TELEGRAM IS LOSING THE MINIAPPS BATTLE

Summary from the TLDR Crypto newsletter

Despite having a billion users and the TON blockchain, Telegram is losing the miniapps battle to Farcaster due to systemic issues including millions of botted users, copy-paste projects with no real impact, and a February 2025 mandate requiring all miniapps to integrate TON blockchain, which caused significant developer backlash. A report revealed TON's declining ecosystem metrics, while builders are increasingly migrating to Farcaster which offers real users instead of bot armies, quick iteration cycles, and multi-chain support from Solana, Celo, and Monad. Farcaster is prioritizing sustainable ecosystem development over quick wins.