# TON overview by TON Asia DevRel lead

Source: https://x.com/0xhoward_peng/status/1809892263352500406
Kiwi News: https://news.kiwistand.com/stories/TON-overview-by-TON-Asia-DevRel-lead?index=0x668ba6a488034df33092af0e6d4114715bea925202f31d4b526d8bfd01b550ae7faf8d10
Submitted by macbudkowski.eth on 2024-07-08 UTC, 5 upvotes, 0 comments

## Summary

The author, identified as TON Asia DevRel lead, argues that TON is still early and has established a flywheel effect and network moat, with payments, mini-apps and a growing user base. The piece points to Telegram's 900 million users and Tap-to-Earn channels such as Hamster, which reached 48 million subscribers by June 30, as evidence of a compounding effect. It also argues that Asia is undervalued, citing developer talent in the mini-app framework, while noting that local investors remain few and that the smart contract language FunC is hard to learn.

## Article

TL;DR

TON is still quite early; it hasn’t reached the “real money” stage yet. However, the flywheel effect has been established, especially the moat for the TON Blockchain itself compared to other L1 networks. We have payments, the mini-app, and a growing number of users in the network. 🔹The network is experiencing a compounding effect.🔹

Asia is the most undervalued region (I think everyone agrees with this even before TON stood out this year), but the most impactful aspect is the talent resources for developers in the mini-app framework. Nevertheless, over the 9 months in the TON Foundation, I think local investors or firms are still not that numerous. 🔹This also means there is a huge opportunity for VCs here.🔹

Telegram Usernames will become the most valuable NFTs and assets in crypto history due to the massive demand within the Telegram mini-app ecosystem. Telegram Stars will be the most successful entry point from Web2 to Web3, bringing billions of dollars into the TON network. 🔹This will lead to real mass adoption: more users coming in and an easier way to buy digital goods.🔹

More importantly, 99% of people are focusing on mini-apps and click-to-earn or tap-to-earn projects. However, the true potential of TON and Telegram lies in their capabilities for DeFi and social integration. 🔹In the second half of 2024, there is a high chance that TON will see growth in DeFi and other on-chain projects.🔹 Metrics such as TVL, trading volume, and the number of on-chain users are all expected to increase.

1⃣ The Network of TON / Telegram

Right now, most people are only focusing on the mini-app framework.

They are still missing the bigger picture of the TON Blockchain, which includes smart contracts, a DNS system, over 100k TPS, and the best user base for easy conversion. This is because we are backed by Telegram, which has 900 million users.

https://blog.ton.org/100000-transactions-per-second-ton-sets-the-world-record-on-its-first-performance-test

https://blog.ton.org/an-introduction-to-ton-ecosystem-discover-web3-on-telegram

The best way to understand Telegram + TON is through the following structure:

Telegram: The messaging layer that connects each individual. Your handle name serves as your unique ID.

@wallet: The bridge between messaging and crypto, connecting users and enabling everyone to have crypto at their fingertips.

TON Blockchain: The asset layer that builds the financial system and other decentralized, permission-less functions and businesses.

Why haven’t see the TON being success yet?

The reason why the TON Blockchain still has low transaction complexity and hasn’t seen a surge in large DApps is:

Building a mini-app to acquire users is much easier than investing a lot of time to train a smart contract developer. At least in terms of time and financial investment, it is more efficient.

Due to the scarcity of DApps on the TON Blockchain, there aren’t many open-source projects to refer to or copy from.

More importantly, the smart contract language itself is too difficult to learn (the FunC language). However, Tact is okay and has seen significant updates recently.

To address these issues from the top down, we (the TON Foundation) and the Dev Rel team are dedicated to bridging these gaps. We will create more tutorials and templates and promote more public goods to help projects develop better on TON.

Of course, we know that Rome wasn’t built in a day.

Fortunately, our developer ecosystem has seen significant growth. More importantly, the success of recent "Tap-to-Earn" projects and the integration of USDT on TON have greatly accelerated this progress.

*The Developer Guide by Howard can reference here: https://ton-org.notion.site/Developer-Guideline-by-Howard-024429d0b28c409f992d238057b60f4f

https://blog.ton.org/deep-dive-into-usdt-on-ton

https://ton.org/dev

How Tap-to-Earn is changing the Telegram Ecosystem?

Based on the first point, it’s clear that most teams prefer to invest in high ROI projects and quickly accumulate users. This makes sense for any internet company.

