Tap-to-earn has become a powerful user acquisition tool in web3, using viral mechanics to build massive audiences before a project even launches. Jack Booth, co-founder of TON Society, sees it as more than a gaming fad—it's a cost-effective launch strategy for blockchain projects on The Open Network (TON), the blockchain tightly integrated with Telegram.
The Open Network (TON)
User acquisition, gamified
Tap-to-earn exploded in 2023, particularly inside Telegram's ecosystem, pulling in millions and putting TON on the map. The concept is simple: reward basic actions like tapping, sharing, and inviting friends with the promise of future airdrops. Booth argues this isn't a game genre—it's a launch tactic that generates engagement and drives adoption at scale.
Speaking at the Zebu Live conference, Booth made it clear that tap-to-earn isn't meant to last forever. It's a way to rapidly assemble a community around a new blockchain project. "I never believed that it's going to be a whole sector of crypto. It's a go-to-market strategy," he said.
TON has the Highest Number of Games
Mining phases and viral loops
Most tap-to-earn games launch with a "mining phase" where players rack up points toward an airdrop by doing trivial tasks: tapping buttons, posting on social media, inviting others, checking out partner projects. Hamster Kombat claimed over 300 million users before its token went live. Notcoin hit a market cap near $3 billion using the same playbook.
Booth sees the real advantage in connecting communities to token launches without burning cash on traditional marketing. The catch? What happens after the airdrop. If the roadmap is vague or the value proposition unclear, the token crashes. "When we haven't had clarity, we've seen what happens: The tokens get punished during the airdrop," Booth said. Projects need a plan beyond the mining phase or the community evaporates.
Hamster Kombat on Telegram
Blum's numbers
Blum, a decentralized exchange being built on TON, shows how effective this model can be. Using tap-to-earn mechanics, Blum has gathered 31 million Telegram subscribers, 8.3 million YouTube subscribers, and 5.5 million Twitter followers. That's bigger than the social followings of Binance and Coinbase. Booth believes these numbers could make Blum one of the largest DEXs on launch day.
Beyond games
Tap-to-earn is spreading beyond gaming. At the Zebu conference, Booth met teams working on an AI trading bot and a freelance marketplace (think Fiverr, but on-chain), both planning to use tap-to-earn during their launch phases.
The idea is to generate early engagement through viral mechanics, then convert that user base into on-chain activity. "This is the next step. Now we have a viral mechanic to use in every app that comes to TON. So every app has a million users to start with, and then it's up to the app to actually do the conversion on-chain."
TON and Telegram IPs
What comes next
Booth expects tap-to-earn to become a standard launch tactic on TON, especially as more developers tap into Telegram's user base. Finance tools, social apps, marketplaces—anything can plug in this model to build traction early.
As projects get smarter about roadmaps and post-airdrop engagement, token stability should improve. Community retention depends on delivering real value after the mining phase ends. If TON projects can nail that, tap-to-earn could define the network's identity in web3 gaming and beyond, offering a viral alternative to traditional product launches.
