Steve Yun: Driving Web3 Adoption Via Telegram

As an analyst with over two decades of experience in the tech and financial industries, I find the intersection of hamsters, crypto, and Iran’s military to be quite unexpected yet fascinating. The rapid growth of TON, fueled by simple yet engaging games like Hamster Kombat, underscores the power of decentralized networks and the potential they hold for mass adoption.

In the scorching summer of 2024, a viral online game named Hamster Kombat captured the attention of an estimated 300 million users worldwide. This mini-game’s popularity was so immense that it raised suspicions within Iran’s military leadership, led by Rear Admiral Habibollah Sayyari. He alleged that the Western powers were orchestrating this distraction to interfere with Iran’s elections, as part of a covert campaign against their government, which he termed the “soft war” on Iran’s administration.

Games like Hamster Kombat, Catizen, Notcoin, and other easy-tap games are played on The Open Network (TON), which is powered by Telegram’s blockchain. As the president of the TON Foundation, Steve Yun oversees its overall adoption. He’s making a strong impact as TON has seen rapid growth and now boasts a market capitalization exceeding $17 billion (at the time of writing), positioning it as the 13th largest cryptocurrency project in existence.

Many American Web3 supporters have yet to fully explore TON because some of its key features like a built-in Telegram crypto wallet were withheld due to regulatory problems. However, this situation may soon improve. Following SEC Chair Gary Gensler’s announcement that he will step down early next year, there has been speculation on social media that TON might make its way into the U.S. market.

This profile belongs to our selection for the CoinDesk’s Top Influencers in 2024. To view all the nominees for this year, click here.