What is Tap-to-Earn (Tap-to-Earn) game?
“Tap-to-Earn” is a recently popular type of crypto game that has sparked a trend on the messaging app Telegram. The concept of these games is simple – players can directly launch the game on Telegram and then frantically tap on coins or icons in the center of the screen to earn points or in-game currency.
Notcoin was one of the early Tap-to-Earn games and conducted a large-scale token airdrop in May 2024. Another hugely popular click game is Hamster Kombat, which officially surpassed 200 million users in June.
Core elements and gameplay of Tap-to-Earn games
Of course, this is just the core concept of Tap-to-Earn, and many similar games have developed other interesting gameplay mechanics. In addition to clicking, most games also include missions and upgrades. Missions refer to actions specified by the game developer that allow players to earn a large number of points or coins at once, such as joining the game’s Telegram group or following the game developer on Twitter.
Upgrades involve increasing the level of certain skills or items to earn extra points, and some Tap-to-Earn games with a “hourly passive income” mechanism, such as Hamster Kombat or Musk Empire, can also increase earnings through the upgrade path.
What Tap-to-Earn projects are there?
Notcoin
Notcoin is easy to play – just click on the coins on the screen to start mining coins, and completing missions can increase rewards. It can be said that there is no threshold to start “Tap-to-Earn.”
Click here to see a detailed introduction to Notcoin.
Hamster Kombat
In Hamster Kombat, players play as a hamster CEO running their own exchange. In addition to earning game points by clicking on hamsters on the screen, players can also earn more rewards by completing daily missions, unlocking skills, and more.
Click here to see a detailed introduction to Hamster Kombat.
Musk Empire
In Musk Empire, players can earn game money by clicking and can also earn more hourly passive income by upgrading virtual Musk’s skills or traits to increase the accumulation speed of money. The skills and traits in Musk Empire are very humanized, such as sleep, nutrition, exercise, mental agility, and even personal and social skills, with many detailed options including critical thinking, empathy, and charity.
Click here to see a detailed introduction to Musk Empire.
What makes the games attractive beyond simplicity?
The gameplay of Tap-to-Earn games is very simple, and for Telegram users, there is no need to download an additional app. These games are popular in the crypto community mainly because the in-game points accumulated by players make them eligible for future crypto airdrops, which can be exchanged for real cash – meaning you can earn money by clicking.
One common point of these Telegram Tap-to-Earn games is that they have already launched or are expected to launch tokens on The Open Network (TON) chain.
What is the TON chain?
TON is an integrated blockchain network with Telegram.
Originally, Telegram was the driving force behind TON coins. In 2018, Telegram decided to issue its own token Gram and develop the blockchain network “Telegram Open Network (TON)” to support the token. Telegram opened two private rounds at that time, raising $1.7 billion in funds, which then sparked a buying frenzy.
However, it was the enthusiastic response from the public that attracted the attention of regulatory authorities. In October 2019, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) considered the private placement to be a securities issuance, requiring compliance with SEC regulations. After the SEC filed a lawsuit, Telegram struggled for several months and eventually abandoned the project to avoid regulatory uncertainty.
In 2021, community members decided to take over the project and formed the TON Foundation to continue development, allowing users to transfer cryptocurrencies directly through Telegram.
Why are games interested in the TON ecosystem?
By launching tokens on TON, these games can reach Telegram’s massive user base of over 900 million. Compared to most crypto games or applications, the user experience is much simpler, as these games mostly conduct token airdrops later, so users do not need to set up a crypto wallet before playing the game. As long as you have Telegram, you can start tapping to earn directly.
How do operators and KOL view the Tap-to-Earn trend?
Sébastien Borget, co-founder of the metaverse platform The Sandbox, stated in an interview with the media Cointelegraph that games like Hamster Kombat on the Telegram platform are growing rapidly, demonstrating the speed of innovation and how these games are changing the way players earn profits. At the same time, this also shows how Web3 is rapidly expanding the industry to an incredible scale.
Senior cryptocurrency trader “Mr. Wang” shared that the ecosystem on the TON chain relies heavily on users on Telegram, as it has the advantage of being the largest messaging app with global users. The Tap-to-Earn game mode is very user-friendly for both traditional users and cryptocurrency players, with almost no entry barrier – the only barrier being whether you know about the existence of these games.
He added that in the last bull market, the battle royale game Thetan Arena and the Tap-to-Earn game STEPN successfully gained popularity. Currently, it seems that mini-applications on Telegram are leading the way, successfully boosting the heat of the TON ecosystem.
Alvin, founder of the self-media brand “Daily Coin Research,” analyzed that some large Tap-to-Earn games like Notcoin and Pixelverse have received funding support. However, apart from these funded projects, competition is more intense for other similar small game teams, and most of the revenue may not be as expected.
Furthermore, many players may use bots to operate Tap-to-Earn games, making it difficult for ordinary players to surpass or earn high profits. Despite this, the games continue to attract users to participate crazily without the need to invest money.
Source:
Decrypt
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Transak
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CoinGecko