In hindsight, we see millions of users engaging with “Tap-to-Earn” or “click-based products” within the Telegram and TON ecosystem.

https://www.tapps.center/clickerappsseason

https://tgstat.com/ratings/channels

Let’s check some data:

Hamster: 48M subscribers

Tapswap: 25M subscribers

Blum: 15M subscribers

Telegram Tips: 11M subscribers

Yescoin: 9.8M subscribers

Pixelverse: 9.2M subscribers

Notcoin: 8.3M subscribers

MemeFi: 8M subscribers

Astonishing! This is a prime example of how crypto can push forward for users. I can't find a better case than this. It's shocking to see not only the number of subscribers but also that the top #8 channels on Telegram are almost all related to crypto (except for #4, Telegram Tips... haha).

Hamster went from 1,000,000 subscribers on April 15 to 48 million subscribers by June 30. That growth rate is faster than any DAU I've seen before. It's even higher than the number of new users Binance.com gained during the 2017 end-of-year altcoin hype (if I remember correctly). My point is: "In the past, there were no incentives for people to eagerly join public channels. But now they have."

Would you still say that crypto can't change the world?  It has already dramatically changed the ecosystem and how people behave within the Telegram ecosystem.

The theory here is simple: the value of crypto is becoming easier to monetize. And since Notcoin was listed on major CEXs, it has created more future expectations, attracting more users into the Telegram ecosystem and encouraging them to engage more, such as subscribing to channels and clicking.

This is a great example of how we are transitioning to a more Web2.5-Web3 business logic that simultaneously has strong financial attributes, a powerful network effect, and the best user experience.

Moreover, the network effect creates barriers that will, in turn, benefit the TON Blockchain and UX, fostering more successful projects and attracting even more projects to join.

How Far Can We Reach?

Luckily, I think we are still early and have much more to explore in the Telegram Network and beyond. Not only because:

The number of subscribers on the Hamster Channel compared to the total Telegram MAU is about 48M / 900M, which is only 5.3%❗️. 

If you compare this with the chasm for adoption, we are still quite early.

Nonetheless, that is just the basic math. What I care about is the “penetration”; how many TApps are based on DeFi? How many users in Telegram have on-chain wallets? These are the major metrics that I care about the most.

Again, we are still very, very early.

The Network is Experiencing a Compounding Effect

Quickly moving forward, the first insight is the network effect. The sheer number of people in Telegram channels, along with the Notcoin case listing and USDT integration, boosts the overall compounding effect.

The flywheel effect is spreading. Although I can’t provide specific numbers about how many projects have pitched to us or how many messages I have received on Telegram, the open data shows that the first wave of momentum has already formed. Further growth and effects could happen at any moment.

To ensure this article remains readable and not overly lengthy, here are some potential topics I should expand on in the near future:

On-chain Data: The reasons behind the TVL increase on the TON blockchain, and why the number of on-chain users is rising.

USDT Supply: What is driving the increase in the total supply of USDT, and what could be the next module we can build on TON?

Tap-to-Earn Projects: How can these projects pivot into new business models, and what is the business model for these types of "traffic-driven products"?

Overall, this is the entry point where I believe our network effect has already formed on the TON Blockchain. Moreover, the path from 0 to 1 has been completed, and we should now focus on going from 1 to 100+. The network is currently experiencing a compounding effect.

2⃣Regarding the Influence of Asia

We have seen many successful companies building on the Super App theory, such as WeChat, AliPay, Zalo, Grab, and Line Messenger.

Focusing on WeChat, it not only nurtures millions of users but also provides a platform for thousands of developers to onboard. The takeaway insights are:

Developers in Asia are already familiar with the mobile-driven market. Numerous case studies can be found from WeChat mini-app rankings. — They know what to build.

Due to the economic slowdown in China, more teams and studios are seeking overseas opportunities to grow their margins and revenue, such as TikTok, Temu, and TaoBao. — They want to survive, they are hungry to find the opportunity.

Given these points, let's focus on the data and examine the projects, branding, or firms we can identify and explore through the Open League sessions so far. First of all, the Open League (@TONOpenLeague) competition uses an SDK that tracks every mini-app accessing/opening the Tapps. This makes it quite difficult to cheat or fake the numbers.

The Open League provides liquidity rewards to high-quality projects. These projects can be broadly categorized into NFTs, App categories, meme-coins, etc. For more details, you can check https://blog.ton.org/the-open-league-season-4-results-new-champions-emerge.

Again, this is all based on personal views and does not represent any entity or the Foundation's perspective on projects or issues. This might be based on my personal view, past collaboration experiences, or our impressions from hosting offline events in Asia over the past nine months.

The Influence of Asia

From the graph analyzed above, we can see that many projects are very good at marketing and capturing users' attention. However, most of them face the issue of a "cold start" since they primarily know how to operate on platforms like WeChat and Weibo rather than x.com. But things are getting smoother as more "Tap-to-Earn" projects emerge, helping projects enter the market and acquire early users easily (refer to our first major point — The Network Effect), along with the aid of Telegram Ads and other tools.

