Author: Initiator of the TON Ecosystem Growth Laboratory
Twitter: @Showy005
1. Purpose of the Guide
This guide aims to showcase the potential and opportunities of the TON ecosystem, helping future practitioners easily start their careers and providing practical insights to reduce learning costs. At the same time, we hope to attract more people to join the TON community, promote resource sharing, and drive ecological development.
2. Introduction to the TON Ecosystem
The Origin and Development of TON
TON was originally developed by the Telegram team (2018-2021) to address issues such as scalability, speed, and privacy protection in traditional blockchains. Its development background is deeply rooted in Telegram's massive user base and its vision for a decentralized internet. Due to SEC allegations, it ultimately had to abandon its issuance and hand it over to the foundation for operation. It is now a top public chain with a daily trading volume exceeding 5 billion USD.
The Relationship Between TON and Telegram
Although TON was initially initiated by Telegram, due to regulatory issues, Telegram ultimately decided to withdraw from the development of TON. The core technology of TON still takes root in Telegram's community, forming a new ecosystem centered around decentralization and privacy protection. Telegram's massive user base provides tremendous support for the promotion of the TON ecosystem.
The Roles of TON and the TON Foundation
The establishment of the TON Foundation aims to promote the technical development and community building of TON, ensuring the decentralization goals of the project are realized. The foundation not only provides financial support necessary for ecological development but also collaborates with developers and enterprises to jointly promote the expansion of TON's technology and ecosystem.
Although both belong to TON, TON holds more rights in ecological development than the foundation. In terms of global influence, the foundation is not weaker than the TON team, but they focus on different areas.
Integration of Payment Functionality and Utilization of User Base
TON's payment functionality is very powerful, leveraging Telegram's vast user base, TON has integrated payment and trading functions, allowing users to conduct cryptocurrency transactions without leaving Telegram, significantly lowering the entry barrier for users into Web3, and laying the foundation for cryptocurrency payments. Many countries' online payments now support TON tokens, such as taxi services in Singapore.
Future Vision of Decentralization
TON's ultimate goal is to achieve complete decentralization and provide global users with an open, free, and secure internet environment. In the future, TON will not be limited to payment functions but will expand into decentralized games, storage, social, financial services, and other fields. The official team has also stated multiple times at conferences that the development team and the foundation will gradually operate in a DAO format, giving community rights to users.
3. Roles in the TON Ecosystem
In the TON ecosystem, multiple roles jointly promote the development and innovation of the network:
Telegram: Follow Durov's channel; basically, all first-hand news must be obtained through him. Additionally, Telegram and TON itself are independent, so Telegram's functionality is one of the biggest factors affecting the ecosystem.
Ordinary Users: Mainly native users of Telegram, a considerable portion uses Telegram because of TON, and a small part are on-chain token holders.
Developers: Responsible for writing smart contracts, developing DApps, and participating in network technical innovation.
Foundation: Mainly promotes the global application of TON, currently primarily distributed in Europe and Asia.
Investors: Invest in projects within the TON ecosystem, primarily in coin rights, but a considerable portion has equal rights in shares.
Project Team: Responsible for managing and promoting TON-related projects, developing applications and products.
Economic Model Designer: Designs the token economy of the project to ensure the system's health and long-term growth.
Compliance and Legal Advisors: Provide legal opinions for TON ecosystem projects to ensure compliance.
Professional Content Creators: Self-media/institutions that create content (articles, videos, etc.) for the TON ecosystem.
4. Popular Tracks in the TON Ecosystem
The TON ecosystem encompasses numerous innovative projects and applications, mainly divided into the following categories:
4.1 DeFi (Decentralized Finance)
One of the strategies for Q4 2024, a decentralized finance platform based on the TON blockchain, providing financial services such as lending, trading, and stablecoins.
4.2 MEMECOIN
One of the strategies for Q4 2024, multiple competitions have been held, mainly to help DeFi develop better and increase on-chain transaction volume.
4.3 GameFi (Game + Finance)
Some game projects launched on TON allow players not only to enjoy the fun of gaming but also to earn token rewards through participation.
4.4 NFT (Non-Fungible Token)
Many personal artworks, game items, and virtual goods are issued and circulated as NFTs in the TON ecosystem, becoming an emerging market for digital assets.
4.5 Advertising Platform
Due to the limited data sources from official advertising platforms, a large number of teams from the original WEB2 are flooding into entrepreneurship, aiming to become Telegram's equivalent of Tencent Ads or Star Map...
4.6 Tool Products
Including wallets, token issuance platforms, trading bots, data queries, etc., making it easier for users to access services through Telegram.
5. Project Research SOP
Methods to Obtain Popular Projects
To discover popular projects in the TON ecosystem, one can learn through app stores, data analysis websites, official TON communities, following Telegram groups, and developer forums, but understanding the hottest and latest projects is often quicker through the community.
Project Breakdown and Analysis Methods
Conduct a detailed breakdown of each project, analyzing its product positioning, token model, user situation, marketing strategy, etc., which can be compared, analyzed, and judged through the other party's channels, communities, Twitter, and media reports.
