Telegram x Ton Network: Vision to become the Wechat of Web3
Cooperating with the Ton Foundation, Telegram is showing its ambition to become a Super App in the future.
Telegram - globally popular application
Starting as a messaging social networking platform with high security capabilities, Telegram quickly attracted a large number of users globally. Currently, Telegram has more than 2.5 billion registered accounts, 900 million monthly users (MAU) with an average annual growth rate of 40% (February 2024). By the end of 2023, Telegram is among the top 6 most downloaded and used applications globally.
According to the Financial Times, Telegram has raised more than 2.3 billion USD through debt issuance spanning from 2021 until now. Telegram bondholders have the right to convert loans into shares at a 10-20% discount when Telegram IPO (estimated March 2026). Currently, Telegram is valued at more than 30 billion USD.
According to Pavel Durov, the main revenue from Telegram still comes mainly from the Premium subscription service with hundreds of millions of revenue in 2024. Currently, Telegram Premium has reached 5 million users, equivalent to ~100 million USD in revenue. in Q1 2024 (Telegram Premium is charging 5 USD per account per month).
Ton Network's development journey
The Open Network (TON) is a layer 1 blockchain ecosystem with PoS consensus mechanism established in late 2017 by the Telegram team. Ton Network's development has gone through many ups and downs since its inception:
· Q1/2018: Raised 1.7 billion USD through 2 rounds of ICOs with $GRAM token
· October 2019: Accused by the SEC of violating securities laws
· May 2020: Telegram temporarily stops developing Ton Network and must refund money to ICOs investors with a fine of 18.5 million USD
· 2020-2021: Ton Network is continued to be developed by a small group of programmers under the name NewTon with the $TON token
· May 2021: NewTon changes its name to Ton Foundation
· September 2023: Ton Foundation announces cooperation with Telegram
It can be seen that the relationship between Ton Foundation and Telegram has always been linked since the early days. Founder Durov of Telegram has also publicly supported Ton Network many times on his Telegram channel.
So how are Ton and Telegram working together to target the huge user base mentioned above?
Ton's Web3 ecosystem on Telegram
Telegram is the app that any developer would want to own or partner with in order to reach its 900 million users. With the existing relationship, Ton Network will bring the web3 ecosystem (based on blockchain technology) to Telegram. In contrast, Telegram provides userbase (user files) and infrastructure architecture for programmers to develop.
The elements to build Ton's web3 ecosystem on Telegram include:
· TON Network - Blockchain
· Telegram Wallet
· Telegram Mini Apps
TON's role in the Telegram ecosystem
At the end of March 2024, Telegram launched two new revenue generating channels, including Telegram Advertising and Telegram Business Account, in which the $TON token will serve as a means of payment.
Besides paying fees on Ton Network, $TON is also widely used on the Telegram ecosystem such as:
· Buy and sell Telegram usernames, TON DNS on Fragment;
· Pay a subscription to Telegram Premium at a discounted rate;
· Pay for advertising on Telegram. 50% of advertising profits will be distributed back to the channel owner in the form of $TON tokens;
· Pay subscription fee for business account.
According to estimates from the Ton Foundation, advertising revenue will bring in profits from 2 to 25 million dollars monthly for Telegram and channel owners.
It can be seen that Ton Network is acting as a financial infrastructure layer to help circulate cash flow on the Telegram application. Looking further, this application is aiming to become a Super App, in which Telegram Apps Center (TAC) with Telegram Mini Apps (TMAs) will be an open ecosystem with applications inside Telegram with a bridge from Telegram Wallet (wallet_tg).
Telegram Wallet
Normally, standalone wallets in Web3 (eg: MetaMask, Phantom,...) will focus on helping users manage crypto assets such as tokens, NFTs with accompanying features such as Swap, Bridge, Staking, etc. .. However, the process of onboarding, storing keys and signing transactions is still a barrier for Web2 users.
Looking at Telegram, with its huge user base, this application only needs to integrate a Wallet feature with just two touch points for users to easily access Web3. Currently, Telegram Wallet has two versions:
· Wallet_tg: custodial wallet with simple UI that allows users to deposit, transfer money as well as on offramp fiat.
· Ton Space: non-custodial wallet located inside the wallet_tg interface allows users to export keys.
Telegram wallet is only supporting the Ton ecosystem, allowing Telegram users to access the platform through Telegram Mini Apps (TMAs).
