What Is Notcoin? The Tap-to-Earn Telegram Phenomenon

Notcoin is a hit crypto game that began as a simple Telegram bot where users earned NOT tokens by repeatedly tapping a button. The game’s extremely simple and addictive mechanics helped it become the most popular crypto game in the world in 2024, attracting millions of users within a week. However, Notcoin lost momentum nearly as rapidly as it gained it. It hasn’t managed to build a sustainable game, suffering from token inflation, lacking utility, and tiring mechanics.

In this guide, we’ll cover all there is to know about Notcoin, see how it works, why it’s struggling now, and how it influenced the crypto gaming industry of today.

What Is Notcoin?

Notcoin is a unique crypto gaming project that is built on The Open Network (TON), previously known as Telegram Open Network. Its purpose is to engage users and promote the adoption of the TON blockchain through a simple, yet addictive, play-to-earn game. The one and only mechanic was to press a button to earn NOT tokens.

A closed beta version of Notcoin was launched in November 2023 by the development team Open Builders, where it was marketed as a simple meme coin. Like many meme coins, the idea behind the coin was that it was so useless to the point of being humorous.

Despite how silly it may sound, this marketing strategy turned out to be incredibly successful. Sources disagree on the platform’s peak user count, with some claiming that it had reached 35 million in four months. One of Notcoin’s founders, Sasha Plotvinov, said that it recently surpassed 50 million users, but we couldn’t confirm this claim.

The game was so successful that even the founder of Telegram, Pavel Durov, praised it as an ‘amazing success story,’ assuring he would be holding his coins at least until they were 10X their initial price. Unfortunately for Durov and Notcoin investors, the token has since fallen in value significantly.

How Does Notcoin Work? (and Why It Failed)

Notcoin’s main game was based on a simple yet effective play-to-earn mechanism. Users could mine Notcoin’s in-game currency NOT by tapping a Notcoin icon in Telegram. Eventually, the virtual in-game currency was converted into the NOT token on the TON blockchain.

Notcoin operates on the TON blockchain, known for its high transaction throughput, decentralized consensus mechanism, and security features.

The Notcoin team decided to take the project to another level, attempting to gamify engagement. Users were rewarded with NOT tokens for different interactions like joining communities, learning about new projects, using TON wallets, joining Telegram Premium, or other activities.  Eventually, it had to end its main tap-to-earn game, but users can still earn NOT by completing various engagement tasks.

What Is Notcoin Used For?

Notcoin’s most dire problem is that it can’t be used for anything. The token has no real utility aside from basic speculation. This isn’t always devastating for cryptocurrencies, with the notable examples being meme coins like Dogecoin. Notcoin may have been fine if it weren’t for its inflationary design.

Notcoin was forced to shutter its main tap-to-earn game, likely due to the massive token inflation it caused. Because the token didn’t have any real utility and the team didn’t harness any major economic sinks, players have no reason to keep the coin. It does employ a minor token burning mechanism, but only 0.2% of the total supply has been burned. Because they had no use for them, users simply sold the tokens they earned on the open market, slowly but surely causing the price to fall day after day.

Why Is Notcoin Important in Crypto?

Notcoin is not the most popular crypto project or even play-to-earn game in the market right now. However, it seems to have had a major influence on the market for a few main reasons.

Notcoin’s ability to onboard people into the crypto community with an extremely simple game on an extraordinarily popular app was a wake-up call for developers. Instead of building incredibly complex games with Web3 features sprinkled throughout, new crypto games have focused on accessibility for new players.

Some projects, like World of Dypians or Pixudi, decided to build their games with formulas that regular Web2 gamers know and love, such as MMORPGs or simple board games. Web3 features are then built on top of these foundations to add fun incentives and features.

Other projects have taken notice of Notcoin’s sheer simplicity and use of incentives. STEPN, the viral move-to-earn app, also took a simple, everyday task and added a layer of Web3 incentives on top. However, STEPN seemingly didn’t learn enough from Notcoin’s slow demise, as its main token’s price has fallen over 99% since its peak, likely due to inflation and a lack of utility.

Benefits and Limitations of Notcoin

Before you dive into any kind of crypto project, it’s absolutely essential to do your own extensive research. This is especially true with Notcoin, which may have seemed like the perfect play-to-earn game soon after its launch to those who didn’t analyze its tokenomics.

Some of the benefits that Notcoin offers are:

• Notcoin’s simplicity was one of the main factors that helped it onboard so many users.
• The project’s focus on building social engagement was essential in both its initial success and its pivot to a more sustainable model.
• Notcoin is typically considered a legitimate project, especially because of its backing from the TON Foundation and the endorsement from Telegram CEO Pavel Durov.
• Its close integration with Telegram makes it easily accessible for its millions of existing users.
• Notcoin’s new earning mechanics seem to still be relatively popular, even though they haven’t been able to reach the tap-to-earn game’s former glory.

