Author: Howard Source: X, @0xHoward_Peng Translation: Shan Ouba, Golden Finance
Recently, a large number of applications have emerged in the ecosystem. While many projects are walking similar paths, our goal remains to maximize your return on investment, both in time and money, and to achieve greater results with less effort.
Following the reliable 80/20 rule, attention in any field will be focused on the best 20% (or less) of projects, directing traffic and capital to the best. Given your background and experience, targeting a less crowded market segment can greatly increase your chances of success. This post is designed to help you pivot and anchor some key milestones and themes, especially since there are so many opportunities to build on in the TON ecosystem.
You may have seen this chart in my previous article:
Wallets handle funds, while Telegram (i.e. TApps — t.me/tapps) is a convenient messaging layer that makes accessing content and web pages a breeze.
The TON blockchain gives you autonomous control over your assets. Together, these three modules form a powerful ecosystem with unique advantages.
Among L1 blockchains, TON stands out with unparalleled potential and creative possibilities. At the core, TON and Telegram should always revolve around three pillars: social, payment, and finance.
When planning projects, filter them through these three lenses and ask yourself: "What problem are you really solving?" Here's how:
Social interaction is Telegram's superpower - valuable information is exchanged repeatedly in real time. But imagine if this value existed on the blockchain. Imagine using on-chain assets to highlight your uniqueness or drive action among your friends. It's fun, right?
Take Calvin (@calchulus) as an example. He recently asked, “If I share the node sale with you, how much would you invest?”That’s social; that’s referral.
We encounter similar scenarios every day, from casual questions to heated Telegram group discussions. Let’s face it, our trading habits are strongly influenced by those around us, and referrals drive most trading.
Sure, questions like Calvin’s can be stressful — no one wants to disappoint a friend by not executing, haha. But this is where prediction market products, Pump.fun, and other platforms that let you bet with your friends should fit seamlessly into the fabric of social.
There are experts to dive into when we talk about the sociology of managing relationships or how Telegram is deeply tied to “social.” These are fascinating topics worth exploring.
When I talk about payments, I’m emphasizing the disruptive business value of seamless transactions — think e-commerce, online shopping, and China’s ubiquitous QR code WeChat payments.
*Reports show that more than 90% of financial transactions in China are now digital.
This digital transformation is changing everything. WeChat Pay has not only changed social interactions; it has revolutionized offline transactions, spawned new business models, made the payment process more efficient, and revived the economy. This paved the way for large e-commerce giants such as Alibaba, Tmall/Temu, and JD.
We also cannot forget that we already have USDT on the TON blockchain.
How do you leverage this?
How do you help business owners solve more problems or increase payment conversion rates?
The goal is to provide a smooth user experience for payments that benefits both merchants and consumers. Based on the approximately 1 million users of Ethereum mainnet who already use cryptocurrency for transactions, the potential market for TON is 1 billion - a 1000x difference in scale.
Serving billions of users around the world is an exciting challenge.
Our payments research aims to make digital payments acceptable to a broad user base, whether through custodial or non-custodial wallets. The market potential is 1000x that of Ethereum and the network effects are astounding.
Online shopping is a huge opportunity. Helping merchants transition to Tapps will be a disruptive change, especially in the gaming and content industries. Check out these success stories:
Catizen (@CatizenAI) - https://t.me/catizenbot
Major (@majoroftelegram) - https://t.me/major/start?startapp=6287477530
and Wizzwoods (@Wizzwoods_game) - https://t.me/WizzwoodsBot/app?startapp=rp_336767
Gaming platforms like Catizen thrive on simplified payment systems, making rapid revenue generation possible - something that was not possible with early web2 games.
Here we are talking about finance, mainly referring to financial management, as well as the "on-chain" aspect, such as putting more assets on the chain and increasing TVL (Total Value Locked).
In the short, medium and long term, we have a strong need to promote the development of DeFi. The reason is simple: we must admit that the TON ecosystem currently lacks various DeFi products - such as yield, profit opportunities and other financial management projects.
You can certainly instinctively move in this direction, but you must also consider the challenges of developing smart contracts on the TON blockchain. This represents part of the investment risk.
However, there are also opportunities to earn high returns through "trading derivatives". For example, the LP (liquidity provider) returns of derivatives platforms such as StormTrade and Tradoor are considerable. These are opportunities worth exploring.
StormTrade(@storm_trade_ ton / https://storm.tg)
Tradoor( @tradoor_io / https://tradoor.io)
Our goal is to better categorize and discuss projects by outlining these three dimensions.
Currently, the financial industry faces a huge gap. TON lacks DeFi projects and needs more powerful modules to drive on-chain returns and incentivize assets to stay on the chain. Bringing more assets to the chain, or "on-chaining", and increasing the total locked value (TVL) is the most direct solution.
Telegram's strong user base suggests that our focus should shift to finance to create more on-chain opportunities. I look forward to seeing more asset tokenization in the future. In addition, I advocate for more multi-dimensional or bilingual ideas that blend "social + finance" together to redefine the traditional product ecosystem.
For example, decentralized exchanges (DEX) are the foundation of DeFi and are often referred to as the "Lego" of the ecosystem. Let's explore them separately.
If we talk about DEX alone, they belong to finance, but they lack any important social aspects!
The problem with current DEXs is more about market penetration. Uniswap has gone from v2 to v3 and is looking at v4, but most of these updates are just mathematical tweaks. What's the real problem? They're not exciting.
Can we view our friends' portfolios? No.
Can we easily compare our PNL with others? To some extent it is possible, but only on niche platforms like DeBank or Zapper.
Can we send notifications to other traders on Uniswap? Impossible.
