The much-anticipated Telegram click-to-earn game Catizen has finally gone live, offering users a chance to participate in its exciting first season. After a two-month delay from the initially planned launch, the project has successfully distributed 150 million tokens to eligible participants, representing 15% of the total 1 billion CATI token supply. Starting Friday morning, users can now trade the CATI token, which operates on the TON Blockchain, on major centralized exchanges including Binance, Bybit, and Bitget. The team also confirmed that deposits to non-custodial wallets were opened on Thursday, while token distributions to qualifying participants began early Friday morning.
This distribution is part of a broader allocation of 340 million CATI tokens designated for airdrops. Another 190 million tokens will be distributed in upcoming quarterly airdrop campaigns. Pluto Studio, the developers behind Catizen, began the airdrop process on September 14, allowing players to claim their tokens and participate in the game ahead of the official launch.
Discounted CATI Token Sales Spark Speculation
However, not everything has gone smoothly. Some Catizen players expressed concerns about token allocation changes during the airdrop process. Initially, a larger percentage of the token supply was allocated to airdrops, but shortly before the airdrop, the team shifted 9% of the total supply to Binance Launchpool. This decision, combined with certain eligibility criteria, has sparked some criticism from the player community.
Of the total CATI supply, 5% has been set aside for liquidity purposes, while the remaining portions are allocated as follows: 15% to the treasury, 20% to the development team, 10% to investors, and 7% to advisors. These allocations are subject to a 12-month cliff and a 48-month linear release schedule, ensuring gradual token circulation in the market.
Telegram Games Fuel TON Blockchain’s Explosive Growth
With the explosive rise in Telegram-based games, such as Catizen, the TON Blockchain has experienced significant growth in recent months. Telegram’s mini-app ecosystem, which allows users to access lightweight web-based applications directly within the platform, has seen rapid adoption. Turkish NY Radio reports that millions of users have flocked to these games, hoping to earn blockchain-based tokens. Other popular games on the platform include Hamster Kombat, Notcoin, and Yescoin.
Leveraging this momentum, Telegram launched a mini-app marketplace in July, followed by an in-app browser supporting Web3 projects. According to Turkish NY Radio, the TON Blockchain now boasts a user base of over 900 million and supports more than 1,150 crypto projects. Its daily transaction volume has skyrocketed from 100,000 to 1.2 million in the last year, an impressive 12-fold increase. Bitget reports that the blockchain’s Total Value Locked (TVL) stands at $350 million, with decentralized exchange (DEX) volume surging 1,800% in less than six months. Telegram CEO Pavel Durov also shared that revenue from in-app purchases has exceeded $16 million as of July.
