Key Takeaways
- Bitget’s $30 million funding in TON tokens displays confidence within the community’s future.
- TON’s modern consumer acquisition methods are driving its development in varied sectors.
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With the crypto market recovering from its 2022-2023 stoop, The Open Community (TON) is rising as a possible powerhouse, leveraging its Telegram roots whereas additionally in search of independence. Trade specialists are divided on whether or not this type of ‘balancing act’ will propel TON to new heights or go away it weak to regulatory scrutiny.
Bitget, a number one crypto alternate, is betting large on TON’s future. The corporate just lately introduced a $30 million funding in TON tokens, by its partnership with Foresight Ventures, a Web3 funding agency. This transfer alerts confidence within the TON ecosystem’s potential.
“We deeply consider in TON’s success and potentialities,” shares Vugar Usi Zade, Chief Operations Officer at Bitget, in an unique interview with Crypto Briefing throughout TOKEN 2049 in Singapore.
“TON has established a powerful foothold amongst customers in areas such because the CIS, South Asia, Southeast Asia, Brazil, and Nigeria,” Zade stated.
Progressive fashions driving consumer acquisition
Requested in regards to the components which they consider are pushing or driving this pattern, Zade says that the narrative round mass adoption has largely modified.
“Again in 2016, once I began working in crypto, the narrative was that this know-how is ‘revolutionizing’ and that folks will come to Web3. However after six or so years, we observed that folks don’t come to Web3, we have now to go to the folks,” Zade stated, noting that this particular facet can also be inherent in Telegram.
With over a billion customers and counting, Telegram represents the ‘practical case’ of onboarding the subsequent billion customers. Zade cites the instance of Fb, which just lately launched its Threads app.
“They may onboard a whole lot of thousands and thousands of customers to that platform as a result of they already had an enormous consumer base. I consider in leveraging these features so that folks, customers, may gain advantage from the tasks, instruments, and assets inside TON’s ecosystem,” Zade observes.
Zade sees sensible utility and mass adoption as core challenges to how TON might attain retail customers, an issue which he notes can also be prevalent within the crypto business, therefore the prospects of chain abstraction and the push in direction of better accessibility for crypto UX.
At this level, we requested Zade what he thinks in regards to the time period “de-Telegrammization” and what its lateral results may very well be throughout the business.
Based on Zade, there’s a large potential for Telegram to develop into a “core entry level” for customers, working as an acquisition channel, however not the one channel.
“It doesn’t essentially imply that customers ought to, or would select to at all times keep there,” Zade opines, noting that the necessity to construct past the preliminary Telegram viewers would develop into extra obvious.
Telegram’s huge consumer base: a double-edged sword?
TON’s best asset—and doubtless additionally potential legal responsibility—is its shut affiliation with Telegram, the encrypted messaging app that has over a billion customers. This huge consumer base gives an unparalleled launchpad for crypto adoption, but additionally raises considerations about over-reliance on a single platform.
“Telegram is a good machine to amass or introduce customers to crypto or crypto tasks,” Usi Zade defined. “However undoubtedly there will likely be an enormous must construct past that Telegram viewers.”
The idea of “de-Telegrammization” has gained traction within the crypto group, describing TON’s gradual transfer away from its messaging app roots. Based on knowledge from Bitget Analysis, the TON ecosystem at present consists of over 1,100 decentralized purposes (dApps), with main tasks rising throughout sectors like DeFi, GameFi, and utility instruments.
The TON blockhain just lately reached over 1 billion transactions, and fast development could be attributed to the modern consumer acquisition fashions, notably within the gaming sector. “Faucet-to-Earn” video games like Notcoin and Hamster Kombat have attracted thousands and thousands of customers, many interacting with blockchain know-how for the primary time, and with requirements comparable to gasless transactions being launched to such a large consumer base.
“I like to name it the IKEA impact,” Usi Zade stated, drawing a parallel to the furnishings retailer. “Once you purchase one thing from IKEA, you deliver it dwelling, you construct it, you assume that you just obtain one thing. Now with Faucet-to-Earn video games, you are feeling like you might be incomes or doing one thing.”
These video games have confirmed remarkably efficient at onboarding new customers. Notcoin, for instance, accrued over 30 million individuals since its January 2024 launch, with 5 million every day lively customers at its peak.
Whereas gaming and meme tokens have pushed preliminary development, TON’s long-term success might hinge on its capability to facilitate real-world transactions. “Not too long ago, there’s a taxi app on Telegram. I take advantage of them. They’re accessible in Singapore, for instance, the place you possibly can pay with a TON token,” Usi Zade shared.
This push in direction of sensible purposes aligns with broader business developments. Normal Chartered Plc expects the tokenization market to succeed in about $30 trillion by 2034, with commerce finance contributing a 16% share.
DeFi improvement: a crucial weak point
Regardless of its strengths, TON faces important challenges in decentralized finance (DeFi). Based on knowledge from DeFiLlama, TON’s whole worth locked (TVL) stands at simply $356 million, accounting for a mere 0.43% of the whole throughout all blockchains.
“There will likely be undoubtedly gamers who select to not have Telegram and so they nonetheless should have entry to the tasks which can be constructing,” Usi Zade acknowledged. This underdevelopment in DeFi might restrict TON’s development potential and skill to compete with extra established blockchain ecosystems.
As TON seeks to broaden past Telegram’s shadow, regulatory considerations solid a protracted shadow. The arrest of Telegram founder Pavel Durov in France on August 25, 2024, despatched shockwaves by the TON ecosystem. Within the week following the arrest, the value of the TON token dropped over 17.6%, whereas the community’s TVL noticed a pointy 60% decline in a single day.
“The regulatory atmosphere surrounding Telegram might pose important challenges for TON’s ecosystem, doubtlessly affecting its international enlargement and adoption,” the Bitget Analysis report states.
Regardless of this, TON continues to barter its complicated relationship with Telegram, at the same time as business observers stay divided on its future prospects. Bitget’s technique seems to be one in all cautious optimism, actively engaged on new consumer acquisition channels whereas monitoring regulatory developments.
“If TON folks can discover a method the place this token will flip into true utility and construct extra tasks that serve or cater to lots, then there’s large alternatives for them to faucet past that [Telegram] viewers,” Zade says.
With main gamers like Bitget persevering with to spend money on and assist the ecosystem, TON’s capability to strike the proper steadiness between leveraging Telegram’s huge consumer base and growing impartial infrastructure might nicely decide its place within the crypto business.
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