Obvious questions that come to mind are:

How do we define projects as being purely in Asia? Are they successful because they leverage advantages unique to Asia? What kinds of projects are teams in Asia particularly good at?

If I have an idea and build an MVP product, who can I approach for support besides the TON Foundation resources (such as Grants or Ton Ventures)?

Who and which teams are truly focused on Asia and genuinely believe in the Super App theory, willing to go all-in on TON? How can I assist them?

Even though we have a few clear points that show how effectively we can build in Asia, the ecosystem still lacks standout firms that reinvest in it. “Only until the changing of the price in these months” — this seems to be an age-old issue. Similar to how the early ETH ecosystem was not well-received in China: being an early investor and publicly advocating for it is very challenging.

I can already see many successful projects deeply rooted in Asia, such as @TONXStudio, @CatizenAI, @Yescoin_Fam, @Ton_scription, @852Web3, @squid_tg, @BitgetWallet, @okxweb3, @GateWeb3Wallet, @KeneticCapital, @MechanismCap, @FoliusVentures and more.

While preparing this analysis, the clearest issue that came to mind was, "It seems there aren't many investors who really care about or invest in TON projects in Asia." This might be a fact, yet it’s based on my personal experience and thus not necessarily accurate. Please don't take it too seriously.

https://x.com/TONHackerHouse/status/1777422472046092357

https://x.com/0xHoward_Peng/status/1772895520660369883

The Open Summit

Fundamentally, there are more questions worth exploring, but due to the limited scope of this article, I will summarize the key points:

If you are a developer in Asia, you should build on TON because this is the environment you are familiar with.

If you are stuck in a Web2 business and want to try out Web3, choose TON. In fact, most successful projects originate from purely Web2 backgrounds.

If you are an investor who believes in Asia, then you should come, build, and pitch.

That is why I am pushing and helping with the Open Summit hosted on August 6-8 in Taipei, Taiwan. I truly believe there are still many projects that haven’t been noticed yet, especially given the tremendous growth in the TON ecosystem.

https://x.com/BuildOnTON/status/1808836768353169814

If you are a VC who hasn't explored much of the TON ecosystem or its projects, I highly recommend you join to discover more interesting opportunities. This is why I believe there is a huge opportunity for VCs here, as pointed out in our previous graph. Whether from the projects' or VCs' perspective, there is still plenty of room for growth and business opportunities.

3⃣Branding in the Mini-App Ecosystem

With the advent of the mini-app ecosystem, one crucial aspect that all TApps must address is branding.

If you look at the most successful projects in the space, you'll notice:

t.me/wallet: The best centralized crypto wallet for TON, also servicing the TON Space wallet (the non-custodian wallet).

t.me/send: The best wallet for EVM tokens and other altcoins. This wallet has a great Telegram username, and you can activate this bot service in any chat by typing @send 1 USDT. Cool!

t.me/Whale: The biggest crypto gambling bot in the space.

t.me/devs: A place where you can ask developer questions specifically for Telegram mini-apps.

t.me/wolf: The Pavel Durov’s Telegram Username

Telegram Username

Due to the upcoming Telegram BOT and mini-app services, the massive demand for bot usage will directly drive the need for these username handles, both in buying and selling.

I believe that in the near future, Telegram Usernames will be sold at increasingly higher prices on the Fragment.com page. This indicates a growing trend and market demand for unique and short domain names. Below is a record of unique and successful sales in history.

Telegram Stars

No need to say much, this is the most exciting update for me since Fragment.com. Although it looks like any other payment process on any other apps in the space, I am very excited about this feature and look forward to seeing how the data grows.

https://t.me/BotNews/90

https://t.me/BotNews/92

Combining Telegram Username + Telegram mini-app and Telegram Ads + Telegram Stars, I believe the leverage effect will be more pronounced.

In addition to providing better entry channels (which can be seen this way), there is also the best user experience to capture the value of these digital items and highlight them on Telegram's display level.

Relying on social elements, digital content (whether Jetton Token or NFTs) will have more opportunities for exposure.

Moving from peer-to-peer to group-to-group interactions will generate more social content and competition based on Telegram groups, strengthening the social network.

This will encourage users to spend more time on Telegram, building both the ecosystem layer and the application layer (e.g., "TApps will be the Web3 of the AppStore").

However, due to some potential undisclosed information waiting to be shared by the Telegram team, I won't spend too much effort on this part. My primary focus is on the TON Blockchain and smart contracts.

4⃣The Second Half of 2024 for the TON Ecosystem

Undoubtedly, our goal for 2024 is to onboard 10 million active on-chain users in the TON Blockchain.

Based on the data from tonstat.com, we are already reaching 5.8 million MAU. This is largely thanks to the aforementioned traffic-driven TApps, upcoming application-type apps, and the influx of airdrop seekers. Overall, I believe this opens up a lot of potential for expansion, first-mover advantages, and network effects.

