Half User Of Telegram's Tap-to-Earn Game Is Newbie In Crypto World

The popular Tap to Earn Telegram game includes TapCoins, Hamster Kombat, Pixeltap, and MemeFi. (Photo; Doc. CryptoTimes)

JAKARTA - Gleb Kostarev, a former Binance executive, revealed that about 50 percent of users of the tap-to-earn game on Telegram are newcomers to the crypto world. According to him, Telegram could be the main gateway to encourage the mass adoption of crypto technology.

Kostarev, who previously served as vice president and regional head at Binance, told Cointelegraph during Korea Blockchain Week that of the 50 million users registered with Blum, a crypto tapper and exchange game integrated with Telegram, half admitted that they had never interacted with Web3 before.

"Based on the data and surveys we conducted in the community, 50 percent of Blum users said they had never interacted with Web3 before," Kostarev said, quoted by CoinTelegraph.

He also added that so far there is any doubt as to whether an audience on Telegram can switch to Web3 technology. However, he insists that these users are real, and they can enter the exchange, register, and become Web3 users.

"We've been waiting for mass adoption for a long time, and finally we saw it happening via Telegram," he said.

The tap-to-earn game is currently the latest trend in the crypto industry. In this game, players perform simple tasks, such as repeatedly tapping the phone screen to get tokens in the game.

Some of the most popular games such as Tapswap, Catizens, and Hamster Kombat are built on the blockchain The Open Network (TON) which is connected to Telegram. Directly or indirectly, these games introduce their players to the crypto world.

At Blum, users can tap on a falling star or complete a task like watching a video to get tokens in a game.

However, Kostarev emphasizes the importance of education for new users. "Yes, they enter the crypto world, but they don't know much about it," he said. "Education is key, because bringing many users into the crypto world is not enough. We also have to make sure they don't become victims of fraud."

Kostrev also mentioned that Telegram has great potential to increase access to decentralized financial applications (DeFi), which so far have been hampered by Apple and Google's strict policies related to mobile apps.

80 percent of centralized exchange users access the platform via mobile phones, he explained. This is a major challenge in the wider adoption of DeFi.

He also highlighted the issues on Apple's App Store and Google Play Store, which have many obstacles to DeFi and non-fungible tokens (NFTs). Apple, for example, has long restricted its mobile apps using only its own in-app payment solutions, which do not support cryptocurrencies or NFTs and charge 30 percent.

In March, the United States Department of Justice sued Apple on charges of massive antitrust, claiming the company illegally suppressed competition and hindered innovation, in part because of the frequently changing App Store rules.

"This is what makes Telegram amazing, because it can provide access to DeFi via cellphone," Kostarev added.

However, Telegram is now under the scrutiny of the authorities after its founder, Pavel Durov, was arrested and charged in France last month on suspicion of allowing criminal activity to occur in the app.