Original Article:
Author: Guoguo
I. Project Overview
1. NOTCOIN
NOTCOIN is considered to be the first project in the Telegram ecosystem to “go viral.” Since the beginning of this year, NOTCOIN has rapidly spread with its built-in meme properties and brainless Tap-to-Earn gameplay. It gained 5 million users within a week of its launch, with a peak daily activity of over 6 million.
The market’s response to NOTCOIN after its coin issuance has also exceeded most people’s expectations. NOTCOIN’s token $NOT was listed on several major exchanges on May 16th and reached a new high of $0.021 on June 2nd. With a total supply of 10.27 billion $NOT and full circulation, its current FDV is approximately $1.99 billion, ranking it among the top 100 in terms of market capitalization.
2. UXLINK
Also built on Telegram, UXLINK is a social platform and infrastructure that focuses on socializing with acquaintances. Since its launch in April 2023, UXLINK has become the traffic king of the new generation of social products with its unique Link-to-Earn gameplay. According to the project’s official website, UXLINK has over 7 million registered users from 190 countries and regions, with 100,000 groups reaching over 8 million users. Recently, UXLINK completed the distribution of its first NFT phase, laying the foundation for the upcoming large-scale $UXLINK token airdrop and future layered operations.
II. Mass Adoption Methodology
As a buzzword in the Web3 world, Mass Adoption is a problem that almost all application layer startup teams cannot avoid, and it is also the fundamental reason why games, social media, and RWA are receiving attention.
The obstacles surrounding Mass Adoption can usually be classified into the following categories:
Lack of regulated channels for institutional funds to enter and exit
High entry barriers and lack of trust for ordinary users
Incomplete developer ecosystem
Inability of infrastructure to support large-scale applications
Lack of investment targets that meet the tastes of the general public
Regarding the first point, we have witnessed the approval of Bitcoin ETFs during this period, and the listing of Ethereum ETFs is imminent. The changes in the macro environment have made the call for “killer applications” in the Web3 space even stronger.
From a more intuitive perspective, the two core elements to achieve Mass Adoption are:
Lower entry and usage barriers, as well as smoother products
Positive externalities of user virality and ecosystem scalability
The following discussion will focus on the methodology of NOTCOIN and UXLINK in achieving Mass Adoption.
First, let’s summarize the differences between NOTCOIN and UXLINK in terms of Mass Adoption methodology.
1. Narrative Approach
1. NOTCOIN: Game + Meme
The game aspect is reflected in its gameplay mechanics
The meme aspect is reflected in the project’s name and blank whitepaper
It is essentially operated with a meme mindset, conducting traffic business in the attention economy
2. UXLINK: Social Platform + Infrastructure
Builds a new on-chain trust social relationship based on the existing relationship chain within the Telegram user pool
Built a layer of incentive infrastructure for new on-chain trust relationships within the Telegram user pool, rather than duplicating the wheel through Dapps externally
The stickiness and retention of social attributes are much higher than that of gaming or play-to-earn platforms. UXLINK enters through socializing, which allows for stronger stickiness in expanding other ecosystem collaborations and distribution capabilities.
2. User Onboarding
1. NOTCOIN: Tap-to-Earn
Integrated Telegram mini app for free and lightweight mining
Core gameplay is simple and direct, clicking on the screen to earn coins
Other gameplay includes team cooperation, points league, energy management, and referral rewards
2. UXLINK: Link-to-Earn
Guide users to share the invitation link to join the UXLink Telegram community, and invited users can earn UXUY points
Users can quickly build real-world acquaintance social graphs on-chain through Link-to-Earn trust links
Acquaintance social networks can easily spread from one-on-one to groups and serve as the foundation for network effects
3. Developer Integration
1. NOTCOIN: No external developers
Game code is open-source, allowing developers to audit its operation mechanism
No external developers have been introduced
2. UXLINK: Actively introducing external developers
A large amount of social relationship data precipitated at the Dapp layer is provided to developers through the API at the protocol layer
The AWC protocol can handle on-chain identity and asset relationships and assist AI models in behavior analysis and recommendations
4. Infrastructure
1. NOTCOIN: Telegram Mini App
2. UXLINK: Self-built infrastructure
RWS protocol, mainly solving the problem of acquaintance social graphs, can help developers achieve better recommendations and growth
AWC protocol, mainly solving the relationship between on-chain identity and assets, can help developers better understand users and assist AI models in behavior analysis and recommendations
5. Ecosystem Collaboration
1. NOTCOIN: Focused on the Telegram ecosystem
Received public support from TON Labs and TON Foundation, integrated into the Telegram wallet
Collaborated with Catizen (casual game) and TonGifts (red envelope application), among others
