Author: SanTi Li, Naxida, Fengyu Xiaoxingjun, Li Feiyu.
Abstract:
In the Web3 era, the functions of communication software are no longer limited to information transmission. The failure roots of many Web3 social applications (SocialFi) also lie in the lack of sustained user stickiness and long-term foundations, or the software itself is mainly a copy of existing software types (such as borrowing from Twitter), with limited application of tokens and software functionality display. Social software itself is a product with a high moat after user habits are established, and further integration of the software body with multi-field payments, multi-chain fusion, financial services, and decentralized applications will add richer value to the body. iMe Messenger (LIME), as a practical functional part where Telegram and iMe coexist, has gradually attracted more and more attention from users, investors, and institutional users due to its expansion and optimization of Telegram's functionalities and unique market positioning.
Combining market dynamics, user needs, and Telegram and its public chain TON, this article will comprehensively analyze why Ime Messenger has the potential to reach 5-20% of Telegram's valuation, and explore how TON and Telegram can mutually boost each other's value in a trinity.
1. Market positioning and user value of iMe Messenger.
1.1 Compatibility with the Telegram native system reduces user migration and learning costs.
iMe Messenger (Lime) is not only an independent social application but also a Pro version developed based on the Telegram native system, allowing users to seamlessly and automatically sync Telegram's chat records, contacts, and channels. This feature greatly reduces the user's migration cost, allowing IME to inherit Telegram's ecosystem directly instead of building a new software from scratch. Thus achieving universality and compatibility of user moats.
That is: all Telegram users can also directly be iMe users, and all iMe users are also Telegram users.
1.2 Enhanced features lead to higher user stickiness and functional experience.
IME provides additional features based on the Telegram native system, such as:
โ Built-in and external wallets: Support for multi-chain payments and TG user friend transfers for BSC, Solana, ETH, TON, etc., enhancing financial application scenarios.
โ Translation, organization, and other function optimizations: Allow non-TG Star VIP users to directly use personal and group translation functions. Optimized many slightly awkward places in the native version.
โ Integration of payment and exchanges: Integrates payment services like Binance Pay and functions of decentralized exchanges like Uniswap.
โ Strengthening Telegram group features: The Crypto Box function is similar to WeChat group red envelope and gift functions.
โ AI assistant and antivirus features: Providing users with a more AI-smart experience.
โ Latest AI integration: Users can directly use large model engines such as Gemini and GPT in iMe AI for multi-creation and image generation.
โ Enhanced privacy: Stronger encryption and privacy protection to meet the needs of some users.
โ Customized UI: More rich personalized settings than Telegram to attract specific groups.
These enhanced features make iMe not only a generic product of Telegram, but for some users, IME may become a better choice for business usage scenarios.
1.3 Distinction between external wallets and internal window applications in Telegram.
1. Convenience of use: There are some internal wallet applications within the Telegram native system, but windowed applications have a problem with convenience of use and ease of search. As wallet functions, if every use requires searching and operating in a pile of chat dialogs, this increases the user's cost of use and learning to some extent. The benefit is that one can just use the TG native system.
2. The external wallet function of iMe can optimize the basic Telegram interface into a separate operational module, making it more convenient to operate, like the direct use of functional modules in WeChat. Transfer transactions and gift functions are better when more convenient. This also allows iMe to have its own independent user group (App and PC).
3. Development difficulty and security: The external development difficulty based on the Telegram API is greater than that of windowed applications, which in turn enhances the corresponding product's security and moat to some extent.
4. [Distinction from embedded applications like mini-programs] It can be said that all TG and iMe users can use embedded window applications, but this also means that the project itself lacks an independent user ecosystem. Embedded applications increase user convenience but reduce the inherent stickiness of the product itself. The requirement for users to download their version of TG from the App Store in the iMe version also means increased real user stickiness. (This suggests why most projects in the previous wave of the TG craze, like the TON App Center mini-program project, had low sustainability; TG users have sustainability and will continue to use software features, but users of projects in the App Center lack sustainable stickiness, with game monthly active users also stemming from the unsustainable prosperity generated by original Telegram and iMe users.) This is similar to having only WeChat mini-programs without their main application; unless it's a special function, user stickiness will gradually fade.
2. Valuation comparison analysis: iMe vs Telegram.
2.1 Valuation logic of Telegram.
Telegram's current valuation is approximately $30 billion, with its main value sources including:
1. Currently, there are over 900 million to 1 billion users worldwide, with rapid user growth. Apart from WhatsApp, it is the largest user platform, and WeChat users often lean towards Telegram as their second choice in Web3.
