Certainly! Here’s the rewritten article with a creative re-expression while retaining the original meaning and structure:
—
**Author: Joyce, Blockchain in Plain Language**
Recently, the market sentiment has been overwhelmingly pessimistic, especially in the altcoin sector. Amidst the instability of the Bitcoin market, altcoins have plummeted across the board, with numerous projects being severely affected.
However, amidst this bleak market environment, the Ton ecosystem has demonstrated remarkable stability. Over the past thirty days, TON has surged by 23%. Total Value Locked (TVL) within the Ton ecosystem has skyrocketed since March, increasing more than sixfold in just four months. Projects within the ecosystem, such as Notcoin, have seen significant spikes in both price and user adoption. Is Ton gearing up for a vibrant Summer?
**01 Ton Ecosystem’s New Highlights**
Backed by Telegram’s 900 million active users, Ton’s integration with the platform is its standout feature. Previously criticized for its loose ties with Telegram, Ton operated somewhat independently, akin to being “in the air.”
However, this has fundamentally changed since the beginning of this year. From March onwards, Ton’s TVL has surged from under $23 million to a current $145 million, marking over a sixfold increase. Concurrently, TON’s price has tripled during this period, showing resilience even in the recent bearish market. What are the driving factors behind these positives?
**Data Source: DefiLlama**
1. **Utilizing TON for Telegram’s Ad Platform**
Unlike Facebook or WeChat, Telegram refrains from targeted advertising based on user data, upholding its commitment to user privacy. Consequently, Telegram lacked a precise advertising platform, diverging from the profit models of other social media giants. This prolonged Telegram’s struggle to achieve a sustainable financial balance over the years.
It wasn’t until the past two years that Telegram introduced an ad platform independent of precise user tagging systems and launched a subscription-based service. By the end of February this year, Telegram’s founder announced on his Telegram channel that the ad platform, with monthly views exceeding trillions, would officially open to all advertisers in nearly a hundred countries in March. Channel owners will retain 50% of all ad revenues, settled exclusively in TON.
*Translation: Next month, channel owners on Telegram can start earning money from their work. Telegram’s broadcast channels generate 10 trillion views per month. Currently, only 10% of these views are monetized through Telegram ads, designed primarily for privacy-focused promotions.*
In March, Telegram’s ad platform will officially open to all advertisers in nearly a hundred new countries. Channel owners in these countries will begin to earn 50% of any revenue generated from ads shown on Telegram channels.
To ensure fast and secure ad payments and withdrawals, we will exclusively use the TON blockchain. Similar to how we manage Telegram usernames on Fragment, we will sell ads with TON and share revenues with channel owners. This creates a virtuous cycle where content creators can cash out their TON or reinvest it into channel promotion and upgrades.
For TON, this marks a significant leap from being “virtual” to having tangible value.
Previously, TON was primarily used for on-chain smart contract transactions, staking, cross-chain transactions, and other on-chain services, not differing much from other public chains. Even though it could be used to purchase virtual goods like anonymous Telegram accounts, its overall transaction volume wasn’t expansive.
Making TON the sole settlement asset for Telegram’s ad platform is a major strategic move for Ton, effectively leveraging Telegram’s nine hundred million user base to empower Ton. This deep integration between Ton’s ecosystem and Telegram’s platform has opened up new horizons for both Ton’s ecosystem and TON’s price ceiling.
To prevent the Telegram team from acquiring more TON due to this move, potentially centralizing TON, Durov subsequently announced plans to sell more than 10% of the team’s TON at a discounted rate to long-term holders, with these sold TON subject to a 1-4 year lockup period.
For TON, this is akin to Telegram leveraging ad revenue to continuously repurchase TON while seeking additional long-term investors or institutions. This not only avoids excessive centralization of TON but also reduces circulation through lockups, a clear win-win strategy.
2. **Launching Ton Space**
Ton Space, launched in September 2023, marks a significant shift. Unlike Telegram’s KYC-compliant Wallet used solely for payments, Ton Space allows users to manage their private keys independently, similar to conventional crypto wallets.
After using Ton Space, users can seamlessly connect their Telegram accounts with Ton’s ecosystem apps, directly accessing various DeFi, GameFi, and NFT services within the Ton ecosystem.
Imagine being able to shop directly on platforms like Pinduoduo or JD.com within WeChat’s mini-programs. Similarly, for Telegram’s nine hundred million active users, they can now buy/sell Tokens/NFTs, borrow or participate in GameFi projects directly within Telegram, significantly lowering the entry barriers to Web3 participation.
