Bittime – Telegram's TON blockchain, while lagging behind Solana, has surpassed Ethereum in terms of the number of daily active users this June. This has given rise to speculation that TON has the potential to become a strong competitor to Ethereum in the future.
TON: Telegram's Built-in Crypto Wallet
Known as an instant messaging application with more than 900 million monthly active users, Telegram has a built-in crypto wallet integrated with each application. These wallets, along with the popular mini-games, are driving a spike in activity on the TON blockchain.
Based on data from blockchain analytics firm Artemis, TON averaged 465,200 daily active users in June, with a record high of 568,300 on June 3. This figure has never been reached by Ethereum on its base layer this month, excluding layer 2.
"For a new ecosystem like TON, we believe [daily active users] is a better metric to monitor than TVL or transaction fees, because amassing users takes priority over making money," wrote Kelly Ye, portfolio manager at venture capital firm Decentral Park Capital, in a weekly newsletter published on May 20.
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TON Active Users
Even though it has higher daily active users than Ethereum, this number is still far from Solana, which averaged around 1.64 million daily active users in June.
"TON has had a positive impact on the blockchain industry as its data shows a net increase in new user activity," wrote Andrew Van Aken, data scientist at Artemis, in a Telegram message to Unchained.
"Daily active users on Solana and TON have both increased so far this year, indicating that TON is attracting new users."
Telegram's large community and built-in crypto wallet within the app have helped drive TON's daily active user count to its current levels, according to Jehan Chu, an investor in the TON ecosystem and Managing Partner at Kenetic, a blockchain venture capital firm.
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Technology Upgrade by Telegram
Telegram's built-in crypto wallet is an "opt-out wallet, which means that aside from the 30-40 million geo-blocked US users, the other 860 million Telegram users all have crypto wallets by default and automatically," Chu explained. "Imagine the impact... It's like a Thanos-scale change."
Telegram succeeded in improving its technology and capturing a large user base through the official launch of the Telegram crypto wallet in September 2023.
"What's interesting about this is not the wallet itself, but rather the seamless integration of web3 technology into platforms that users already use," namely instant messaging services, "one of the destinations with the highest daily user traffic," Chu said.
"99.999% of blockchain projects are tech ideas trying to build a community – from scratch. There are more than 23,000 cryptocurrencies according to CoinMarketCap. It's a tough road for most projects," wrote Dan Morehead, CEO of crypto-focused venture capital firm Pantera, in the company's announcement in May about how TON was their biggest investment yet.
"Telegram is a community of more than 900 million users that integrates blockchain technology. It's definitely easier."
TON Factor Loved
Pantera, which has $4.7 billion in assets under management, cited other reasons for its decision to invest in TON, including its values as a neutral platform independent of state influence and an easy onboarding process.
The surge in activity on the TON blockchain is driven by another factor that is also the reason for Pantera's big investment: a mini-app ecosystem that includes chatbots and games.
Referring to Telegram's increase in daily active users, Chu said it arose from "a combination of things - obviously, gaming was the main driver."
Several mini-games within Telegram have attracted substantial attention from its users, such as Notcoin, Hamster Kombat, and Catizen. Notcoin, a free game on Telegram where more than 35 million users have tapped their screens to earn tokens, launched its cryptocurrency in May and has since amassed a market capitalization of $1.6 billion, according to data from CoinGecko.
Similarly, Hamster Kombat has almost 33.6 million subscribers on its Telegram channel, while Catizen has more than 3.6 million users.
Bloomberg also reported on Tuesday that many in the crypto space believe that the mini-game trend on Telegram "could be the 'killer app' that will define the current bull market."
Also Read: TON Foundation: Toncoin (TON) Soars Thanks to Integration with Telegram
Can TON Overtake Solana?
Although TON shows impressive growth, several challenges must be overcome to compete or even surpass Solana, namely:
1. Market Cap Gap
Although TON has seen significant price increases, its market capitalization ($18 billion) still lags far behind Solana ($68 billion). TON needs to attract more investment and users to close this gap.
2. Immature DeFi Ecosystem
Compared to Solana which has a rapidly developing DeFi (Decentralized Finance) ecosystem, TON is still in its early stages. Developers need to build more decentralized finance applications on the TON blockchain to attract users and liquidity.
3. Scalability
Solana is known for its high transaction speed. TON needs to continue improving its scalability to compete with Solana and other blockchains that process transactions quickly.
4. Sustained User Growth
TON's increase in users is largely driven by trending mini-games. Wider adoption of different types of applications on the TON blockchain is needed for user growth to be sustainable.
Also Read How To Buy Crypto:
Conclusion
Telegram's TON blockchain displays the potential to become a major player in the blockchain space. With a large user base, built-in crypto wallet, and growing gaming ecosystem, TON has shown impressive growth in activity.
However, TON still has several hurdles to overcome to become a serious competitor to Ethereum and especially Solana. TON's future success will depend on its ability to build a strong DeFi ecosystem, increase scalability, and sustain its user growth beyond the realm of mini-games.
The dynamics of the blockchain industry are fast-moving, and competition is fierce. Whether TON will become the "next Solana" remains to be seen in its development.
How to Buy Toncoin (TON) on Bittime
You can buy and sell Toncoin (TON) easily and safely via Bittime. Bittime is one of the best crypto applications in Indonesia which is officially registered with Bappebti.
Toncoin (TON) is available on Bittime with the market pair TON/IDR. To be able to buy TON IDR at Bittime, make sure you have registered and completed identity verification. Also, please ensure you have enough balance by depositing some funds into your wallet. For your information, the minimum purchase of assets on Bittime is IDR 10,000. After that, you can purchase crypto assets in the application.
Learn the complete guide on how to buy Toncoin (TON) at Bittime.
Monitor the price chart movements of Toncoin (TON), Bitcoin (BTC), Ethereum (ETH), Solana (SOL), and other cryptos to find out today's crypto market trends in real-time on Bittime.
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DISCLAIMER: This article is informational and is not an offer or solicitation to sell or buy any crypto assets. Trading crypto assets is a high-risk activity. Crypto asset prices are volatile, where prices can change significantly from time to time and Bittime is not responsible for fluctuations in crypto asset exchange rates.
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