After the wave of "TON Mini Games" subsided, the TON ecosystem gradually faded from the market's main attention. Unexpectedly, the TON ecosystem once again became the market's focus, due to another concept that had long fallen out of favor - Non-Fungible Token.
On January 1st, Telegram released its first update of the year. In this New Year's update, the "gifts" previously received on Telegram were officially upgraded to "collectibles". These collectibles are Non-Fungible Tokens, possessing traditional Non-Fungible Token characteristics like randomness and rarity, and can be transferred to other Telegram users or traded on Non-Fungible Token markets.
In terms of transaction volume, Telegram "gifts" officially gained momentum around mid-May and experienced explosive growth in recent days. The increasing number of related discussion tweets on Twitter also indirectly reflects the recent breakout effect of Telegram "gifts".
[Rest of the translation follows the same professional and accurate approach, maintaining the original meaning while translating to English]After gaining popularity, he conducted an in-depth research again - with social scenes and the ability to show off, isn't this just like "QQ Show"? Using "Stars" and Q coins for first-market subscription is also very similar. Moreover, this time, including Snoop Dogg's official Telegram account, Telegram's founder, and Pepe founder Luca Netz, these celebrities from inside and outside the circle have all used it, with a potentially wide audience.
Due to the cooling-off period, there will be price differences between on-chain and off-chain trading markets. On-chain trading allows immediate buying and selling but is more expensive, while off-chain trading is possible but requires a lock-up period before resuming transactions.
According to Laser Cat's observation, the main players now seem to be Russians and some Non-Fungible Token players, with many discussion groups in Russian. Although some discussions have emerged in the Chinese-speaking circle, they are still not numerous, so it's impossible to determine whether it's in the early or late stage. However, he believes that if done well, it has great potential to break through and directly attract Web2 users, as "gifts" can be directly sent to friends within Telegram without the recipient needing a crypto wallet initially. Currently, in the secondary market, series with relatively low total supply and attractive appearance are generally rising. If the creator ecosystem is opened up later, the popularity might be even higher.
Conclusion
This Telegram "gift" and the recent MapleStory blockchain game have both brought NFT back to market attention through practical applications. Nearly 4 years have passed since the hot summer of Non-Fungible Tokens, and the term is no longer a speculative headline, but has quietly undertaken more practical applications, demonstrating its role on larger platforms. We hope that Non-Fungible Token applications like Telegram "gifts" will become more numerous, injecting more vitality into the market.
