Notcoin NOT -1.57% was the first Telegram game to pioneer the clicker model, where all users had to do was press a button and earn in-game currency, which later became a $1 billion token airdrop. 

But it was also the first to pivot from this mechanic — where the app gives you something for free with the notion of a possible airdrop down the line — and the pseudonymous founder, who goes by Sasha, reckons it won’t be the last.

“I do not expect it will last forever,” said Sasha to The Block. “I do not expect it will have any sustainability. From my perspective, only the games that have sustainable models will survive.”

Sasha argued that there are a number of games that have sustainable models. He cited Catizen, which claims that more than half of its users are paying customers and that it has generated millions of dollars of revenue. 

As for Notcoin itself, Sasha said he wants to move on from the clicker narrative. He said that the plan for the next four years is for the project to become independent of the team by building sustainable and efficient subsystems. 

One of them is the project’s current focus, where the Notcoin app provides campaigns that let users earn Notcoin by interacting with other, newer Telegram games. The idea is to become a hub for kickstarting other ecosystem projects while stimulating demand for Notcoin and burning some tokens in the process. He expects the number of these campaigns to increase up to 50 to 100 per week.

“It’s like farming, but not for providing liquidity, but providing your time and attention. This model allows us to be sustainable because we don’t have to print new notcoins,” he said.

However, Sasha noted that this is just one of a number of possible subsystems. He said others could involve contests, means of incentivizing contributors, game platforms, or even a decentralized university based on AI content that’s open to anyone.

“We experiment with this. Some models will die, some will evolve and become successful, and so on,” he said.

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Looking back at the Notcoin airdrop

The Notcoin airdrop took place in May and ended on June 16, with around 90% of the supply in users’ hands, Sasha said. He claimed there are currently around 11 million holders. While the token peaked in early June, it still has a $1.6 billion market cap.

One of the biggest challenges for the airdrop was dealing with bots using the platform. Sasha said that the project prioritized human actions with the airdrop, with boosts for those who have normal onchain activities in their wallets. It also gave a boost to those who invited other users who paid for Telegram Premium and claimed that 30% of all users with Telegram Premium played Notcoin.

“At the end of the day, those who made more value for the ecosystem will get more notcoin. Even if we have millions of bots, they will end up with small amounts,” he said.

Within the game, users could team up into squads and compete against other squads on the leaderboard while also playing individually. This would work by an influencer in a Telegram community providing their link to that community. He said that the biggest influencer had invited 200,000 people and yet only earned 0.2% of the whole airdrop because the number of holders was so high.

Sasha said that the game saw the most demand from countries including Russia, Uzbekistan, Nigeria, the U.S., Germany, and Iran — although users identified as Iranian weren’t given withdrawal options. The app also prioritized withdrawals to crypto exchanges and had some restrictions on withdrawals to self-hosted wallets.

Beyond Notcoin, there are other Telegram games focusing on the TON blockchain, including Hamster Kombat, Yescoin, Tapswap and PixelTap. While some of these projects are planning to do similar airdrops, it’s yet to be seen whether they will be able to replicate Notcoin’s success.