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Author: Jeff Wilser Source: Coindesk Translation: Shan Ouba, Bitchain Vision
Two months ago, the Iranian President Ibrahim Laicy was killed in a helicopter crash.Iran held an election to take over him, but there was a problem: According to a senior official of the Iranian military, citizens of the country were too much to correctly review candidates.Millions of Iranians are said to be busy clicking on their mobile phones.
They fascinated a encrypted game called “Hamster Kombat”.
This game seems to come out of thin air.In March of this year, it was launched on TON (also known as The Open Network), which is a Web3 ecosystem built based on Telegram.Now this game is so popular that Habiblah Sayyari, the head of the Iranian deputy army and Major General Halblah Sayyari, has accused it of being part of the “soft war” launched by the Western government.According to the Associated Press, Saya said: “One of the characteristics of the enemy’s soft war is the ‘hamster’ game.”
So, will the United States really use Web3 hamsters to deal with Iran?
This is an interesting question (although a bit crazy), but to some extent, the answer is not important.The existence of the problem itself is the most important.”This incident has become so big, and even politicians have begun to talk about it,” said Inal Kardan, the game director of the Ton Foundation.
The founder of Hamster Kombat was anonymous; the project rejected the interview request.(Obviously CIA.) But they claim to have more than 200 million users; they have 11 million fans on Twitter/X, and their YouTube account has 31 million subscribers.
This is just one of the alarming “GameFi” projects on TON.Web3 games are booming.
The cute cartoon “Catizen” (sponsor of COINDESK Gamefi theme Week) has more than 23 million users.Ton’s first successful case “Notcoin” has more than 40 million users.
According to the foundation, there are currently 500 million users on the TON network.Toncoin’s current market value is 19.4 billion U.S. dollars, and it has jumped into the eighth largest project in the cryptocurrency field, surpassing mainstream projects such as Polkadot, Cardano and Near.
But the Iranian military did not complain about Polkadot or Cardano.The Ton game gives people a different feeling.
They are simple and interesting. It seems that they have broken the restraint of the encrypted echo room and found the mainstream audience, just like NFT in 2021.”This is not just about the falling,” Katan said.”This is the first time that ordinary people use blockchain to do something.”
One of the reasons for Ton’s explosive growth is the global influence of Telegram itself, especially in Europe and Asia.Telegram has more than 900 million users.
But according to Kardan data, as of December 2023, only 1% of users used Telegram to play games.Entrepreneurs smell the opportunity.
“We have studied Telegram and Ton, and we think this is a virgin land,” said Tim Wong, chairman of the Catizen Foundation.Therefore, games such as Catizen, Notcoin, Yescoin, and Tapswap quickly filled this gap, partly because people can easily play these games when waiting for the elevator (or even unconsciously).
“They are super casual and very simple games,” Kardan said.”This is what people like.”
Telegram games are easy to install, easy to play, and easy to connect to cryptocurrencies.(At least internationally -due to regulatory problems, Telegram’s native cryptocurrency wallets have not been available in the United States.) In the past 15 years, the Web3 field has been plagued by a bulky interface and chaotic agreement.Ton seems to solve this problem overnight.
The smooth user experience is the reason why DEFI analysts David Zimmerman writes research papers. He concluded that Ton “is fully capable of becoming a killer application of cryptocurrencies” because it “in these fields (user experience and practical use) progress ratio.Any other cryptocurrency market participants should be more. “
Ton game is simple
During the telephone interview, Zimmerman said that in the years when he reported cryptocurrencies, whenever he introduced the web3 project to his “ordinary friend”, it usually takes a 40 -minute tutorial, which is full of confusing questionsEssenceUse TON?He has already met 10 friends.
Game and Money: The rise of Play-TO-AIRDROP
These games themselves are very clever, attractive and interesting.You can start playing Catizen in a few seconds, click on the kitten and watch the coin magic (will be introduced in detail later).You can get rewards by recommending friends and sharing on social media -this is a clever growth driving force.In some games, you need to click. In some games, you need to slide. In some games, you need to make some bold choices.
Take HAMSTER KOMBAT as an example. This is a deep self -conscious game, followed by reference to the web3 culture.If you play the CEO of a cryptocurrency exchange, you need to make decisions on marketing, public relations and even legal considerations; for example, the benefits of unlocking “SEC transparency” can increase your hourly profits, implement KYC or obtain a license to operate in the UAE in the UAEIt can also improve your hourly profits.(In a sense, this is an extremely strange game for ordinary people. It is difficult to imagine that Iranian taxi drivers will be obsessed with SEC transparency.)