Step 1: Collect Basic Project Information
Collect basic project information, including project white papers, technical documents, team background, etc., to help understand the project's core highlights and advantages.
Step 2: Product and Service Analysis
Assess the market demand for the project's products and services, analyze how it solves practical problems, and its positioning and goals within the TON ecosystem.
Step 3: Market Demand and Target Users
Break down the project's target market and user groups, as well as the authenticity of these users' demands in a decentralized ecosystem.
Step 4: Economic Model Analysis
Analyze the project's token economic model, its sustainability, whether the token distribution is fair, and the clever design of user incentive mechanisms, as well as how to avoid death spirals, etc.
Step 5: Success Factors and Pathways
Summarize the key factors for project success, particularly analyzing its success path from the perspectives of technological innovation, user growth, and token economic design, determining whether it is a capital-driven bubble (similar to CATIZEN), ultimately identifying the successful strategies, paths, methods, and costs.
6. Introduction to TON Ecosystem Operations
Project Cycle Management Plan Development
In the TON ecosystem, projects typically go through multiple stages, each requiring different operational strategies to ensure healthy project development.
Click to read the TON Product Lifecycle Management Plan (recommended to download and save, if unable to click, please obtain it within the community).
The Importance of Product Operation Positions for TON
One of the core roles of product operation positions is to drive user growth and community building. A unique feature of the TON ecosystem is that its user group primarily consists of bottom-tier users, who are usually not from mainstream markets but from broader, younger, and more exploratory third-world countries. The main tasks of the operation position include designing effective viral mechanisms, community management and incentives, data-driven optimization, creating brand and social atmosphere, and continuous motivation and retention.
Operational Department Structure
An initial operational team of 2-3 people is sufficient, mainly for product operation and community operation, or add one member responsible for placements. As users reach 1-3 million, further staff in customer service, events, business, branding, etc., should be added. It is recommended to maintain a flat operation, making the overall operational pace more agile and easier to adapt to changes in Web3.
Recommended Common Operational Tools
In the TON ecosystem, effectively utilizing official major tools is already sufficient (more tools can be asked in the group). Click to join the Growth Lab.
1. Story: Highly recommended, similar to the Moments feature, can effectively influence friends around users, supports sharing of video and graphic content.
2. Channel Lottery: Channels are similar to public accounts; lottery activities will be specially reminded to each user, effectively improving user awakening and retention.
3. Community Voting: Generally used for important votes, it's a good way to interact with users.
4. Community Management: There are many external bots that support detection of irrelevant content, kicking people out, verification, etc. Large communities need this, while small communities may not.
5. Community Activity Assistant: Has many functions, similar to activity detection, random draws, etc., which is quite good for community activities.
6. Video/Voice Live Room: Can be used in channels and communities, with noticeable prompts during use, having a good awakening and activation effect, commonly used for user interaction and product explanation activities.
7. BOT Message Push: Can effectively activate users and reach important activity announcements; most bots will use content like 'You received 1 USDT' to guide users to activate the bot.
8. Personal Account Auto-Reply: Currently mainly used for customer service accounts, automatically replying to users, automatically inviting users to groups, automatic keyword replies, etc., improving service efficiency.
9. Personal Introduction/Channel: Links and channels can be placed in the personal profile section for new friends to quickly understand you; this feature is mostly used by business people.
10. Twitter Tools: Twitter tools actually have little effect in TG; if needed, you can seek support from group friends.
Case Analysis of Exponential Growth (only displaying cases with credible data)
Case One:
Project Name: Capybara
User Count: 4.06 million (November 7) Historical Peak 5.5 million
Recharge Data: Daily average recharge of 2500 USDT
Launch Date: August 21, 2024
BOT Link: https://t.me/the_capybara_meme_bot
BOT Type: MEMECOIN
Monetization Methods: Token issuance, new user commissions from exchanges
User Expectations: Cash invitations + token airdrops
Customer Acquisition Cost: 0.02 USDT
Growth Secret: Bonuses for new users, increasing user silent costs to enhance task completion rates, and offering rewards to players who complete tasks to increase viral rates.
Case Two:
Project Name: FOXCOIN
User Count: 1.1 million (November 7)
Recharge Data: Daily average recharge of 3000 USDT
Launch Date: October 14, 2024
BOT Link: @thefoxcoin_bot
BOT Type: Web Game Lobby
Monetization Methods: Advertising, user recharges, token issuance
User Expectations: Daily cash tasks, token airdrops, free big wins.
Customer Acquisition Cost: 0.03 USDT
Growth Secret: Advertising revenue compensates for user cash tasks, achieving dual guarantees for placement costs and user quality.
Compliance Issues and Avoidance Strategies
1. A tool/service team that lives comfortably is currently not a concern, especially if it's not closely related to gray industry.
2. Project parties wishing to issue tokens must consult with the officials on this issue, as officials are currently applying for compliance in Hong Kong, which will be very helpful. Consulting lawyers is secondary; currently, many domestic teams are issuing tokens, and I haven't seen anyone get into trouble yet, but one should not have a mentality of taking chances.
