Cara, 2024 has been pretty crazy for those following the gaming ecosystem on Telegram. A bunch of gaming projects to earn cryptocurrencies appeared that grew insanely fast, and honestly, it’s hard not to be curious about the number of users migrating to these apps.

I’ll share the main ones I’m watching. Notcoin launched at the beginning of the year and grew wildly — over 35 million players since then. The mechanics are super simple: you click to collect virtual Notcoins that later turn into real NOT tokens on TON. When the token was launched in May, it started at $0.01 and shot up to a market cap of $1.1 billion, entering the top 100 cryptocurrencies. Now it’s with a +4.76% change in the last 24 hours. Then they expanded into more complex games like Lost Dogs, which mixes storytelling with click mechanics.

But what really exploded was Hamster Kombat. This clicker game amassed over 300 million players, practically went viral. The idea is to manage a virtual exchange with hamsters and collect HMSTR tokens. It’s up +1.92% today. The devs are planning a second season with airdrops, new features, and possibly more collaborations within the TON ecosystem.

Then there’s Catizen, which has a different vibe — you create and fuse virtual cats to earn vKITTY, which turns into CATI tokens (currently priced at $0.06). They’re trying to turn into a hub for mini apps on Telegram, combining Launchpool with short videos and e-commerce. Already has 34 million active players.

Moonbix is another growing project — it’s a bot linked to a major exchange and offers rewards in tokens like DOGS and NOT. Basically, you do simple tasks and earn tokens. There’s also an airdrop where you get free tokens based on your assets at a specific snapshot.

X Empire (formerly Musk Empire) started in July with 35 million players. The concept is to build virtual empires while earning cryptocurrencies. The X token was scheduled for distribution in Q4 2024, with mining ending on September 30. They launched 570,000 NFT vouchers for pre-sale, and some sold for nearly 7 TON (around $36).

Rocky Rabbit is another tap-to-money game that’s booming. You train virtual rabbits for competitions, complete missions, and earn RabBitcoin (RBTC). It hit 30 million players. The airdrop deadline was September 20, 2024, with distribution on September 22 on major exchanges.

And then there’s Major, which is like a puzzle meets clicker. 30 million active users solving daily puzzles and earning ranking points that turn into MAJOR tokens (currently at $0.06). One of the unique challenges is the Durov Puzzle, where you have to find the correct sequence in Pavel Durov’s avatars. The community voted on the token name, and most of the supply will be distributed based on player activity. Analysts expect the launch to be between $0.001 and $0.005.

What’s happening is that these crypto-earning games on Telegram are creating much easier access to Web3. No need for complicated wallets, no need to deeply understand blockchain — you just play on Telegram and earn tokens. It’s kind of revolutionary, honestly.

But hey, I need to be honest: these crypto-earning games come with risks. Market volatility, security issues, projects that might not take off — all of that exists. If you’re thinking about jumping in, do thorough research, protect your assets, and be aware of what you might lose. The blockchain gaming space is growing fast, but it’s not a guarantee of anything. It’s worth keeping an eye on Gate to see real-time prices if you’re interested.