Some of the concerns around Notcoin are:

• Token inflation is less of a problem now that the tap-to-earn game has ended, but players can still earn a significant amount of tokens through other games and engaging with the community.
• NOT still does not offer any significant utility other than price speculation.
• NOT’s token burning mechanism is too small to be meaningful.
• There are no other significant economic sinks or deflationary mechanisms to drive scarcity or fight inflation.
• Notcoin, like all other coins, could face significant regulatory scrutiny, especially regarding AML and KYC regulations.
• NOT’s price can be extremely volatile as it is a small altcoin.

The History of Notcoin Explained

Notcoin was created as a silly meme coin with the goal of riding the massive wave of viral hype in 2023 and 2024, marked by the skyrocketing prices of other meme coins like Pepe or Dogwifhat (WIF price data).

It officially launched on January 1, 2024, and the team claims that over 5 million players joined in the first week alone. Its userbase would reportedly reach 30 million two months later.

Support from The Open Network (TON) Foundation quickly legitimized Notcoin, and this legitimacy, combined with its simple tap-to-earn game and token incentives, made Notcoin a massive success immediately. The game was built on The Open Network (TON) blockchain, formerly known as the Telegram Open Network, which enables fast and cheap transactions.

On May 16, 2024, the NOT token was airdropped to all users, based on user activity and engagement, in what seemed like a fair token distribution. Roughly 80 billion NOT tokens were distributed in the event. Surprisingly, over 550,000 Notcoin players reportedly decided to donate their NOT tokens to Telegram and Pavel Durov.

Soon after the airdrop event, NOT was listed on major exchanges like Binance and MEXC.

What Are Notcoin’s Tokenomics?

While Notcoins only existed as in-game assets without real-world monetary value, the plan was always to launch a real NOT token on the TON blockchain. This was one of the major drivers of the project’s early success because it promised real tradable rewards in exchange for little effort.

The total supply of NOT is 102,719,221,714 tokens, with 78% allocated to ‘miners’ and NFT voucher holders, and the remaining 22% reserved for new users, traders, and future development. The project has burned just over 220 million tokens, roughly 0.2% of the total supply, mostly from unclaimed tokens from the tap-to-earn game.

Most of Notcoin’s token emissions are now released through ‘earnings missions,’ which allow users to engage with various other projects and communities. This system functions similarly to popular survey sites and crypto faucets, rewarding users with NOT for downloading apps, referring friends, engaging with social media accounts, and similar tasks.

What Is the Future of Notcoin?

Notcoin’s rapid rise to the peak of the crypto market and its slow but steady fall are both fascinating case studies. It pioneered a new way to onboard tens of millions of people into the crypto market by harnessing existing popular platforms, simple game mechanics, and token incentives.

The project’s downfall was much more predictable than its rise. Its simple mechanics eventually got boring for many users and flooded the market with coins that didn’t come with any meaningful utility.

Notcoin’s pivot towards a focus on community engagement and similar tasks may be able to help it pull off a full recovery, but that remains to be seen. Either way, it is absolutely essential to do your own extensive research and carefully consider the risks involved before diving into any crypto project.

FAQs

What is Notcoin?

Notcoin is a Web3 gaming project on the TON blockchain that attracted over 30 million players with a simple tap-to-earn game, but has transitioned into a larger ecosystem.[/Q1]

How Does Notcoin work?

Notcoin was first launched as a tap-to-earn game in Telegram, though this phase ended, and now tokens can only be earned through other activities like mini-games and staking.

Does Notcoin pay real money?

Notcoin users receive Notcoin tokens, which can be bought and sold on top crypto exchanges like Binance and MEXC. However, most users don’t make a substantial amount of money with Notcoin.

Is Notcoin real or fake?

Notcoin is a real platform that many users like to use. However, you should do your own in-depth research before you decide to invest in the project.

Julia Sakovich

Senior Editor, 1250 posts

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I’m a content writer and editor with extensive experience creating high-quality content across a range of industries. Currently, I serve as the Editor-in-Chief at Coinspeaker, where I lead content strategy, oversee editorial workflows, and ensure that every piece meets the highest standards. In this role, I collaborate closely with writers, researchers, and industry experts to deliver content that not only informs and educates but also sparks meaningful discussion around innovation.

Much of my work focuses on blockchain, cryptocurrencies, artificial intelligence, and software development, where I bring together editorial expertise, subject knowledge, and leadership experience to shape meaningful conversations about technology and its real-world impact. I’m particularly passionate about exploring how emerging technologies intersect with business, society, and everyday life. Whether I’m writing about decentralized finance, AI applications, or the latest in software development, my goal is always to make complex subjects accessible, relevant, and valuable to readers.

My academic background has played an important role in shaping my approach to content. I studied Intercultural Communications, PR, and Translation at Minsk State Linguistic University, and later pursued a Master’s degree in Economics and Management at the Belarusian State Economic University. The combination of linguistic, communication, and business training has given me the ability to translate complex technical and economic concepts into clear, engaging narratives for diverse audiences.

Over the years, my articles have been featured on a variety of platforms. In addition to contributing to company blogs—primarily for software development agencies—my work has appeared in well-regarded outlets such as SwissCognitive, HackerNoon, Tech Company News, and SmallBizClub, among others. 

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