Telegram Mini Apps (TMAs)
Telegram Mini Apps are applications built inside the Telegram Apps Center (TAC) - an in-app hub located inside Telegram. TMAs is focusing on developing applications around 4 main groups:
· Management
· Utilities
· Games
· Web3
Telegram Apps Center
Currently, TMAs can be easily implemented through basic Web programming languages such as HTML, CSS and JavaScript. Most Telegram users will interact with TMAs in the form of a Telegram Bot - a program that allows users to access external applications/websites through the interface of the Telegram chat channel.
In July 2023, Telegram Bot about Trading emerged with names like Unibot, Banana Gun, Maestro,... with daily transaction volume sometimes reaching more than 20 million USD. These trading bots will revolve around functions such as: trading, sniping, copy trading and airdrop farming.
The main advantage of a trading bot is that it allows users to trade tokens quickly and directly on Telegram, whereas users will face security and smart contract risks when giving control of the wallet. for the above bots.
According to Kyle Samani - founder of Multicoin Capital, the development of DEX trading bots shows a shift in how users interact with Web3 applications (UX). Telegram is showing a huge change beyond just a regular messaging social network. Some notable TMAs projects include:
Notcoin: a play-to-earn project with the $NOT token that has attracted more than 35 million users and more than 1.5 million Telegram Premium subscriptions.
Hot: a gamefi project built on the Near ecosystem with the Here wallet app. Currently, Hot has attracted more than 5 million users to mint HOT.
The majority of TMAs are being built with infrastructure from Ton Network that allows Web2 users to pay for services with network tokens through Telegram Wallet. For TMAs outside the Ton ecosystem, the user experience will be limited as the on off ramp gateway - Telegram Wallet, is not compatible. Instead, these applications will develop an embedded wallet directly inside the Telegram interface (eg: Hot with Here Wallet).
As can be seen, Telegram leverages the Ton ecosystem as a financial infrastructure layer for value exchange within the Telegram ecosystem. In contrast, Ton Network inherited a huge cash flow of more than 900 million MAU from Telegram. However, Telegram's ambition lies not only in the Web3 market but goes further to become a Super app like WeChat.
Telegram - WeChat of Web3
WeChat is a messaging application developed by Tencent launched in 2011. Currently, WeChat has more than 1.3 billion users and 1 billion MAUs. WeChat's success comes not only from social network features but also an ecosystem of applications (WeChat Mini Programs - WMPs) that go hand in hand with daily life such as transferring money, paying for utilities such as meals. drinking, shopping, entertainment, investing,... Basically, users only need to own a smartphone with the WeChat application to be able to step out of the house with peace of mind.
WeChat Pay (2014) - an e-wallet application also contributes significantly to increasing value exchange activities within the WeChat ecosystem. According to data from Business of Apps, WeChat Pay currently has more than 920 MAUs with an app store of nearly 3.7 million WMPs and a transaction volume of up to 2.7 trillion RMB (~ $373 billion) in 2022.
WeChat ecosystem
It can be seen that Telegram is having similar developments to WeChat when launching Telegram Wallet and Telegram Mini Apps supported by a financial system through Ton Network. The current goal of Telegram and Ton Foundation will focus on attracting users by developing TMAs in both Web2 and Web3. Currently, TMAs are being supported by Tencent through the Tencent Cloud Startup Program.
For Web3 TMAs: Ton Foundation ecosystem development fund The Open League (TOL) with 115 million USD for TMAs built on Ton spread over 3 months. Projects within TOL will offer strategies such as airdrops, memecoins, and high yields from DeFi to attract Web3 users.
For Web2 TMAs: Telegram launches Telegram business accounts, allowing creators to develop Telegram bot channels (similar to TMAs) without needing to understand code. Telegram Advertising will provide a source of revenue from advertising for the above creators.
Currently, Telegram has 900 million MAUs with an expectation of reaching 1.7 billion MAUs by 2028. In particular, Ton Foundation has the ambition to attract 30% of users to Ton Network, equivalent to 500 million MAUs by 2028. Compared With current blockchains such as BNB (15.2 million MAUs), Tron (12.2 million MAUs), Bitcoin (11.2 million MAUs), the above number is extremely large.
Epilogue
Telegram Open Network (TON) was originally created with the initial purpose of becoming a financial system for the Telegram application. However, this ecosystem encountered many turbulences and had to change its name to The Open Network with the same market access strategy as other layer 1 blockchains.
Ton Network is gradually showing a shift in its original trajectory, joining Telegram Wallet and Telegram Mini Apps as the pillars that help turn Telegram into a Super App. Although it was once doubted about its legality, with its current advantages, this application's ambition lies not only in Web3 but also directly competes fairly with Web2 social network giants in the future, aiming to to IPO in 2026.
