After the upheaval surrounding the arrest of Telegram founder Durov, the TVL (Total Value Locked) on the TON chain is gradually stabilizing and recovering. In the fourth quarter, potential protocols like Blum and PixelSwap will usher in their TGEs. Recently, the popularity of Sui has remained high, indirectly bringing greater attention to TON, another non-EVM L1 public chain. In the fourth quarter, the TON ecosystem is still in a blue ocean stage with less competition. Laying low during this period may yield unexpected gains.
Tomarket — A Platform Integrating Gaming, Earning, and Trading
- TGE Date: October 31
- Funding: Investments from Bitget Wallet and Foresight Ventures
- Website: https://tomarket.ai/
Tomarket (TOMATO) is a decentralized platform that combines gaming, earning, and trading, all integrated into an easy-to-use platform. Built on Telegram and using the TON blockchain, Tomarket aims to simplify how users interact with blockchain technology, allowing them to easily play games, earn money, and trade. The platform integrates features like games and airdrops and also allows users to trade tokens on DEXs.
The product experience is similar to most mini-apps of the same kind:
- Access the game link via Telegram to complete basic tasks.
- Check in daily to receive tokens.
- Plant tomato trees and harvest tomatoes every hour.
For some reason, I get a nostalgic feeling reminiscent of the crop-stealing games from the 2000s. Tomarket officially announced that it will conduct its TGE on October 31, with detailed token airdrop information to be announced soon. Tomarket uses a level system to determine the amount of airdrops each user can receive. Users can increase their level before the TGE by participating in platform activities to earn airdrop rewards.
Blum — A Hybrid Exchange Incorporating Gaming and Social Elements
- TGE Date: Expected Q4 2024
- Funding: Backed by Binance Labs
- Website: Telegram: Contact @BlumCryptoBot
Blum is a hybrid cryptocurrency trading platform. According to official descriptions, BLUM provides a gamified user experience through a Telegram mini-app, allowing users to easily acquire various tokens. Users can access tokens from centralized exchanges (CEX) and decentralized exchanges (DEX) in a unified interface, supporting over 30 different blockchains. In addition to basic trading functions, Blum offers a range of value-added services, including AI-assisted trading guidance, peer-to-peer trading, and derivatives trading.
In March this year, Blum was selected for the seventh season of the BNB Chain Most Valuable Builder (MVB) program. On September 11, Blum received investment from Binance Labs, though the specific amount was not disclosed.
Currently, Blum’s trading functions are not yet live. They have mainly launched a “Tap to Earn” mini-game—users can earn points by tapping the screen and playing mini-games. According to Blum’s project team, they have gained over 10 million users through this mining-for-points model.
Participating is simple, partly by completing tasks on the task wall (left image below):
- Claim $BLUM once every 8 hours, then click “Start Farming.”
- Navigate to “Tasks.”
- Join Blum’s social media channels.
- Complete all tasks to earn 700+ $BLUM.
Another part of the farming process involves playing a “Little Bee”-like game built into the platform (right image below).
This game is truly a remake of “Little Bee.” Honestly, the foundation of “Little Bee” is quite solid, making it more interesting than many other tap-tap games.
TapSwap — The “Tap-to-Earn” Platform Praised by Durov
- TGE Date: Expected Q4 2024
- Funding: Not disclosed
- Website: Telegram: Contact @tapswapai
TapSwap is a tap-to-earn platform that was praised by Telegram founder Pavel Durov. He mentioned on his personal Telegram channel that the TapSwap team wisely relies on Telegram for distribution and utilizes TON to issue upcoming tokens. He stated that this is inspiring for all developers building applications on Telegram and TON. As of early July 2024, TapSwap has over 60 million players and 4 million YouTube subscribers.
TapSwap was first launched at the end of 2023, initially on the Solana network before moving to the TON ecosystem. In TapSwap, players can earn TAPS tokens by tapping icons in the Telegram interface. The platform also offers bonuses, tasks, referral systems, and more.
According to the team, the platform currently has over 60 million users, far exceeding the 35 million users during Notcoin’s TGE. Currently, TapSwap hasn’t publicly disclosed more TGE-related information, but the project’s founder announced that the TGE will take place in Q4. As a leading tap-to-earn project, it’s worth paying attention to—it could be a significant opportunity.
PixelSwap — The Final Piece in TON’s DEX Landscape
- TGE Date: Expected Q4 2024
- Funding Amount: $2 million, led by Kenetic Capital with participation from Foresight Ventures, Waterdrip Capital, and others
- Website: pixelswap.io
LayerPixel, incubated by TON’s launchpad TonUP, is a DeFi solution designed for Telegram mini-apps, officially referred to as Layer 1.5. It offers services including wallets and DEXs with multiple trading algorithms. Besides launching PixelSwap directly for end-users, it also provides embedded SDK suites based on Telegram mini-apps for other applications to develop swap functions.
TON’s performance and load-bearing capacity are among the only ones that can stand alongside Solana among current public chains. However, TON’s ecosystem combines Web2 and Web3 models. This combination tends to dilute Web3 characteristics in actual use but delves deep into Web3 at the technical level.
For example, Telegram has a built-in centralized trading pool that allows for stablecoin and TON deposits, followed by exchanges between TON and other tokens. Functionally, this is a simplified version, offering an operational experience almost identical to the instant exchange features of centralized exchanges (CEX).
Additionally, it interacts with the blockchain through integration with the TON wallet, TON Space, providing an experience similar to using MetaMask on a PC or mobile device. If you need to exchange tokens, the commonly used platforms in the ecosystem are STON and Dedust, but their functionalities are basically akin to Uniswap V1.
Currently, all the DEXs we see, such as STON and Dedust, only offer trading functions similar to Uniswap V1. For DEXs on high-speed blockchains like TON, it’s crucial to provide ample trading liquidity or modularize trading functions so that liquidity advantages become the key factor for user choices.
On TON, the trading front-end entry points will inevitably exist extensively within Telegram. DEXs still need to enhance their business refinement like Jupiter and Balancer to achieve balance for all users. Whether they’re ordinary users, token providers, liquidity providers, or platform developers, each role requires specific refined functions.
As the end-user product of LayerPixel, PixelSwap maximizes a DEX’s value capture through more suitable technical routes and applications compared to STON.fi and Dedust.
Currently, PixelSwap has launched its Telegram mini-app version. Based on recent updates from their official channels, it’s expected that the TGE and airdrop dates are not far off. Notably, PixelSwap is one of the few TON projects that have recently publicly disclosed specific funding amounts and investors.
Given the complexities of the blockchain world and the challenging fundraising environment this year, projects that transparently disclose financing information are relatively rare. This transparency indicates the team’s strong confidence in their product.