Hamsters & Cats: Telegram Mini Apps Boom 2024

TG mini apps became a hot narrative on the crypto market facing solid community growth and traction from users. Simple and engaging mechanics, availability on mobile phones and within a Telegram combined with crypto mechanics and earning opportunities made them one of the fastest growing crypto sectors right now.

Notcoin (NOT) was a pioneer in this field and successfully debuted with NOT token listing on the leading CEX that was accompanied by record trading volumes. NOT ATH market cap amounted to $2.92B.

Not only Notcoin conducted one of the most successful token launches and airdrops this year, but also attracted a solid user base to its project. Notcoin total user base is near 40M making it one of the most popular crypto projects. Project’s success opened the door to the new meta – mini apps in Telegram where users can engage and earn points/XP for simply “tapping” the screen and completing simple social tasks. Points are expected to be converted into real tokens on TGE and users will receive real money for their activities. Such a concept is simple and attractive that makes it extremely popular among both Web2 and Web3 communities. TG mini apps are becoming the gate for mass adoption of crypto and onboarding of Web2 users into crypto-based economy and services.

Let’s see on the most popular TG mini apps right now.

Hamster Combat 

Hamster Combat became the most popular “tap-to-earn” project so far. Launched this spring Hamster faced a massive inflow of users. Its user base amounted to more than 200M. Hamster has 51M subscribers in its TG channel and 11.7M followers in X (Twitter). It was mentioned by TG founder Pavel Durov who emphasized that Hamster became the fastest growing digital service in the world with 4-5M users joining every day.

Hamster’s simple and engaging gaming mechanics allow users to earn points for tapping the screen and completing social tasks. As you increase your level you will be able to participate in other activities and create your own virtual exchange that will earn you passive income. 

Project is going to launch a token and reward players for active participation in the game. TGE was scheduled on July 2024, however there is no official confirmation of this info from project’s team. Bybit has recently launched pre-market trading of $HMSTR with price ranging between $0.001 - $0.06. Note that pre-market does not reflect the real token price and is based on buyers and sellers assumptions about the future token value. 

Blum

Blum develops a universal crypto trading app with support of 30+ popular chains and multiple crypto assets: L1/L2 tokens, memecoins, fresh tokens, and more. Blum aims to bring crypto trading to the Telegram mini app with support of popular Web3 wallets like MetaMask and TrustWallet. The project became a participant of MVB VII program curated by Binance Labs team. According to recent news from the team, Blum has onboarded 30M users in its mini app so far. Blum miniapp allows users to collect BLUM points for completing social tasks and playing “drop game”. Presumably, points will play a crucial role on potential TGE and airdrop. However, there is no official info about Blum token, TGE date, and airdrop allocation to the community. 

TapSwap

TapSwap is another popular TG mini app with simple mechanics allowing users to earn TapSwap shares by tapping the phone screen and completing social tasks (subscribe to social networks, watch videos, etc). TapSwap's user base is around 60M players. It has 6.6M followers in X (Twitter) and 25.5M members in the official TG channel.

Initially, TapSwap was launched on Solana blockchain, however the team decided to switch to TON blockchain given its significant growth potential and big marketing opportunities. The project was also mentioned by Pavel Durov in his TG channel.

TapSwap was going to conduct “Shares-to-Token” exchange event and initial listing in July, however the team decided to postpone TGE and listing to provide a more detailed tokenomics and launch strategy. 

Catizen

Catizen is a mini game platform based on Telegram with a play-to-earn concept. Users need to participate in various activities within the platform, for example becoming the owner of a cat cafe, upgrade cats level and earn in-game assets. User’s earnings are considered to be converted in project’s tokens on TGE. So far, there is no news about potential token launch and listing date. 

Catizen user base is around 25M with 1.6M daily users. The project has 1.8M followers in X (Twitter) and 4.8M subscribers in the TG channel. According to a recent report from Delphi Digital, Catizen team was able to earn more than $10M within the last three months. These impressive numbers make Catizen one of the leaders on the current landscape of TG mini apps.

Catizen key stats. Source: project’s Website

MomoAI 

MomoAI is an AI-powered social gaming platform. MomoAI is based in Telegram and provides users with opportunities to engage in several games within one platform. The first game was Kiwi tree where you need to grow a tree, upgrade its level and collect in-game assets - Kiwis. Users can boost their earnings by completing social tasks and daily check-ins. 

MomoAI is going to launch a $MTOS token that will serve as a base currency within its ecosystem. According to tokenomics, 12.5% of total supply will be allocated to airdrop. Presumably, airdrop allocation will depend on the player's Kiwi amount earned. TGE and listing date is to be announced.

Telegram mini apps is the hottest topic in the crypto area right now. They provide users with simple mechanics and potential earning opportunities without the need to interact with complicated crypto protocols and Dapps. Telegram is becoming the hub of Web2 community onboarding to the crypto ecosystem. However, long-term sustainability of these projects is the point of concern. We will see if they are able to develop a balanced rewards system for community and strategies to retain users after token launches. Nevertheless, this trend is definitely worth keeping an eye on.

SimpleSwap reminds you that this article is provided for informational purposes only and does not provide investment advice. All purchases and cryptocurrency investments are your own responsibility.