2. A solid ecosystem, including groups, channels, bot economy, advertising revenue, and potential Web3 applications.
3. The TON chain ecosystem layout, realizing additional holdings of new functions such as payments and applications through blockchain technology.
The $30 billion valuation of Telegram is essentially a composite result of user scale ร commercialization potential ร technical barriers ร IPO expectations, as well as the overall effect of the combination with blockchain and AI potential. This valuation is calculated relatively independently from the TON public chain valuation but also has a certain degree of interaction.
2.2 Valuation growth potential of iMe.
Currently, iME's valuation FDV is around 20 million, and the current number of users is about 18 million. Although this cannot be compared to Telegram's more than 900 million user scale, due to the interconnectivity of accounts with Telegram, the potential for mutually beneficial growth in customer base is still relatively large. Moreover, there are very few products in the Web3 field that have actual registered user numbers exceeding tens of millions, so the characteristics of this field will also enhance iMe's valuation. A growth rate of about 600% over three and a half years has also brought more expectations.
User growth rate, Web3 cooperation potential, payment performance, business model, and TG and TON ecosystem mutually beneficial support allow it to have the potential and possibility to gradually obtain 5-20% of Telegram's valuation from the current 20 million valuation under relatively healthy development trends.
1. User growth target: iMe is currently growing rapidly. Assuming it can acquire 5-10% of Telegram's users in the future, which is about 45 million to 90 million users, its market value will further increase with the growth in user scale.
2. Commercialization capability: The advertising revenue and VIP features of iMe itself are interconnected with Telegram Star, while also offering unique features specific to independent VIP users, and can be obtained for free through a certain proportion of Lime tokens. The cooperative potential with payment services like Binance Pay and the staking service of Multichain further expands its cooperation avenues with other Web3 companies.
3. Token burning and consumption scenario enhancement: With the increasing multi-chain transaction transfers among TG friends and further use of group functions, the application scenarios for Lime as a consumption scenario are also further enhanced. The potential for integration, cooperation, acquisition, or merger between TG and iMe itself remains unknown.
4. Multi-chain integration capability: Since TG mainly supports the TON public chain ecosystem within its platform, other crypto public chain tokens in Telegram applications have instead become a great entry point for iMe as a wallet. This meets the needs of TG users for multi-chain assets without affecting the TON-focused public chain ecosystem direction.
5. Empowerment of the TON ecosystem: The further deep integration of IME and TON will make it not just a communication software but also an entry point for blockchain applications, which will enhance its long-term value. All iMe users are also automatically TG and TON users.
2.3 Other reasons for the valuation growth potential of iMe Messenger.
There are many projects in the market with inflated values, but it is indeed difficult to find undervalued Web3 projects. The core reason is mostly related to a period of operational strategies and project operation styles by the project parties, as well as the experience habits of personnel, which are intricately connected with cooperation institutions, investors, and so on.
Aside from the valuation growth potential points compared in 2.1 and 2.2, the hidden value and potential factors of the iMe project are also related to the following points:
1. iMe's operational model primarily exists within the ecosystem and lacks cooperation with media, rating agencies, and third-party content platforms. This leads to many valuable updates and the five advantages mentioned earlier being largely unknown to many investors and enthusiasts.
2. There is relatively little cooperation with KOLs (Key Opinion Leaders) in value flow or hype flow. In fact, this project was discovered at the end of 2021, and I was waiting to see if there were others who would discover its value and write about it. The result was that there were indeed not many people creating content. After communicating with the project party, it was found that they indeed lacked cooperation with deep content institutions and KOLs. Unlike in 2018, when PR agencies were of decent quality, such as Block72 and Winkrypto, which had teams of dozens of people for comprehensive assistance, by 2025, many individuals could claim to be a PR agency. This greatly increased the difficulty of choice for project parties and the probability of pitfalls. This is as difficult as the difference between Dogecoin in 2020 and the tens of thousands of memes today.
Starting from 2024, Lime will gradually go live on new exchanges, having primarily been on Gate, which mainly focuses on a large number of trading targets and does not have many independent AMAs or media promotions. Beginning in 2023, this round of listing strategies by major exchanges has also been in effect for some time, focusing only on pure new projects. This strategy undoubtedly affected a batch of high-quality projects listed around 2021 that have undergone the test of a bear market. Coinciding with the promotion of the Meme craze, after experiencing a year of purification in 2024-2025, and with the recent trends of new coins, many exchanges, especially traders, are gradually realizing some core issues that exist between pure new projects and Meme-type projects.
