Original author: SanTi Li, Feng Yu, Nashida

Introduction

2024 is the new starting point of Web3, and many ecosystems have also ushered in their own explosive period. As one of the world's largest instant messaging platforms, Telegram's value and potential at the Web3 level have also attracted relatively widespread attention. This article aims to deeply analyze the long-term value and potential contribution of TON (Telegram Open Network) and LIME (iMe Messenger), two projects in the Telegram ecosystem that have attracted much attention overseas recently, to the Web3 world.

I. Basic Introduction

TON (Telegram/The Open Network): Strengthening Telegram's underlying public chain

TON, as the underlying public chain of Telegram (TG), relies on Telegram's 1.5 billion users and about 800 million monthly active users. Although the user data may include duplicate users and robots, the scale is still huge. TON once set the largest ICO record in history. Although it has experienced a refund incident, TON's recent restart and operational recovery have shown its strong resilience and development potential, and it has resumed operations and momentum. By attracting more projects to develop on the chain, TON has increased the diversity and potential of web3 project applications for Telegram.

LIME (iMe Messenger): An enhanced version of Telegram with rich multi-chain functions

Telegram's Web3 upgrade:As a multi-chain and functionally enhanced version built on Telegram, it provides important technical support and functional expansion for its journey to become a leader in the field of Web3 communications. iMe has 10 million users and has achieved a compound growth of about 500% in the past three years. It allows Telegram's 1.5 billion users to seamlessly switch to the iMe version, using the same account while keeping all historical records unchanged, and can automatically synchronize chat records between the two versions, providing great convenience for users.

Comprehensive multi-chain integration and rich functions: The iMe version of Telegram not only fully inherits all the public chain functions of TON, but also supports users to send multi-chain assets including BTC, ETH, BNB, Polygon, TON, Fantom, Mantle directly between Telegram friends through the integration of multi-chain wallets. (Integration: AVAX, Sol) and other multi-chain assets.

In addition, Lime has introduced customized AI functions, GameFi, payment solutions (Binance Pay, etc.), DeFi services, DEX integration and SocialFi potential (e.g. Twitter integration, transfer tokens to friends through Twitter ID), as well as cross-chain bridges and other innovative features for Telegram. These enhancements not only improve the user experience, but also enable Telegram to translate multilingual conversations and convert voice messages within 1 minute into text, significantly improving its market competitiveness and bringing win-win value growth and product diversification to Telegram's ecosystem.

As a bridge to the Web3 world:The iMe version essentially serves as a functional integration and expansion developer, closely integrating the innovation of the Web3 world with the Telegram ecosystem. It not only optimizes and expands the original functions of Telegram, but also introduces a variety of new functions, providing a convenient channel for Telegram to join more heterogeneous chains. Through these innovations, iMe has significantly improved Telegram's user experience and breadth of applications. At the same time, TON, as the underlying L1 chain, provides a solid ecological foundation to support the development and growth of diverse projects.

2. Strength and Innovation

● Technical Team Background

Both TON and iMe project teams have top technical talents from Russia and Ukraine. Russia's development technology enjoys a high reputation worldwide, providing strong technical support and product stability for these projects. Ime is also one of the few projects that is based on TG development but is smooth and smooth.

TON is a decentralized and open Internet platform created by the community using technology designed by Telegram. It has its own native cryptocurrency Toncoin, which is used for network operations, transactions, games or NFT transactions, etc. The TON network provides a variety of applications and services, aiming to provide a decentralized, secure and reliable Internet and various services.

iMe's Innovation and User Experience

iMe has introduced a number of Web3 and encryption technology innovations based on Telegram, significantly improving the user experience. It not only optimizes the communication function, but also introduces multi-chain wallets, AI functions and GameFi, etc., which enhances Telegram's appeal as a multi-functional platform. In particular, its Cryptobox and cross-chain bridge functions provide Telegram users with a new way to quickly interact and convert assets, promoting the application and popularization of Telegram in the Web3 field.

● User Experience

Improvements in interface and interaction design:iMe has greatly improved the user's interactive experience by adding new button areas and functions to the Telegram interface, making the operation intuitive and easy to use. This design approach helps to reduce users' learning barriers to new technologies and promotes a smooth transition for Telegram users to the Web3 field. Compared with the original dialog wallet of TON, the iMe version of Wallet adds a new button area in Telegram, and the function adopts a familiar interface more similar to non-custodial wallets (such as I'm token, TP), making it seamlessly integrated into Telegram.