Again, I think in the end, 80% of the traffic will be contributed by the top 20% of channels and TApps. So, we will see more projects reaching a highly competitive stage of traffic business.

Currently, it is crucial to maximize traffic and increase user numbers as much as possible, creating a significant lead over the second tier.

What is worth considering is, what comes next?

As I mentioned earlier, focusing on ROI and guiding teams to develop mini-app-based projects to quickly capture the market is crucial. In the near future, it won't just be about mini-apps or the current business models; there will be more innovations happening. For example, the Tap-to-Earn combined with the Launchpad model, or the Prediction Market integrating social relationships with native mobile experiences. There are so many possibilities to explore.

Take the success and value of Hamster Kombat, for example. It leveraged financial incentives to drive user interactions, encouraging people to click and subscribe to channels. However, I believe this is just an early example of how financial attributes can change user behavior.

In the near future, the TON ecosystem will host the most profitable projects, surpassing even FriendTech and Pump.fun, due to its natural social viral growth. Additionally, it provides a stage for everyone to showcase and promote their valuable NFTs and content.

High Chance of Explosive Growth for the DeFi Ecosystem

However, it's inevitable that more projects will focus on DeFi. I think the second half of 2024 will see significant progress in the DeFi space within the TON ecosystem. Here are a few reasons why:

More smart contract developers are joining, and the Tact language is being strengthened and updated more frequently (https://github.com/tact-lang/tact).

More mini-app teams are delivering high-quality TApps, giving them the bandwidth to start exploring smart contracts.

The launch of USDT on TON has already increased the TVL on the TON Blockchain. More DApps are on the way. Additionally, more projects focused on Oracle Prices are coming to TON, such as @redstone_defi.

What is the most successful project these days? Especially this cycle? GMX, FriendTech, LooksRare, UniBot, and OpenSea.

I truly believe that as more teams learn to develop mini-apps and as a large influx of traffic enters TON-related apps, the DeFi protocols built on top will better align with the market and amplify the network effect. For example, imagine Polymarket on TON and mini-apps and how easily it could expand and grow.

The TON ecosystem will host the most profitable projects, surpassing even FriendTech and Pump.fun, due to its natural social viral growth. Additionally, it provides a stage for everyone to showcase and promote their valuable NFTs and content.

Traffic-driven projects will always have greater influence, whether in dealing with exchanges or in continuing to incubate new projects.

Investing in toncoin itself will become more complex. As more applications and native integrations on Telegram and these mini-apps emerge, estimating the "network" value becomes increasingly difficult.

As for which DApps have recently caught my interest or which ones I've discovered, I will write a separate article in the future. I think this article has become quite lengthy already.

5⃣Final

To sum up, the first half of 2024 saw significant growth in the TON ecosystem. As the Dev Rel Asia Lead for the TON Foundation, I believe there are many more areas worth attention: Infra, investor table, Payment solution, P2P market, DNS domain, DeFi, NFT Marketplace, derivatives and more. There are plenty of untapped opportunities.

On the other hand, it's great to see more projects from Asia joining the ecosystem. However, I must admit that I have been overwhelmed with messages on Twitter and Telegram. With only two hands, I feel sorry that I can't reply to and take care of all the projects one by one.

I have to say that the Telegram mini-app and TON will be the way for people in Asia to make an impact and bring value to more people. This is a familiar pattern for those who grew up in Asia.

Personally, it's hard to describe the feeling since we have been promoting TON for the past 1.5 years. I tried to build a project on TON before, but it didn’t go well due to a lack of infrastructure. Compared to that time, you can now clearly see that everyone is talking about TON and asking questions since the price increase. And it’s the best time ever to build in our ecosystem and network for sure.

From my personal view, despite being in its early stages, TON is establishing a strong foundation with a growing user base and features like payments and mini-apps, particularly in Asia where developer talent is abundant, paving the way for Telegram usernames to become highly valuable NFTs and for TON to achieve mass adoption through its unique DeFi and social integration potential by the latter half of 2024.

I don’t predict prices and am not able to do so. I purely believe that onboarding 10x more users is my greatest mission. I remain the same person who joined Binance in 2018 only because I wanted to help CZ make crypto accessible to everyone (although the pay was super low…haha).

Changing the world is not easy, let’s bear the burden and move forward together. 

I believe Telegram + TON + Asia would be the reason why bring us into next bull cycle.

Come to build with us! 💎

Source

1: User name price history - https://x.com/0xBreadguy/status/1800908705304805659

2: Contact of me: t.me/dev_rel and t.me/ton_blockchain

3: Dev Communities: https://t.me/addlist/1r5Vcb8eljk5Yzc