.png)
If you have been around crypto for a while, you probably remember the energy of 2020 when DeFi Summer took over timelines, group chats, and trading forums. It was the season when people realised that finance could happen entirely on-chain, without banks or middlemen, and with open access to anyone who knew how to connect a wallet. That moment changed the game, but it also came with a hidden limitation. The innovation was happening on Ethereum, yet getting the average person to even try a dApp meant sending them through a maze of tutorials, browser extensions, and token bridges.
Now in 2025, something different is happening. DeFi is no longer locked inside niche websites and specialised wallets. It is moving to the place where more than one billion people already spend their time, talk with friends, follow communities, and trade alpha. That place is Telegram. And Telegram Mini Apps are the new home of DeFi.
Telegram Mini Apps don’t need a separate download, it is not a clunky browser window, and it’s not a “bookmark now/ maybe try later” webpage. It is an interactive experience that opens instantly inside the chat you are already in. You tap a link, a button, or even a message from a bot, and you are inside a product that can look and feel like a game, a shop, or, in our world, a full DeFi protocol. All without leaving Telegram.
For the community, this means something powerful. DeFi is no longer an external destination that you have to find, trust, and learn to use. It is becoming part of the spaces where your conversations already happen.
What exactly is a Telegram Mini App?
A Telegram Mini App is a lightweight web application that runs directly inside Telegram. It’s not an app store download, it’s not a browser tab, it’s a full interactive experience that lives in the same interface where people already spend hours every day.
Under the hood, Mini Apps use Telegram’s WebApp API, allowing developers to build in JavaScript/HTML while tapping into Telegram’s UI and user identity layer. That means you can:
- Launch instantly from a Telegram chat or channel
- Use the user’s existing Telegram identity for onboarding
- Embed native payments and interactions without leaving the app
In short, Mini Apps make experiences as easy to launch as sending a message.
Where does TON fit in?
TON is the exclusive blockchain of Telegram, built to serve its one billion–plus user base with fast, scalable, and native crypto rails. Every time a Mini App wants to enable an on-chain action, whether that’s sending payments, managing digital assets, or unlocking more advanced DeFi, it relies on TON as its backend.
For the community, that means Mini Apps aren’t just lightweight web apps sitting inside Telegram. They are plugged into a blockchain that is purpose-built for scale, speed, and seamless user flows. Instead of needing to bridge out or juggle multiple wallets, TON provides Telegram users with a direct path to crypto-native features right where their conversations already happen.
Why This Matters for Web3
Historically, onboarding into a Web3 dApp meant:
- Finding the app in the first place
- Downloading or connecting a wallet
- Bridging assets or buying crypto
- Learning how the dApp works
Every one of those steps creates fiction for users. With a Mini App, the entire flow collapses:
- The user is already in Telegram
- They can start interacting instantly
- Users need to create a wallet and sign transactions using TON wallet.
For Ethereum-based projects, this is a breakthrough in distribution. You’re not fighting for attention in app stores or paid ads, you’re distributing directly to communities that already exist.
Success Stories
Telegram Mini Apps like Catizen and Hamster Kombat have achieved massive user growth, with tens of millions of players and significant daily engagement. They have successfully leveraged Telegram's platform to onboard millions of people into the Web3 and blockchain space through simple, addictive "tap-to-earn" games and airdrop rewards.
The TAC Angle: Telegram Mini Apps Meet EVM DeFi
Here’s the missing link. While Telegram is built around TON as its native chain, Ethereum DeFi has the largest library of proven protocols, liquidity, and developer tooling. TAC is the infrastructure layer that connects the two worlds.
TAC is a purpose-built Layer 1 chain (CosmosEVM) that enables Ethereum-based dApps to run their onchain logic exactly as-is while presenting a Telegram Mini App frontend via the TON Adapter. This lets you:
- Keep your Solidity code and EVM infrastructure
- Tap into Telegram’s user base without rewriting your dApp for TON’s TVM
- Offer DeFi actions, swaps, lending, staking, directly inside Telegram
In other words: TAC turns Ethereum-native dApps into Hybrid dApps, EVM under the hood, Telegram-native in the user’s hands.
The Numbers That Make This Real
- 1B+ Telegram monthly active users
- TAC mainnet launched with over $800M from the Summoning liquidity campaign across BTC, ETH, and stablecoins
- Major DeFi protocols like Curve, Morpho, Euler, and Zerolend are already building for TAC Mini Apps
- TAC’s TVL grew from $40M in July 2025 to $142M by mid-August.
Why You Should Care (Now)
For developers: This is a chance to move beyond “if you build it, they will come” and into embedded distribution. Your dApp lives where users already are.
For users: It’s the end of complex onboarding. DeFi is a chat message away.
For the ecosystem: Mini Apps are the Trojan Horse that can bring the next 100M users into crypto, without them even knowing they’ve crossed the line into Web3.
TAC is making sure Ethereum devs are the ones leading that wave.