Trading should be fun and interactive. Imagine a platform where you can dive into trading and enjoy every moment.
Even something as simple as a prediction market has a lot of problems. It is related to social dynamics but fails to effectively attract users. Interactions are fragmented and lack integration with popular platforms like Telegram group chats. Those connected through blockchain finance need more personal channels for connection.
Polymarket also faces regulatory hurdles and features like mobile apps have been slow to launch. Poor user experience and lack of convenience. Growth potential is suppressed - who will still use the web in 2024? Mobile is the future and its dominance will only grow.
This is why I emphasize the close connection between "prediction markets" and "social", even though I am cautious about its "financial" angle. We all look forward to on-chain DeFi bringing breakthrough capabilities to prediction markets. Check out Blur.io reinventing the NFT market, and other innovative DeFi strategies.
We focus on the social, payment, and financial sectors in the TON ecosystem, uncovering early opportunities worth exploring.
Curious why I put Proof of Work (PoW) below Payments? Bitcoin has revolutionized energy efficiency, reduced electricity costs, and driven advances in electricity technology. It is the pinnacle of payment-driven innovation.
There is a lot more to cover: DNS domain names, MEME culture, credit cards, cross-chain bridges, and more.
Each category opens up an area for exploration. Want to know how to stimulate creativity beyond this list? Of course there is a way.
Think vertically to grow your business. The social and payment industries overlap because both thrive on large user bases. Companies like Amazon, which sell products directly to shoppers, are the poster child for B2C transactions. Apps that facilitate social connections or sell digital goods also fall into this category, leveraging user engagement to expand their businesses.
Projects that bridge the social and payment sectors shine here.
Games stand out, combining social engagement with payment needs, promoting the development of both ecosystems. Take Catizen as an example
I think advertising business also belongs to this category.
In the payment and finance space, innovative developers are the catalyst for growth and breakthrough business models. Imagine APIs for blockchain payments or developer-centric DeFi protocols - they turn ordinary yield-generating services into profit sources.
Imagine merging "existing payment channels" with on-chain transactions. This is the next big leap, and the tokenization of Telegram Stars could be a complete game changer.
Many projects have been frustrated by the complexity of Telegram Stars, struggling to work with its strengths and limitations. While we can’t cover everything here in detail, it’s a gold mine waiting to be tapped. Dig deeper and unlock new potential.
What’s really bright? There is a ton of opportunity for developers to tackle these challenges, sparking a wave of new projects. This is a major pain point, just waiting for innovative solutions.
Increase liquidity and foster growth through strategic B2B alliances. Partnering with other businesses to form a strong network expands liquidity and drives collective success. This strategy creates a strong ecosystem, which is critical for decentralized finance (DeFi) and social platforms like Telegram. In short, it’s about turning traffic into profits.
The potential here is undeniable; the synergy of Launchpool, DEX, and social features is particularly exciting.
Emerging “earn” products combine financial tools with social utility and are poised to revolutionize the market. Alipay’s innovative products demonstrate the power of this combination, especially in China.
Despite our in-depth research across categories, some areas still require more attention, which provides a lot of opportunities for innovative teams. Mini Program Games have dominated recently, perhaps due to the weakness of the click-to-earn or invite-to-earn model and the competitive landscape.
However, it’s exciting to think about the hot topics that have yet to be explored. These could develop into multi-billion dollar projects on Telegram Mini Programs and the TON blockchain.
Promising areas include credit card (cash back) and gift card businesses, RWA (real world assets), Earn products, Launchpool-type programs, or companies focusing on offline QR code payment solutions. These directions are full of potential and worth exploring.
Layer 1 blockchain can be compared to a country. Although TON may not be perfect, it is full of potential and hope - just like the American dream. In the 1980s, a new wave of immigrants came to the United States, brave enough to pursue their dreams.
Today, the consensus of the EVM ecosystem is breaking down. We see Solana pushing the boundaries of a single chain, and Bitcoin’s Layer 2 is also gaining traction.
As someone who experienced the DeFi summer wave, my choice is very clear - I see hope here.
Would I tell a young graduate to develop on Ethereum? No.
Without a few million dollars, the chances of success are slim.
Would I advise a Web2 game studio to choose an EVM blockchain? No.
They lack users. Look at Black Myth: Wukong - would it have been a hit without Steam (@Steam)? Unlikely. Platforms matter.
Our ecosystem is full of real growth potential. No matter what project you're working on, you still have a chance to succeed. This place is like the Midwest in the 1980s or Dubai today - you can be whoever you want to be.
After fifteen years of development, the crypto market has shown some things that we may not feel at ordinary times, but they are true: 70% of Bitcoin holders do not trade within a year; 88% of the market value is given to assets with clear consensus...
JinseFinanceOn Telegram’s Fragment platform, Telegram Stars can be exchanged for the $18 billion cryptocurrency Toncoin.
JinseFinanceThe future of cryptocurrency lies in integrated applications, and Telegram is a pioneer.
JinseFinanceApproximately 42% of blocks in the Ethereum blockchain censor wallet addresses contained on the U.S. Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) Specially Designated Nationals List (SDN List).
JinseFinanceJinseFinance
Coinlive The messaging app is pushing ahead with its buildout of crypto infrastructure.
OthersTelegram Founder Pavel Durov has come up with an idea that millions of the service's usernames and addresses can be ...
BitcoinistTelegram announced that the anonymous account's claims are “baseless” and are made to "get users to download malware."
CointelegraphAfter a TON ecosystem fund raised $250 million from a host of mainstream entities such as Huobi, Kucoin and MEXC, TON’s global adoption seems to be rapidly increasing.
Cointelegraph