Functional integration and optimization:iMe integrates multi-chain wallets, AI technology and GameFi into Telegram, which not only optimizes the original communication function, but also provides users with more interactive and entertainment options, enhancing the appeal of Telegram as a multi-functional platform.

iMe's latest Cryptobox and cross-chain bridge functions, on the one hand, provide Telegram users with innovative and fast interactive methods to send and receive multi-chain token gifts such as BNB, ETH, BTC, TON, etc. in groups, further promoting the application and popularization of Telegram in the field of Web3, and enhancing the participation and activity of the community.  In addition, the cross-chain bridge function also makes it easier for users to convert assets between different heterogeneous chains.

III. Brief analysis of token economy and valuation

iMe’s success has expanded Telegram’s usage scenarios, combining traditional instant messaging services with the latest encryption technology and Web3 applications. This integration not only enhances the value of the Telegram platform, but also provides its users with more diverse services and experiences.

Application scenarios of LIME:

● Staking

● Gas fees for transactions and operations

● Purchase of Telegram upgrades and special version services

● AI function selection

● Cryptobox application (similar to group red envelopes and airdrops)

● DAO voting

● Advertising and gaming services

2-month valuation FDV: $8M, Current Valuation: FDV: $90M ($0.09B), Long-term Valuation: FDV: $3-5B

LIME's valuation has risen relatively in the past period of time, perhaps because it was underestimated too seriously before, and also because the popularity of the TG ecosystem has gradually increased recently. The increase in LIME's valuation reflects its growing importance and expansion of its application scope in the Telegram ecosystem. Compared with the valuations of many private placement projects that have not yet been released, if a new project has more than 10 million users, it also belongs to the comprehensive track of AI, SocailFi, GameFi, TG, and cross-chain. Then the valuation of this project may exceed 500 million in the private placement stage (this is only a rough personal estimate analysis, not an investment advice or deterministic analysis) Deflation model and token destruction 2024-03-20 LIME began to adopt a burning deflation model. The LIME tokens obtained by the project through fees and services provided will be frozen and destroyed regularly. Including: staking fees, CryptoBox fees, bridge fees, iMe premium subscriptions, channel subscriptions, advertising, game subscriptions and other fields.

This measure aims to reduce the supply of LIME in circulation and enhance its scarcity and value. The first destruction process is scheduled for June 1, 2024. To increase demand and improve transparency

TON consumption scenarios:

● Ecosystem participation

● Gas fees

● Vote

● Pledge

● Donate and purchase services

2-month valuation FDV: $10B, current valuation: FDV $21.2B ,  Long-term valuation: $60-90B 

The value of TON's token is closely linked to the official Telegram itself. Even though the official said it has become a community version, there is still a lot of direct support at the actual level, including paying for advertising. Telegram's rough Pre-IPO valuation is around 30 billion US dollars. If it successfully IPOs and goes public in the future, the valuation may exceed 50B-80B US dollars.

If the analysis of TON itself is based on the analysis of TG users and the public chain ecology, the market value still has room for growth, but if TG is listed in the future, the value of TON itself will be diluted to a certain extent. Because the valuation of Tokens is often bound to the ecology itself, but the current market valuation may still be a certain distance from its high point, so before Telegram's official IPO is successful and listed, the value of TON itself will continue to maintain a certain relationship with the market form. The long-term value may still have several times of fluctuation space.

Fourth, win-win relationship and market positioning

TON and Telegram's synergistic growth

TON provides Telegram with an underlying public chain based on itself, laying a solid foundation for the overall ecology of the platform. Although the TON chain, like many heterogeneous L1 chains, faces the challenge of updating supporting facilities, it has great potential. If the user experience is good, it also has the opportunity to create a unique L1 ecology and market popularity.

iMe's Expanded Impact

The addition of iMe Messenger (LIME) has actively expanded Telegram's use cases in Web3 fields such as communities, multi-chain applications, AI, cross-chain, and DEX, and significantly optimized the user experience and added additional features. This not only enhances Telegram's overall value, but also brings users more diverse services and experiences. As a version optimization and function aggregator, iMe facilitates Telegram users to directly and quickly access the Web3 world.