3. Other non-compliant businesses, currently not under TG's official control, as they adhere to decentralized logic in social interactions, many things they wish to manage are constrained. However, if there are no licenses or compliance applications, it may also lead to bans due to complaints. The smallest penalty is to label your application as 'fraud'. If you want to grow, compliance must be ensured.
7. Common Challenges and Solutions in Operating TON Ecosystem Projects
Common Challenges
Slow User Growth
Low Community Engagement
Users are churning too quickly.
Poor Token Liquidity
Solutions
- If it is early-stage, prioritize checking 1. Traffic quality, 2. Data from viral activities, 3. User game data, check bounce rates to determine if the traffic source is reliable, check the viral rate to gauge user interest in activities, and assess game data to judge the attractiveness of the game to that batch of users. Comprehensive judgment for optimization direction.
- First distinguish stages before judging issues; different stages have different response strategies. Additionally, some niche products may not pursue community activity but rather user feedback. Judgments can be made by trying to change activities or adjusting the values of rewards, and it's also very important to chat privately with users and listen to their opinions.
- Based on past experience, direct BOT buying and swapping have high loss rates, which is normal. It is recommended to analyze based on existing data and then promote through regional KOLs or professional advertising platforms like TON AI, Open AD, Teleads, YouTube, Twitter, Facebook, etc., for precise advertising. Currently, the TG official does not support precise advertising and lacks user profiles.
- Currently, almost all tokens listed have fallen below their issue price, with only one X token maintaining its price and continuing to rise, mainly due to its low market value. This page provides a great insight: is it necessary to start with a high market value? Is it necessary to be listed on Binance? Besides the economic model, the method of issuing tokens may also be a very important plan.
8. Author's Personal Experience
1. The TON ecosystem has great potential; as long as you work in the ecosystem, you have unlimited opportunities. With enough diligence, you will certainly have your own career.
2. For entrepreneurship in product development, the budget needs to be 10 million if it is to be successful, and the minimum trial cost needs to be 2 million (RMB). Personal grassroots entrepreneurship can consider creating some paid tools and service products for developers (living comfortably).
3. The Main Logic of Game Operations - I have experience in this and can answer questions in the group. Mainly rely on games and activities to create a viral effect, while the product pulls in new users through sharing, and activities aim to leverage Twitter for public domain traffic and influence, mainly guiding users to enter BOTs and channels, followed by Twitter communities. Therefore, I specifically mentioned the importance of product operations; for traffic-based products, pure placements are currently not feasible. Pure placements can only be attempted when existing advertising platforms mature.
4. The Main Logic of Tool-type Product Operations - I have experience in this and can answer questions in the group. Tool-type products can generally run with a strong product, and after completing a small closed loop, expanding the PUGC investment/cooperation range can achieve rapid user growth. If there are safety concerns, a round of financing or auditing PR can be done. Generally, it should take about 45 days from 0 to 1.
5. For more discussions, you can join the group for exchange; there are many things not written in this article, especially various pitfalls...
Ad Placement Anti-Scam Guide:
1. Fake BOT Developers: Run away after payment; response method: have them send you a message using an admin account.
2. Intermediary Fake Developers: Double the amount paid; response method: ask peers in the developer community for direct contact information to save half.
3. Low-cost volume selling: Genuine users account for 20%, fake users 80% or more, concentrated in top BOTs, many of those with over five million users are bots! Response method: Ask those who have been scammed, it’s best to get some advertising flow data to examine user behavior.
4. Scam through Precise Chat: Using low-cost advertisements and precise advertisements as a pretext, combined with various arguments to get you to try it out, then either brushing bots for you or running away.
5. False Advertising: Channels, Twitter, and YouTube influencers have good metrics, but your investment yields no results.
Response method: Ask more in the group before placement; for precision, either find an advertising platform or KOLs or look for intermediaries. Start small and gradually negotiate; do not rely on just a few tens of thousands of dollars for investment. If the budget is large, directly invest in top KOLs.
Anti-scam Guide for Volume Swapping:
1. Exchanging Fake for Real: This is the most common issue; some companies with bot follower resources will first inflate their user base to several million and then exchange with you, with only a small number of genuine users. Avoidance strategy: first exchange a small amount, then check the quality to decide whether to continue.
2. Cooperation Breach: This is the most common issue, usually, it is difficult to retrieve losses from a BOT with strong exchange capabilities, and in some cases, the breaching party directly takes down your BOT task. Remedial plan: Supervise task completion continuously, expose the breaching party, and demand cash compensation.
3. Pattern Scams: 1. Borrow some followers, 2. They promise to compensate you later, but most of the time it doesn't materialize. Avoidance strategy: Do not engage in personal connections; stick to the agreement.
Loss from swapping is difficult to pursue, it is recommended to start swapping only when daily active users can reach above 10,000. Also, confirm with screenshots of daily activity from the other side's backend, and you may consider using the swapping tools in our group, which can connect to an SDK to check data authenticity (this is a third-party free bot).