2. UXLINK: Extensive collaboration with DeFi, AI, GameFi, etc.
Collaborated with Binance, OKEx, and other Web3 wallets for UXUY point and NFT distribution
Launched the “UXLINK Social Ecosystem Alliance” to further expand the developer community and third-party project collaborations, with recent rapid revenue and profit growth
6. Incentive Mechanism
1. NOTCOIN: Fair distribution + full circulation
Abandoned ownership, 0% transaction tax, increased decentralization and fairness
Fully circulated upon launch
2. UXLINK: Layered operations + long-term incentives
Layered operations achieved through the issuance of four levels of community NFTs
Retained a significant proportion (65%) of incentives for the community
Active users can receive long-term incentives in UXLINK and other projects within the ecosystem
7. Token Use Cases
1. NOTCOIN: Meme coin with no utility for now
2. UXLINK: Clear token empowerment + deflationary expectations
Developers use $UXLINK to pay for protocol, data, and Dapp usage fees, with 85-90% allocated to community users
Users pay $UXLINK as transaction commissions (1%-3%) to obtain airdrops/investment opportunities
Partners pay $UXLINK to acquire customer acquisition assistance
Under the premise of limited supply, $UXLINK has clear and distinct use cases, which can form a positive deflationary model
III. On-Chain Insights
Due to the uncertainty of off-chain data sources and metrics, this section mainly compares the on-chain data of NOTCOIN and UXLINK, with NOTCOIN’s on-chain data on TON and UXLINK’s main data on Arbitrum/EVM.
1. Holders
Holders are a key indicator of the level of Mass Adoption and its potential, and a significant number of holders are the basis of consensus. Currently, cryptocurrencies with a significant number of holders rank high, forming a Lindy effect and gaining strong reputation within the community.
Pepe, currently ranked fourth in terms of holders, is a meme coin that is only surpassed by DOGE, SHIB, and MEME. Since May, when the number of holders first exceeded 100k, Pepe’s price has entered a good upward trend.
According to on-chain data from TON, NOTCOIN had approximately 220k $NOT holders before its TGE, steadily increasing after listing, and the total number of holders has now exceeded 1.6 million.
As UXLINK has not yet been launched, we estimate the future number of $UXLINK token holders based on on-chain points and NFT holdings. According to Dune data, UXLINK currently has over 4.4 million on-chain points and NFT holders, including over 1.5 million NFT holders. Only high-quality community users who meet certain point requirements can mint NFTs and become NFT holders, and NFT holders can receive airdrops 100%, so it can be assumed that the number of holders before UXLINK’s listing is around 1.5 million, which is almost the same scale as the post-listing $NOT holders. With the passage of time, the number of holders before TGE is expected to be higher, making it the largest airdrop in history in terms of coverage.
2. Active Users
We use the active holders of $NOT during its TGE and the first five days as an estimate of NOTCOIN’s daily active users, and it can be seen that the data shows a downward trend overall, gradually decreasing from 500k to 200k.
DappRadar data shows that UXLINK has over 500k daily active users, with 574k, 1 million, and 3.8 million in the past 24 hours, 7 days, and 30 days, respectively, which is consistent with the official data. Since UXLINK has established a strong Web3 social network among users and will continue to airdrop to active users after listing, it is reasonable to believe that UXLINK will maintain its user stickiness.
3. Token Distribution
According to NOTCOIN’s official X account, the total supply of $NOT tokens is 102,719,221,714. Of this, 80,219,221,714 tokens (78%) will be allocated to miners (Tap-to-Earn) and voucher (NFT) holders, and the remaining 22,500,000,000 tokens (22%) will be allocated to future ecosystem funds, development funds, etc.
According to the whitepaper, UXLINK will adopt a dual-token model, including a utility token ($UXUY points) and a governance token ($UXLINK).
$UXUY points are generated based on a Proof-of-Link (POL) mechanism, with no pre-minting, and users earn tokens through inviting others and contributing to the ecosystem. Rewards will gradually decrease based on time, network connections, and total network size.
The total supply of $UXLINK tokens is 1,000,000,000. Of this, 65% will be allocated to community contributors and developers (POW, Link-to-Earn, Build-to-Earn), and the remaining 35% will be allocated to investors, the team, and project development.
IV. Conclusion
Whether it is STEPN as a Mass Adoption example in the previous cycle or NOTCOIN and UXLINK, which have gained attention in this cycle, their impressive achievements in a short period of time are the result of designing their products with Mass Adoption as the starting point rather than being limited to a specific category. Specifically, STEPN and NOTCOIN are not game projects in the traditional sense, and UXLINK is far from being a Web3 version of a messaging product. Low barriers to entry, fun, and proper incentives are their common points and the Mass Adoption genes deeply embedded in their product DNA. We look forward to excellent products like NOTCOIN and UXLINK closing the gap between us and the mass adoption of Web3.
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