We started exploring building on TON @ton_blockchain a little over a year ago at Cumberland Labs. We viewed it then, as we do today, as an underappreciated opportunity to crack the distribution challenge of blockchain-based applications to a wide retail user base.
A large part of this underappreciation stems from the fact that crypto industry narratives are predmonantly driven by the U.S., where U.S. Telegram users are unable to access either the custodial Telegram app-wallet, or the self-custodial TON Space wallet.
The TON blockchain similarly doesn’t have much developer mindshare yet. See 'Builder interest by blockchain' from a16z's latest State of Crypto report...
📈 But the bottom line is this - the majority of Telegram’s ~900mn monthly actives now have custodial and self-custody crypto wallets integrated into their messaging app, whether they know it or not.
After Twitter, Telegram is the go-to for everyone in crypto. TON-based applications on Telegram reach both a crypto-savvy and a crypto-civilian global user base.
We started Hubz @hubz_chat with a simple premise - to build on-chain wallet connectivity directly into Telegram chats.
Similar to how a metamask wallet can ‘unlock’ web3 applications in-browser, we wanted to leverage the TON Space wallet to provide a similar degree of connectivity in Telegram chats.
Any Telegram chat can now integrate Hubz and require users to connect their TON Space wallet in order to join the chat group or channel (we call it ChainSync). You can try it for yourself here by joining our Hubz Community Chat. There’s no transaction or gas.
https://lnkd.in/gKVfhadS
This simple integration unlocks a massive amount of value for both chat owners and chat members.
Imagine a ‘normal’ Telegram chat group with 5,000 members. The admin can see chat member handles and chat activity, but little more.
Now envisage the same chat, Hubz enabled, with 5,000 wallets connected. Our analytics dashboard lets admins understand the groups onchain history - aggregate chat user balances across different onchain assets, historical and current activity levels, what DEXes they use.
This connectivity opens up an on-chain two-way street between chats and users.
▶️ Want to create a simple whitelist for your project? Add Hubz’ ChainSync to your chat, and everyone who joins the chat provides their wallet address by default.
▶️ Want to limit your chat membership to your community who own your token or NFT? Hubz GateKeeper lets you token-gate access to your chat.
▶️ Want to set up a one-time payment or subscription for access to your chat? Just use Hubz AccessPass.
▶️ Want to issue a jetton Token to people who join your chat? You can do that too.
🔥 In fact, anyone who joins our Hubz Community Chat will receive 10 HUBZ OG tokens in their wallet within 24 of joining. https://lnkd.in/gKVfhadS