Market Positioning and User Growth

iMe has carved out a special niche in the Web3 and instant messaging market with its unique services and features. Closely coupled with the large user base and growth potential brought by Telegram, iMe has grown from 2 million to 10 million users in the past three years, a growth rate of 500%. As blockchain technology and cryptocurrencies gain popularity, iMe's user base is expected to continue to grow.

TON Chain has also witnessed a gradual increase in the number of users since 2024. As the underlying public chain developed based on Telegram, all Telegram users can seamlessly use the features under the TON ecosystem. Whether using the original Telegram or the enhanced version of iMe Telegram, it will not affect the use of TON features. The wallet convenience in iMe may reduce the need for TON native wallets, but as an integrator rather than a competing entity, the use of iMe will not reduce the number of TON chain holders.

Through this complementary and win-win relationship, iMe and TON jointly promote the development of the Telegram ecosystem, which not only enhances the user experience, but also brings a broader market positioning and user growth potential to the Telegram platform.

V. Display of some functions:

1) One-click conversation translation:

2) Function embedding - group gifts, AI Bots, Binance Pay, Crypto Multiwallet, Staking, etc.

VI. Challenges and Countermeasures

Although both parties have shown strong growth potential, Telegram has a huge user base and huge potential, but it still faces the challenges of technical security, user privacy protection and compatibility with traditional financial systems that all projects must face. As the SEC's policy is not clear, it is still unknown what the final direction of TON will be, but its potential has already been revealed. Whether Russia's policy on blockchain is favorable or not will also affect the trend of the project to a certain extent. Obviously, as a world super social platform besides WeChat, TG has also become a place for various Web3s to exercise their imagination. Both also need to continuously optimize their technical platforms, strengthen security measures, and ensure the long-term compliance and stability of their services.

VII. Summary and Value Analysis

In the article "Potential Analysis: 5-100 Times Web3 Blockchain and Stock Target Exploration" in February, we also briefly mentioned IME and TON, and the valuations of both parties have risen to a certain extent in the past month.

After a comprehensive analysis of the long-term value of TON and LIME iMe Messenger in the Telegram ecosystem, we can see that these two projects have not only brought innovation and added value to the Telegram platform, but also played an important role in promoting the popularization and application of Web3 technology. In 2024, with the rise of Web3, TON, as an underlying public chain, leveraged its strong community and Telegram's large user base to demonstrate the potential for widespread application of blockchain technology in the field of instant messaging. As an enhanced version built on Telegram, LIME iMe Messenger not only optimizes the user experience, but also promotes the flexible expansion and transformation of Telegram's functionality in the Web3 era by introducing multi-chain support, AI functions, built-in DEX, Binance Pay and other advanced features.

Through these two projects, the Telegram ecosystem is becoming a bridge connecting the traditional Internet with emerging blockchain technologies, providing users with a secure, convenient and rich digital communication platform. At the same time, the development of TON and LIME iMe Messenger also shows that with the continuous advancement of technology and the increasing maturity of the ecosystem, Telegram is expected to play a more important role in the wave of Web3.

In short, the cases of TON and LIME iMe Messenger not only demonstrate the strong potential of the Telegram ecosystem, but also provide us with valuable insights into the future development trends of the Web3 world. For all individuals and institutions concerned about the future of digital communications, blockchain technology, and Web3, this is undoubtedly an area worthy of attention and in-depth research.

Finally,

TON's long-term value, thanks to the development of its ecosystem and the frequency of use, is similar to other L1 approaches, requiring the prosperity of ecological projects to drive TON's own demand and consumption to further increase.

The long-term value of Ime, thanks to its innovation, integration, fusion, optimization and continuous improvement of services, empowers TG gameplay while improving the demand for LIME itself, and the deflationary policy and the token lock-up and destruction policy of service income will also, to a certain extent, gradually increase the demand for project tokens.

Quick summary in one sentence: As L1, TON continues to expand the underlying chain ecology of Telegram, and Lime brings more external chains and Web3 gameplay directly into the Telegram software.

PS: This article is for learning and discussion only, not specific investment advice. Please DYOR readers to make the most appropriate judgment for your own style.

This article comes from a contribution and does not represent the views of BlockBeats.

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