Telegram is about to open an app store for the Web3 game mini app

Messaging application Telegram announced that it is about to set up a separate store for popular mini apps such as Hamster Kombat and Notcoin.

According to an announcement posted on July 19, Telegram founder Pavel Durov has revealed plans to further integrate mini-app Web3 applications into his messaging platform.

Mr. Durov confidently asserted that 2024 will be the year that millions of people will directly get acquainted with blockchain applications, with a large part through Telegram. To continue supporting this wave, Telegram will soon open an app store specifically for Web3 game mini apps.

Besides, to minimize the risk of fraud for users, Telegram will also increase efforts to prevent bad actors, such as displaying the time of account opening and the geographical location of the account holder publicly. . Mini app developers will also be able to label their own channels, creating another third-party authentication mechanism.

Telegram has recently witnessed a wave of blockchain game mini-applications blooming, led by names like Notcoin or Hamster Kombat, which are games with simple tap-to-earn mechanics.

According to Mr. Durov himself, Hamster Kombat is one of the fastest gaining popularity games in history with 239 million users after just 3 months of operation, while Notcoin reached 35 million players in the first few months of launch.

Most of these mini apps are developed on the blockchain associated with Telegram, The Open Network (TON). TON's TVL has been continuously growing in recent times and shows no signs of stopping, currently at the 768 million USD mark.

Besides the Web3 game mini app and TON blockchain integration, Telegram has recently made many changes to promote crypto applications such as supporting cryptocurrency wallets directly in the app, allowing advertising payments through the application using TON token, and share half of the revenue back to the channel owner. Mr. Durov himself is also a believer in the prospects of cryptocurrency when he revealed that he has held Bitcoin for the past 10 years.

Telegram has also just introduced a new local currency "Telegram Stars", used to pay for purchases and services on Telegram's mini-apps.

Users can purchase Starts directly on Telegram or through the Apple and Google app markets.

Pavel Durov, CEO of Telegram, said that soon the above application developers will be able to withdraw Stars and convert them to Toncoin (TON), through the Fragment exchange.

The CEO also revealed that Telegram will subsidize ads purchased with Stars on Apple and Google. These two giants charge 30% commission on digital product sales. Durov affirmed:

"If developers reinvest Stars in app promotion, the overall commission is almost zero. Therefore, launching on Telegram is more economical than launching a traditional mobile app. "

According to statistics, more than 400 million out of 900 million users interact with bots and mini-apps on Telegram every month. Especially worth mentioning is the success of Notcoin, the Tap-to-Earn game that accumulated 35 million users in the first 5 months. After the recent listing effect on many major exchanges, NOT price has increased by 50%, trading volume ranks 4th in the entire market.

The parent coin TON has also maintained its resilience in recent times. TON just reached its ATH on June 5 at the threshold of 7.8 USD, thanks to the news of listing on Robinhood.