When the Open Builders team, supported by the TON Foundation, introduced Notcoin on Telegram, it didn’t appear to be the next big crypto trend. There were no complicated wallet setups, no downloads, and no technical language—just a simple bot, a golden coin bouncing on the screen, and one straightforward goal: tap to earn points.
What made it stand out was its simplicity. Players were given a limited amount of energy each session, which naturally created breaks and added an element of strategy. Power-ups made things exciting, and Squads turned the experience into a team competition, where players, both friends and strangers, competed for spots on global leaderboards. It was competitive yet casual, and just addictive enough to keep people engaged.
Then came a twist that shifted everything. Those “pointless” in-game rewards? They were suddenly real cryptocurrency. Players woke up to find that their taps had been converted into $NOT tokens, now tradable on exchanges. In an instant, over 35 million players became token holders, sparking one of the largest airdrops Telegram had ever seen. Group chats flooded with screenshots of new balances, trading volumes spiked, and $NOT quickly became a trending topic within the Web3 community.
Although the tap-to-earn phase eventually ended, $NOT didn’t fade away. Instead, it became an integral part of the TON blockchain ecosystem, with a loyal, engaged community eagerly anticipating the project’s next move. The team has teased possible integrations with other TON-based decentralised apps, the potential for use in mini-games, and partnerships that could expand $NOT’s utility far beyond its original playful concept.
The success of Notcoin proves that viral crypto moments don’t need complex decentralised finance systems or lengthy onboarding processes. Sometimes, the simplest ideas—combined with social virality, clear rewards, and easy access—are enough to create a global phenomenon.
From a simple Telegram game to a legitimate digital asset, $NOT has secured its place in the Web3 world. With millions of players now holding tokens, its next chapter could be even more exciting.
