What do hamsters, crypto and Iran’s military have in common? At one point in the summer of 2024, the Telegram “mini-game” Hamster Kombat was so popular — reportedly attracting 300 million users — that Iran Rear Admiral Habibollah Sayyari accused the West of trying to disrupt elections by distracting Iranian voters with the game, as part of the “soft war” on Iran’s government.
Hamster Kombat, Catizen, Notcoin and other simple tap-tap-tap games are played on Telegram’s blockchain-powered TON, aka The Open Network. As the president of the TON Foundation, Steve Yun is responsible for overseeing overall TON adoption. He’s off to a strong start, as TON has exploded in growth and now has a market cap of over $17 billion (as of this writing), making it the 13th largest project in all of crypto.
Many Web3-enthusiasts in the U.S. haven’t fully engaged with TON, as the platform has withheld certain features such as a Telegram native crypto wallet due to regulatory issues. But that will likely soon change. After SEC Chair Gary Gensler announced he planned to resign early next year, Yun, tweeted “TON is going to the U.S.”
This profile is part of CoinDesk’s Most Influential 2024 package. For all of this year’s nominees, click here.