Author: Cookie,BlockBeats
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, this time due to another concept that has 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 that have the traditional characteristics of 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".
From June 7th to June 9th, the daily transaction volume of Telegram "gifts" almost doubled, from nearly $3 million to over $9 million
Comparing Non-Fungible Token transaction volumes across different chains, since mid-May, TON has firmly suppressed Solana and steadily ranked second in Non-Fungible Token transaction volumes.
In the past few days, TON even defeated Ethereum, reaching a daily transaction volume of nearly $10 million, approximately 3 times that of Ethereum.
On June 9th, Telegram founder Pavel Durov personally tweeted to promote Telegram "gifts", mentioning multiple Telegram "gift" series that have significantly risen in the past month, and stated that the TON chain has achieved a single-day transaction volume surpassing Ethereum in Non-Fungible Token trading.
In the Non-Fungible Token trading market, the largest TON Non-Fungible Token trading market TONNEL has exceeded OpenSea's daily transaction volume in the past two days. Other TON Non-Fungible Token markets like Portals and Getgems have also matched Blur and Magic Eden's transaction volumes in the past two days. Considering that TON Non-Fungible Token markets are only on the TON chain while OpenSea supports multiple chains, it can be said that TON is standing out in the Non-Fungible Token market.
[The translation continues in the same manner for the rest of the text.]If using an on-chain trading market, the "gift" received is in a Non-Fungible Token (on-chain) state, and needs to be manually transferred to Telegram to be worn. This is another reason why off-chain trading markets are somewhat more popular, as trading bots can directly transfer to your account in an off-chain state for immediate wearing, saving a step.
NFT Whale's Perspective
Laser Cat @BitCloutCat accepted an interview from BlockBeats. He stated that he first noticed Telegram "gifts" in March, when the Plush Pepe (currently the highest floor price for Telegram "gifts") was priced around 1000 USDT, but missed out because he didn't realize the "gifts" could be worn with social attributes.
After the heat picked up, he conducted further research - with social scenes and the ability to show off, isn't this just like "QQ Show"? Using "stars" and Q coins for primary market IPO purchases feels very similar. Moreover, this time even celebrities inside and outside the circle, including Snoop Dogg's official Telegram account, Telegram's founder, and Pudgy Penguins founder Luca Netz, have used it, indicating a potentially broad audience.
Due to the cooling-off period, there are price differences between on-chain and off-chain trading markets. On-chain markets allow immediate buying and selling but are more expensive, while off-chain markets can be used but are locked for a period before trading can resume.
According to Laser Cat's observation, the main players seem to be Russians and some NFT players, with many discussion groups in Russian. Although some discussions have emerged in the Chinese-speaking community, they are still not numerous, so it's hard to say whether this is 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 requiring the recipient to initially have a crypto wallet. Currently in the secondary market, series with relatively low total supply and attractive appearances are generally appreciating. If the creator ecosystem can be opened up later, the heat might be even higher.
Conclusion
This Telegram "gifts" event, along with the recent MapleStory chain game, have both brought NFTs back to market attention through practical applications. Nearly 4 years have passed since the hot NFT summer, and the term NFT is no longer a speculative banner but has quietly undertaken more practical applications, demonstrating its role on larger platforms. We hope that NFT applications like Telegram "gifts" will become more numerous, injecting more vitality into the market.
