Topics
Latest
AI
Amazon
Image Credits:Rita Liao for TechCrunch
Apps
Biotech & Health
Climate
Image Credits:Rita Liao for TechCrunch
Cloud Computing
Commerce
Crypto
TON Society’s Jack Booth speaking at Korea Blockchain Week 2024.Image Credits:TechCrunch
Enterprise
EVs
Fintech
Fundraising
Gadgets
Gaming
Government & Policy
Hardware
Layoffs
Media & Entertainment
Meta
Microsoft
privateness
Robotics
surety
Social
blank space
inauguration
TikTok
fare
speculation
More from TechCrunch
effect
Startup Battlefield
StrictlyVC
newssheet
Podcasts
Videos
Partner Content
TechCrunch Brand Studio
Crunchboard
Contact Us
Telegram has had a knotty few weeks . The messaging app ’s founder , Pavel Durov , wasarrestedin late August and later free on a € 5 million bond in France , chargedwith running a party complicit in distributing child intimate vilification material and facilitating drug trafficking and organise pseudo . Predictably , that break up the price of the internet ’s cryptocurrency , Toncoin , by a third .
But last Wednesday , in the ritzy Dosan - daero part of Seoul , you could see no signs of gloom in the long line of people waiting to get into a party host by TON , the blockchain that execute on Telegram . Indeed , the crowd of developer , trafficker , investor , and other players from the blockchain ecosystem was in the mood to celebrate : A few hours earlier , TON had announced at Korea Blockchain Week that dealings on the blockchain had get over the 1 billion score .
Unexpectedly , Durov ’s in high spirits - profile halt has establish to be something of a blessing for Telegram . Downloads of the appspiked soon after the arrest , and it seems to have meliorate metric on TON as well .
“ Last hebdomad , short ton hit all - prison term highs for alive users and phone number of transactions during what , let ’s be dependable , is probably one of the worst hebdomad ever in news for TON , ” Jack Booth , co - founding father of TON Society , which manages the gross ton community , said during a group discussion at Korea Blockchain Week .
A complicated relationship
In theory , Durov ’s status should n’t have a material impact on TON . Telegram and TON Foundation , which recrudesce the blockchain , claim to be two independent entities . But thing are more complicated in world .
Durov go TON with his comrade Nikolai Durov under Telegram , but the messaging app had toabandon the blockchainafter the U.S. Securities and Exchange CommissionsuedTelegram for conducting a massive unregistered initial coin offer . The app has since tried to outstrip itself from TON — at least by split its corporate structure .
Meanwhile , a group of undefended generator developers and blockchain enthusiasts founded The Open connection Foundation , or TON Foundation , to continue developing the blockchain . Since then , TON has spawned several entities to support its tight - growing cognitive process , including short ton Society and The Open Platform , or TOP , which created theTON - based crypto pocketbook that runs on Telegram .
Join us at TechCrunch Sessions: AI
Exhibit at TechCrunch Sessions: AI
And to address concerns that the app ’s disproportionate retention of Toncoin could compromise the decentralized nature of the web , Durov in Februaryannouncedplans to “ limit Telegram ’s part of TON at ≈10 % of the supplying . ”
Still , the fact that hoi polloi panic - sell Toncoin utter to the perception that TON and Telegram are intimately related and somewhat interdependent . A person who identified himself as Minho secern me at Korea Blockchain Week that he bought more TON since Durov ’s arrest in the Bob Hope that “ prices will rebound following his passing . ”
Operationally , Telegram ’s ambitionof becoming a super app like WeChatalso depends heavily on the winner of TON . To attract third - party developer , Telegram want not only a proper tech stack , but also a whole defrayal internet to support in - app mercantilism . Only , rather of using a fiat system , it chooses cryptocurrency .
“ When you ’re tying your ecosystem to the achiever of the Telegram platform , then obviously when that comes into question , hoi polloi initiate to doubt what could happen , ” Booth told me . Still , he stressed that TON being a blockchain connection yield it a level of independence that would allow it endure without Telegram .
“ At the end of the day , TON ’s ecosystem is just using Telegram as a front - destruction experience . The app works on the website , too , so even in the most horrible result that Telegram is keep out down , short ton will still be available to break away , ” he say .
Optimism galore
A billion minutes sound like a big issue , but how big is TON really ? It ’s foxy to compare on - Ernst Boris Chain activity , as decentralized internet are often tracked by dissimilar parties and measured by unlike metrics . But to give you a rough idea : day-by-day proceedings on TONstood at 14.6 million on September 10 — that’sabout 40%of the “ non - vote ” transactions on Solana , a more established blockchain that ’s currently the fifth - declamatory by market cap . Toncoin , by market cap , stands at tenth home .
Nonetheless , the total economic value locked on TON is only $ 408 million , about 8 % of Solana ’s current Charles Frederick Worth of $ 4.77 billion , agree toDefiLlama .
These act are in occupation with Booth ’s remarks that TON ’s current gold rush is driven by a smattering of viral “ tap - to - earn ” game that pay back users with in - game plus for simply clicking on a push , and players trade these asset on telephone exchange where they are take . Solana , on the other hand , attract far more chapiter thanks to its vibrant and much more varied decentralized finance ( DeFi ) ecosystem .
One such TON - based game shout Hamster Kombat , where people role - drama as crypto central CEOs , has pile up 250 million monthly alive user , according to Booth . That routine is telling , but it should be taken with a caryopsis of salt , since the “ tap - to - earn ” mechanism used here is quite menial by mod video recording game standard and arouse valid questions about such games ’ seniority .
But for TON , and Telegram by extension , the note value of clicker game lies in their ability to bring user to web3 with just a few taps ( and keep them there with a fiscal motivator ) , Booth said during his speech . And it should be noted that play web3 games requires users to jump many basketball hoop in the first place — they have to download an app , arrange up a crypto billfold , and keep lengthy wallet passkeys good — so anything that makes things easier is probable to be favour .
That ’s not to say that studios are n’t trying to build more advanced title for games for TON . One such claim , name Catizen , get players manage and optimise a settlement of cats and has pull in 30 million monthly users , over 2 million of whom are fighting on the blockchain , Tim Wong , chairman at Catizen Foundation , told TechCrunch . In less than six month , the biz has racked up revenue of $ 21 million .
“ Most web3 games acquire users without generating any in - game revenues , ” Wong told me . “ The mini - spirited ecosystem is already very established on WeChat , and it ’s just starting on Telegram . We believe mankind ’ demand for in high spirits - quality gameplay and their desire to expend on entertainment are oecumenical . ”
Toncoin may not be going to the moon anytime soon reach the charge against Durov , orhow oftenTelegram is brought up in relation to unsound newsworthiness . But as is often the case with crypto project , there is a good amount of fervor and optimism on display here . Denmark - free-base Roy Chen , who has developed a console - inspired title of respect , HypeSaints , that runs on TON , pointed out that the major impact of Durov ’s arrest has been on Toncoin ’s damage rather than the ecosystem itself .
“ After all , the electric potential for crypto mass adoption through TON is huge , thanks to Telegram ’s 950 million users , ” he pronounce .
