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TapSwap, one of the leading tap-to-earn platforms on Telegram, is preparing for the TAPS airdrop that will see its users convert their tokens into fiat currencies either in August or September.
TapSwap airdrop ahead
In an email statement to iNvezz, TapSwap said that it was working to launch the airdrop in the third quarter of this year. The first month of the quarter has already ended, meaning that this airdrop will either happen in September of August.
The developers have also announced more actions that will allow users to increase their TAPS allocation. As with other tap-to-earn platforms, users will make more tokens when they increase the number of taps.
The other activities that will increase their tokens are social media participation, game visit frequency, completing tasks, paid boosts, and making more progress in Tappy Town. Tappy Town is a recently launched feature that lets users to create virtual towns.
The developers are also working on the network’s tokenomics and are in negotiations with top layer-2 exchanges to list the token. Some of the most likely exchanges that will list TapSwap are OKX, Binance, and ByBit.
Tap-to-earn industry is growing
TapSwap is a major player in the new tap-to-earn industry, which has been facilitated by the popularity of Telegram, one of the fastest-growing social media networks in the industry with over 900 million users.
Tap-to-earn platforms lets users tap a button and make tokens, which they can then redeem by listing them in exchanges like Binance and OKX.
In addition to tapping, users maximize their tokens by sharing the app with their friends, subscribing to the YouTube channel, and following it in their social media networks like Telegram and Twitter (X).
These incentives explain why tap-to-earn networks have become highly popular in social media. For example, TapSwap’s YouTube channel has over 4 million subscribers while its X and Telegram platforms have millions of followers. Hamster Kombat, the biggest player in the tap-to-earn industry had the fastest-growing YouTube channel in the industry.
Most tap-to-earn networks have selected to use the TON Blockchain, which was launched by Telegram’s creators. It is known for its fast speeds and significantly lower costs than Ethereum.
Potential risks ahead
TapSwap and other tap-to-earn platforms are facing significant challenges. In the first place, data shows that their user engagement drops sharply after their airdrop. Besides, most of the token holders sell them and move to cash.
This partly explains why networks like TapSwap and Hamster Kombat are staying longer before being listed. By staying private for long, the developers can make more money through paid boosts and YouTube views. With their videos generating millions of views, these companies are making a fortune, a figure that will drop sharply after listing.
The other challenge is that most of the publicly traded tap-to-earn tokens are bot doing well as their demand evaporates. For example, Notcoin price dropped to $0.011 on Monday, down by over 62% from its highest point this year.
Its market cap has dropped to over $1.13 billion, down from a record high of over $2.5 billion, a big downfall for one of the biggest players in the tap-to-earn industry.
The same has happened with Pixelverse, whose PIXFI token is down by almost 90% from its listing price. Its market cap has dropped to just $25 million. Earlier this month, AvaCoin (AVCN) token listed and has also imploded.
While most cryptocurrencies have also dropped in this period, these ones have also dropped sharply because of the overall lack of demand and intensive selling by holders.
Lessons from move-to-earn and play-to-earn
The ongoing plunge of tap-to-earn tokens mirrors that of some of the hottest trends in the crypto industry. A few years ago, play-to-earn was the hottest theme in the crypto industry as platforms like Axie Infinity (AXS), Decentraland (MANA), and The Sandbox (SAND) boomed.
At their peak, these tokens were some of the biggest players in the industry with multi-billion dollar valuations. Today, their hype has died, their tokens has crashed, and the number of users in their platforms has dropped.
The same happened in the move-to-earn industry, which gives users new tokens for doing simple things like walking, running, and jogging. Users are then given new tokens, which they can redeem for fiat cash.
At their peak, move-to-earn platforms like Sweatcoin and StepN were firing on all cylinders and attracted millions of users. Today, Sweat Economy token has crashed, giving it a market cap of over $38 million. At its peak earlier this year, the token had a market cap of over $104 million.
Similarly, StepN’s market cap has plunged from a high of $2.3 billion to a low of $255 million as the number of users has stalled.
Other top themes like non-fungible tokens (NFT) that flourished a few years ago have lost momentum in the past few years. Therefore, there is a likelihood that the TapSwap price will also fall after listing.
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