If you were anywhere near Telegram in early 2024, you probably saw it — a little golden coin bouncing in a chat window, begging to be tapped.
That was @The Notcoin Official — the “probably nothing” game that somehow pulled tens of millions of people into the world of crypto without them even realizing it at first.
It started simple: open the bot in Telegram, tap the coin, earn “Notcoins.” No complicated setup, no crypto jargon, no separate app to install. Just tapping. But behind that simplicity was one of the fastest mass on-ramps Web3 has ever seen.
From Meme to Movement
Notcoin was the brainchild of Open Builders, a team working inside the TON (The Open Network) ecosystem. They weren’t trying to create the next financial revolution overnight — at least, that’s not how they pitched it. The whole vibe was tongue-in-cheek: a blank whitepaper, a website that looked like it was designed in five minutes, and the name “Notcoin” as if to say, “this is nothing serious.”
But the timing, the platform, and the simplicity clicked perfectly. Telegram had already built out support for mini-apps and had hundreds of millions of active users. All Notcoin had to do was sneak in as a fun time-killer. It worked. By the first week, there were millions of players. Within weeks, it was tens of millions. Some reports say it hit 25–35 million users in its viral peak.
The Game Itself
At its core, Notcoin was just a “tap-to-earn” game:
You tapped the coin to collect Notcoins.
Your energy bar limited how much you could earn at once (forcing you to come back later).
Boosts, missions, and leaderboards kept people hooked.
Referrals spread the game faster than any paid ad campaign could have.
It was addictive. It was mindless. And it was genius.
From Points to a Real Token
At first, the coins you collected were just numbers on a screen. But Open Builders had bigger plans. They announced that these in-game coins could later be swapped for an actual on-chain token — $NOT — built on TON.
That’s when the game turned into a pre-launch frenzy. People started farming as many coins as possible, not just for bragging rights, but in the hope those taps might turn into real value later.
When mining ended on April 1, 2024, the stage was set. Exchanges like Binance, OKX, and Bybit got involved, and on May 16, 2024, NOT went live for trading.
The Numbers Behind NOT
Here’s how the token rolled out:
Total Supply: ~102.7 billion NOT
Distribution:
78% to players and voucher holders (those who had mined in the game)
22% for ecosystem growth, rewards, and onboarding future players
Launch Price: Varied by exchange, but early volatility was intense.
All-Time High: Around $0.028 in June 2024
Current Price (Aug 2025): Roughly $0.002 — about 90% down from the peak.
With the entire supply released from day one (no long vesting schedules), selling pressure hit the market hard. The upside? Everyone got access at the same time. The downside? Heavy early dumps.
Why It Went Viral
Three things made Notcoin explode:
1. No barrier to entry — anyone with Telegram could play instantly.
2. Social sharing — referrals spread like wildfire inside Telegram groups.
3. The tease of “real money later” — the possibility of your taps becoming actual crypto gave people a reason to keep coming back.
It wasn’t a DeFi deep-dive, it was a Trojan horse for blockchain adoption — sneakily teaching millions how wallets, tokens, and swaps worked without overwhelming them.
The Risks Nobody Should Ignore
Notcoin’s rise is a great case study in how fast Web3 hype can spread — and how quickly prices can drop once tokens are live. The things to keep in mind:
Speculative Hype — Most people played for fun, but those expecting life-changing payouts often learned that crypto prices can fall faster than they rise.
Full Supply at Launch — No vesting means liquidity, but also a flood of sellers.
Minimal Docs — The “blank whitepaper” was part of the brand, but it also means you had to trust the process without much official technical detail.
Where Notcoin Is Headed Now
Open Builders say Notcoin is just the beginning. The goal now is to turn it into a full Web3 gaming hub inside Telegram — onboarding new games, rewarding players with crypto, and keeping that huge audience active in the TON ecosystem.
If they can keep building games that are as easy to pick up as the original Notcoin, they might have found the secret sauce for mainstream blockchain gaming.
Final Thoughts
Notcoin wasn’t “just a game” — it was an experiment in mass adoption. In a matter of months, it brought more people into crypto than many polished blockchain projects have managed in years.
It’s a reminder that sometimes, it’s not about how complex or innovative your tech is — it’s about making it stupidly simple for people to try. And in crypto, that can be worth billions… at least for a moment.