Although the Ton game seems to have suddenly appeared a few weeks ago, many games have been developed for many years.(This echoed the NFT summer in 2021, industry insiders have been paying attention to this trend since Cryptopunks in 2017.) Wong said that Catizen has paid attention to Telegram since 2021.
Consider this bold prediction in January 2023: “TON will become the largest blockchain in the number of users, thanks to 1) its technology and 2) Telegram. This is just a matter of time,” SASHA founder of notcoin is in one.The foreseeable Twitter post wrote.”Telegram has 700 million months of active users, which is the main communication tool of cryptocurrency people. The founders of TELEGRAM invented TON and integrated blockchain to sell Telegram user name and anonymous number (NFT). They announced a month ago that it was non -non -non -non -non -non -non -non -non -non -non -non -non -non -non -non -non -non -non -non -non -non -non -non -non -non -non -non -non -non -NFC announcement was announced a month ago.Host Wallet and DEX “” “” “”
In fact, this is true.Having said that, the huge network and smooth interface can only explain so much.Ton game also provides something else: the temptation of making money.
Millions of NOTCOIN users are very glad to receive airdrops after constantly clicking and earning token. The 80 billion NOT tokens have been sent to the community and transformed their unconscious clicks into things with actual value (at least currently).”Notcoin is a small program on Telegram, which has attracted 35 million active users in just a few months,” Telegram CEO Pavel Durov wrote on his Telegram channel.”Suddenly, NOTCOIN users who were just playing this game could be converted to real money.” (After regulating conflicts with the US Securities and Exchange Commission, Telegram has officially drawn a clear line with TON..
Notcoin created a precedent, so millions of users now click on other games to get future rewards.Play-TO-AIRDROP is the new Play-to-Earn.This is not subtle; Catizen’s official slogan is even “Play to Airdrop”.
GAMEFI’s sustainability: bubble or future?
In the field of web3, it is difficult to find any growth that is not linked to price increases, and Gamefi is no exception.”I think that most of its success in recent months, including prices, is attributed to the old -fashioned speculation we are accustomed to,” Said Zimmerman.He also has a doubt about the number of users who reports, because humans can have multiple wallets.But even if you don’t consider these numbers, Zimerman also admits that “there is a real fundamentals here.”
These fundamentals attracted the attention of other game developers.”I am very optimistic about the Ton game,” said THNDR CEO DES DICKERSON, saying that the company is developing Bitcoin -based games on the Lightning Network.(Dickerson has begun to get involved in the field before mobile encryption games. Here is my in -depth analysis of her 2021 project.) “This trend proves that users want to integrate the game into social interaction,” she said, “they want these these theseThe game is integrated into the real world in the gameplay.
But all these may exist in a trap.(In the field of cryptocurrency, there are always traps.) Whether right or wrong, both words will pour a pot of cold water for any “earning free money!”. These games seem to be incredible: Axie Infinity.Axie is the darling of the previous round of encrypted game hype; now it is widely regarded as a warning story.So what is the difference between TON games?
First of all, Wong said that AXIE’s “entry threshold is very high, and the entry vouchers are getting more and more expensive.”His words make sense.The cheapest AXIE sells for more than $ 300 during its peak. As long as the number of new users adds more than the withdrawal users, the price will rise.This is unsustainable.Wong said, “This is not far from the Ponzi scheme.” In contrast, Catizen and other Ton games do not need to invest in the early stage.
Kardan is always asked, “Why is this not Axie?””The answer is simple,” he said.”All these games are related to traffic,” he explained that airdrops are essentially marketing activities that attract users and traffic, and traffic can be monetized.”This is for sales traffic,” he said, so there will be “the inflow of funds from advertisers.”
Zimmerman is not sure.”To be honest, we all know that these things (games like Hamster Kombat) will not continue,” he said.”If you want your network to be truly successful, you need some applications that can make money.” He believes that TON is likely to approach one of the “tops”, just like the peak of the market cycle (indicates that the collapse)What will happen after the “catastrophe collapse” will happen.He also believes that TON can survive and even flourish.”With their true advantages in user experience and distribution,” Qi Mimerman said, “We have never seen this in cryptocurrencies before.”
This growth may be sustainable or unsustainable.But growth itself is undeniable, and it is very important -as long as the Iranian military knows.
Ton’s future: Killer -grade application or a flash?
How will TON develop?Will it become the next big event in the encryption field, or will it be like Axie?Only time can the answer be given.But one thing is certain: Ton game has attracted people’s attention, and it may completely change the way people play games and make money.
