I’m honestly impressed by how @The Notcoin Official turned something so simple into a Web3 craze. It’s a play-to-earn game inside Telegram where you just tap a bouncing coin in a chat window to mine Notcoins. No app downloads, no wallets, no complicated sign-ups, you just join the Telegram bot and start tapping.
Notcoin was built by the Open Builders community with support from the TON Foundation. It’s designed as an easy way for anyone, even total beginners, to get into blockchain without the usual barriers.
How the Game Works
The game couldn’t be simpler. You see a coin, you tap it, you earn Notcoins. An energy bar stops you from tapping forever, so you need to wait for it to refill. You can also use two free boosts each day, one to multiply your taps for a short time, and another to instantly refill your energy.
There are leaderboards and leagues (Bronze, Silver, Gold, etc.), so it’s easy to get competitive with friends. You can join squads, invite people, and unlock extra bonuses. And the best part? You don’t spend real money, boosts are bought using the Notcoins you’ve already earned.
Why It Went Viral
When Notcoin launched on January 1, 2024, it spread like wildfire. Within 24 hours, it had 1 million players. In just a month, over 20 million people had joined. The formula was simple:
It’s inside Telegram, so it’s easy to share.
No crypto knowledge needed, just tap and play.
Social competition kept people hooked.
Instant reward feeling after every tap.
By May 2024, over 35 million people had played. That’s massive for any game, let alone one inside a messaging app.
The NOT Token
All those in-game Notcoins weren’t just for fun. On May 16, 2024, they became a real cryptocurrency called NOT on the TON blockchain.
Total supply: 102.7 billion tokens
Around 78% went to players via airdrop (about 80.2 billion tokens)
Exchange listings on Binance, OKX, Bybit, and more on launch day
If you had 1,000 in-game Notcoins, you got 1 NOT token. It was a massive airdrop, instantly making millions of players real token holders.
Beyond the Tap Game
The Notcoin team isn’t stopping there. They launched Notcoin Earn, letting users stake TON-based tokens to earn rewards from new projects. They also created Not Pixel, a giant multiplayer pixel art game where players color tiles to earn points. Other mini-games like Void and Lost Dogs have joined the mix, keeping the ecosystem fresh.
What’s Next
Even the creators admit the original tap-to-earn model won’t last forever. The future is about making games that people enjoy playing, with crypto as a bonus, not the only reason to play. With Telegram’s massive user base and TON’s growing ecosystem, Notcoin has a real shot at staying relevant, as long as it keeps evolving.
If you ask me, Notcoin is proof that onboarding millions into crypto doesn’t have to be complicated. A simple idea, easy access, and a bit of fun were enough to make it a Web3 success story.