join this Instagram-powered Web3 transformation.

In just two months, Cygnus’ Instagram App Layer brought in over 7.3 million users—not just a leap in numbers, but a strong validation of its product positioning, technical roadmap, and user strategy. In a broader context where Web3 user growth has been sluggish, Cygnus has built a sustainable growth engine through frictionless onboarding, high-frequency engagement, real yield, support for the creator economy, and a future-oriented focus on data sovereignty.

This is exactly why Cygnus is being called “the next Web3 giant for mass user adoption.” It’s not just chasing trends or social buzz—it’s providing a practical, effective solution for bringing the massive Web2 user base into Web3, paving a realistic path to the next billion users for the entire industry.