rewrite this title Telegram Game ‘TapSwap’ Sets Token Launch and Airdrop for January – Decrypt

Popular Telegram tap-to-earn game TapSwap revealed it will launch its TAPS token on The Open Network (TON) alongside an airdrop of rewards for players in the second half of January 2025. 

TAPS will become a critical resource in the TapSwap ecosystem, the developers said, granting holders access to tournaments, staking rewards, and governance participation. 

Whether or not a player receives the TAPS airdrop will be determined by the player’s overall engagement within TapSwap—in other words, how often a player interacted within TapSwap or played the game. Users will need to connect their wallet to receive the airdrop.

What started as a tap-to-earn game on Telegram, in which users repeatedly tap a button on the screen to earn in-game coins, has since evolved. In August, the game added a city builder mode called “Tappy Town,” and achievements accrued through that experience will also affect the likelihood of receiving a TAPS airdrop. 

Alongside the airdrop, the game’s evolution is expected to continue. TapSwap is transitioning into a skill-based platform, offering competitive tournaments to players and “leaving traditional pay-to-win models behind,” a representative for the game told Decrypt. 

The platform has amassed more than 50 million users globally since its launch in February.

Telegram gaming and participation on The Open Network has blossomed this year, led by popular mini apps and games like Hamster Kombat and Notcoin. Notcoin famously dropped more than 35 million players over 80 billion tokens earlier this year, gaining listings from Binance and OKX in the process. 

The Open Network is a layer-1 network created by Nikolai and Pavel Durov, the co-founders of messaging app Telegram. While development began internally, the company dropped the project in 2020 under regulatory scrutiny, leading a community of external developers to continue building the ecosystem.

Its native token, Toncoin (TON), has risen nearly 200% in the last year, pushing it to more than a $16 billion market cap. That’s made it the 16th-largest crypto asset by market capitalization, according to CoinGecko. 

Edited by Andrew Hayward