This move is a strategic boost for the Ton ecosystem, backed by none other than Telegram’s massive user pool.
3. **Platform’s Emphasis on Mini Applications**
Following the establishment of payment channels, Telegram has begun promoting mini-applications, akin to WeChat’s mini-programs, directly usable on the Telegram platform without requiring installation.
For instance, the recent sensation Notcoin is a platform-integrated mini-program where users can directly participate in activities like “Click to Earn” Tokens within Telegram. The embedded Web3 wallet significantly lowers the participation threshold, bolstered by Telegram’s official traffic support. Within a few months of its launch, Notcoin’s user base has already surpassed 40 million, thanks to official traffic support.
Currently, with Telegram’s substantial traffic support, a plethora of Web3 mini-program applications akin to Notcoin are emerging. Compared to the previous GameFi frenzy driven by gold farming studios, participation in profit-making games via Telegram’s platform seems to circumvent the need for these studios, directly engaging massive user bases.
Beyond this, Telegram and Ton’s deep collaboration includes a series of other initiatives. Starting from the second half of 2023, Telegram seems to have committed to a robust Web3 strategy, deeply integrating with Ton.
Underpinning these initiatives is a breakthrough growth in TON’s price and TVL, setting new milestones. For Telegram, this not only expands beyond advertising and subscription revenue but also sets a high bar for profitability models.
Clearly, this spells a win-win scenario.
**02 Ton Ecosystem Project Overview**
Ton.app currently hosts 874 projects. While this figure may pale in comparison to ecosystems like Ethereum, Solana, or Polygon, it reflects a near 60% growth in Ton ecosystem projects over the past eight months. This growth, coupled with several multiples in TVL, underscores Ton ecosystem’s robust expansion.
Here’s a brief overview of some of the highly active projects within the Ton ecosystem:
– **Notcoin**: Highlighted in a Q1 2024 report jointly released by the Telegram developer community and Ton Foundation, Notcoin has emerged as a prime example within the Telegram ecosystem apps. As a “Click to Earn” game, it’s the most popular Web3 app in the Telegram Apps Center, boasting over 40 million users in just a few months. Despite criticisms of its token NOT being a memecoin with no closed-loop application in its gaming ecosystem, its value soared post-BN listing.
– **Catizen**: The largest gaming application platform in the Telegram ecosystem, Catizen’s total user base has exceeded 20 million, with over 500,000 paying users and 1.25 million on-chain users, consistently ranking first in the Ton Open League for several seasons.
– **Hamster Kombat**: Another “Play to Earn” game, Hamster Kombat, has seen a recent surge in popularity due to anticipated airdrops. Official data reveals its active user base has exceeded 150 million, growing by 50% in the past week, securing its spot as the third most popular app in the Telegram Apps Center.
– **Gatto|Game**: A pet-raising game showcased in the Ton Foundation’s Q1 2024 report, Gatto boasts a daily active user (DAU) count of 30,000, with over a million pets created, generating $35,000 in monthly revenue.
– **Gamee**: Gamee, a social gaming platform under Animoca Brands, remains highly popular on Telegram, despite a token price dip earlier in 2024 due to a hacking incident. Its popularity within the Telegram ecosystem remains high.
– **PocketFi**: A Telegram trading bot supporting cross-chain transactions, PocketFi’s simple operation and real-time feedback have attracted over 1.4 million users within three months of launch, enjoying strong popularity in the Telegram Apps Center.
– **Blum**: Blum, a DEX within the Telegram ecosystem, offers spot and simple derivative trading. While its full functionality isn’t yet live, users can mine points through mini-games. It has already surpassed tens of millions of users.
– **Yescoin**: As the name suggests, Yescoin mirrors Notcoin’s success and enjoys high popularity, with a user base exceeding 18 million and over 6 million subscribers on its official Telegram channel, growing at an impressive rate.
– **DeDust and Ston.fi**: Both DEXs within the Telegram ecosystem, DeDust and Ston.fi, are among the top-ranking apps alongside various “Click to Earn” games. They boast TVLs of $320 million and $260 million respectively, acting as flagship projects within Ton’s $634 million TVL ecosystem. Ston.fi’s official Telegram channel has garnered 680,000 followers, surpassing DeDust’s popularity.
– **Uxlink**: The largest social infrastructure project within the Telegram ecosystem, Uxlink facilitates rapid growth through acquaintances’ social connections, with publicly announced registration numbers exceeding 10 million.
