The viral clicker game Notcoin “just solved the issue” of bringing Telegram users into crypto, according to Sasha Plotvinov, founder of Open Builders, the team behind the game. 

In January, the crypto game broke records by having 20 million sign-ups within 26 days of its release. Compared to another popular blockchain-based game called Axie Infinity, which had 2.78 million monthly active users at its peak in 2022, Notcoin showed that it’s possible to onboard millions of users into crypto through gaming.

In a Cointelegraph interview at the Token2049 event, Plotvinov shared the story behind the game, which hit about 30 million users in March. The executive said the original goal was to just introduce crypto to users of the Telegram messaging app. He explained:

“It just solved the issue. Or maybe, the task that we all had on how to bring users from Telegram to crypto. So basically, that was the original goal.”

The executive explained that his team spent years looking at Telegram’s massive user base and the TON blockchain, which had “almost zero action but had really good technology.”

After going through the process, the team decided to go with the approach of simplifying the start of the onboarding process. Plotvinov explained:

“At some point you just, you know, come to the idea. All right. So we just need to remove all the roadblocks for the beginning. Then, we need to give something to users so they have the motivation to go for all this Web3.”

The Notcoin co-creator said it became a very “social thing,” with interactions, competitions, leaderboards and squads. “It’s very, very important for such a game. And within Telegram, it’s really easy to basically onboard users, invite users,” he added.

Related: New Telegram mini-apps will be so convenient users won’t know it’s crypto

Plotvinov said this was how the game became a social phenomenon, explaining that 53,000 communities competed with each other in an attempt to climb to the highest league.

The executive also explained that the team did not have a marketing budget. Everything happened “organically,” he explained, adding:

“94% of Notcoiners came from referrals. People invited other people. We call them friends. You have friends, you just invite them and you play together, and you can see how they’re progressing.”

Plotvinov also explained that the Notcoin project moved on from the common approach where projects attempted to convince users that it had value. “We just decided, all right, so why not reverse it and think more like ‘we’re not trying to convince you, it’s probably nothing,’ you know?”

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