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Is Tap-to-Earn Dead In 2024? | Everything You Need To Know 

 

By Reel Coverage Nov 29, 2024

 

Due to declining player incentives and the rise of scams, tap-to-earn projects are no longer viable.

 

But, there's more. 

 

In this article, we'd explore the rise and fall of tap-to-earn projects, the reason for its popularity and cause of death, highlighting its future within the cryptocurrency industry. 

 

 

 

Tap-to-Earn’s Rise To Glory

 

The concept of tap-to-earn gained prominence in the gaming industry due to successful projects like Notcoin.

 

Notcoin is a Telegram-based tap-to-earn GameFi project whose brilliant marketing led to the popularity of Telegram as a hub for attracting crypto and gaming enthusiasts, essentially onboarding users in millions to TON, a blockchain heavily integrated with Telegram, being formerly developed by its team.

 

Notcoin, the “probably nothing” project became a billion dollar project based on the all-time high marketcap of NOT, its native token airdropped to its community. 

 

NOT hit an all-time high price of $0.0284 for each unit, with over 102 billion total supply, this places $NOT’s marketcap at approximately $2.92 billion.

 

Notcoin rewarded and onboarded over 11.5 million people to the TON blockchain, however, the project attracted over 40 million real players and distributed over $2.5 in rewards. 

 

Almost 4 months after the launch of Notcoin, came $DOGS, a memecoin project on the TON blockchain, onboarding and rewarding over 17 million players with over $500 million.

 

DOGS launch timeline clashed with the arrest of Pavel Durov by the French government, effectively fueling its popularity and success given the ties and historical significance of the $DOGS project to Pavel Durov and his lifetime projects and initiatives including advocating for free speech. 

 

Collectively, Notcoin and DOGS put Telegram and TON blockchain in the spotlight with Notcoin being the pioneer of the tap-to-earn meta and DOGS, the memecoin lead on TON. 

 

Nonetheless, both projects are categorically considered tap-to-earn due to its integration with Telegram and being birthed over the popularity of said gaming ecosystem, as with most other projects currently building on TON through Telegram mini-apps. 

 

The Fall Of Tap-to-Earn In Telegram Gaming

 

While most crypto-powered projects on Telegram are considered “tap-to-earn” due to the role a tap-to-earn pioneer, Notcoin, played in the popularity of said ecosystem, many of emerging projects are not truly tap-to-earn. 

 

It's safe to say that tap-to-earn began and ended with NOTCOIN. Yes, Telegram tap-to-earn meta ended with Notcoin as other emerging projects built above and away from the fundamental values of “Tap-to-Earn,” a community-driven concept that aims to reward players or users without direct monetary commitments from said players for simply tapping on their screens to earn coins. 

 

The absence of a “tapping mechanism” in most new Telegram/TON-based projects is an indicator of the “death of arrival” case for the tap-to-earn meta, or as some would love to put it: There will never be another Notcoin. 

 

Hamster Kombat, the biggest Telegram mini app/game based on users, reported to be over 300 million, actively made attempts to distance itself from the concept of being a “tap-to-earn” project despite actually have a tapping in-game feature unlike other popular projects like Major - which recently launched and favoured only investors and spenders within the mini app, leaving loyal players of over 3 months with airdrops worth less than $2.

 

Is Tap-to-Earn Dead?

 

Yes, the tap-to-earn meta of web3 gaming is dead. Most emerging Telegram-based projects are considered “retroactive” as they reward players based on in-app monetary transactions while leading on the majority non-spenders who keep their hype alive through social media speculations and advertising, only to distribute pennies at launch or simply disqualify them.

 

The general sentiment towards Telegram-based gaming projects is growing negative with the fail-drops of these projects, however, the optimistic few are looking forward and hoping that projects like Notpixel, PawPaw and Lost Dogs change the narrative. 

 

The TON ecosystem is likewise facing negative sentiments as not only has emerging projects underperformed despite hype by team members to deceive the community, numerous others have engaged in fraud, scamming the community of their TON and money through Telegram stars.