4. The team has a strong engineering mindset, focusing on R&D but lacking market operation experience. This is not only an issue for the iMe team. Even a strong team like Algorand, which was once a bombshell team from MIT, blindly recruited Web2 marketers later, leading to operational chaos due to lack of experience and reckless operations.
5. There is a slight deficiency in the use of drainage platforms and promotion platforms. During due diligence, we found that the animations and content produced by the iMe team were actually very high quality. However, they were mainly published only within their own community and on their own Twitter, where many high-quality users are not necessarily high-quality disseminators. Just like in life, many particularly outstanding people often express themselves poorly or are not accustomed to expressing and disseminating. Therefore, the use and interaction with high-quality third-party platforms (such as essay collections, etc.) is also key to further brand building.
Overall, the premise for a project to have sufficient growth potential is that the project's core and technology are of high quality, and the track and trend are also correct. However, the lack of brand promotion and groundwork is one of the core reasons why high-quality content is not discovered. This issue can be remedied through subsequent assistance from large institutions, major trades, or influential individuals. It is also one of the core reasons why most undervalued projects have room for valuation growth.
3. The boosting of IME valuation by the TON ecosystem.
3.1 Growth potential of the TON ecosystem.
As an officially supported decentralized blockchain public chain platform for Telegram, TON has multiple application scenarios, including DeFi, GameFi, etc., and Telegram is actively promoting the TON ecosystem.
1. The growth potential of TON: TON's current market valuation has exceeded $10 billion, and with the binding of the Telegram ecosystem, it may double in the future.
2. The potential of TON payments: IME's built-in TON wallet makes it gradually become one of the most important payment and trading entry points in the TON ecosystem, which undoubtedly enhances the long-term value of the IME product to some extent. Although the Lime token itself has not yet been launched on the TON chain, it should be entering a countdown.
3. The binding effect of TON and Telegram: TON will become the Web3 core of Telegram's economic system in the future, and IME, as a compatible application integrated with Telegram, will naturally benefit from this ecological growth.
3.2 Direct impact of TON on IME valuation.
The expansion of the TON ecosystem makes IME not only a communication software but also a Web3 entry point. If TON's overall valuation grows to $20 billion or even higher, then as one of the important entry points for users in the Web3 project iMe will also experience an increase in valuation. The decentralized payment services and smart contract functions provided by TON synergize with iMe's own external multi-chain wallet, providing strong support for iMe users based on Telegram, making it not just a communication tool but also a cross-chain financial and social platform.
(Because there will also be pure native iMe users, i.e., institutional users who directly use the iMe software without using the Telegram native system, which naturally brings new users to the Telegram system and potential users of the TON ecosystem.)
Risks and challenges.
Of course, the development of iMe Messenger is not without risks. As a platform based on decentralized and blockchain technology, it faces various challenges such as technical security, user privacy protection, and policy supervision, similar to those faced by Telegram. Additionally, there is the systemic risk of Telegram suddenly halting API development (although this model would equal TG self-sabotage). Furthermore, the market competition is fierce, and the pressure from competitors as Web3 projects continuously launch new products cannot be ignored. How to continuously optimize product features and improve user experience while ensuring user privacy and security will be key to the future development of iMe Messenger.
4. Comprehensive summary: Factors influencing iMe's valuation.
Considering the above content, the development trend and speed of iMe have the potential to reach 5-10% of Telegram's user base. The growth and development of iMe itself also contribute to the growth and development of Telegram. At the same time, relying on the mutually beneficial combination of TG and the TON ecosystem to obtain more value not only allows iMe to benefit from the user stickiness moat brought by TG, but also positions it as a potential stock for TG's Web3 version or second version. Therefore, from the perspectives of user scale, business model, TON empowerment, and the functionalities of Wallet and Lime tokens, iME has the potential to reach a valuation range of 5%-20% of Telegram, which is over $1.5 billion. As the Telegram ecosystem gradually improves and the TON network develops further, iMe's market value may continue to grow, and its valuation may have further upward potential.
Overall, iME Lime is not a simple secondary development software of the Telegram API, but a tool with stronger Web3 social communication and payment usage value, making its valuation logic and method closer to a combination of Wallet + Telegram + TON + AI. Its usage method tends to be more like a Web3 version of WeChat. In it, one can vaguely see the potential prototype of a complete Web3 social software. I hope they can ultimately succeed alongside Telegram.
Next, we will explore the long-term value of several public chains. May the force be with you~
Friendly reminder: This article is created for research and learning purposes only and is not investment advice. The charm and risks of the Web3 field coexist. I hope readers can conduct their own research (DYOR) on each project or content.
#bnb #TON #BSC $SOL $TON$BNB
