On November 16, during The Gateway conference in Dubai, TON Foundation Director Jack Booth proposed a new ecosystem-wide competition designed to gamify the experience of using TON Blockchain – The Open League (TOL). You can rewatch Jack's presentation here.

TON Foundation initiated the community vote on this proposal on November 20 and received a staggering 99.5% support from TON holders, pushing plans to launch TOL into effect.

The Open League's inaugural Pilot season is live today, and in this article, you'll find everything you need to know to gain great rewards just by using TON projects in Telegram. Keep reading to learn how to participate and discover how The Open League will contribute to attracting and retaining 5 million new users to TON in the next 12 months.

The Open League

The Open League (TOL) is a competition for TON Ecosystem projects and users. Projects earn new and sticky users for TON, while users get rewarded for their activity. It is designed to increase user engagement across the ecosystem, help projects grow their user base, and develop more attractive and functional products ready for the massive audience on Telegram.

Like the English Premier League or similar sports leagues, TOL will run in six-month-long seasons, with the initial pilot season kicking off today, January 29th, 2024. Each season is split into four months of active participation for users to earn TON-backed incentives and a two-month blackout period.

Each season of the Open League is designed to onboard users by leveling up their Web3 skills and knowledge, guiding users with incentives to use TON projects. Each month of the season will include a new level of quests to complete for every project involved, starting off with easy introductory tasks and getting more difficult with each level. Quests for each level are aggregated into one master quest, with each participating project having 1 quest per level.

The Pilot Season

This pilot season will run for just 4 months, with 3 months of experimentation and 1 month blackout period to prepare for Season 1! Expect experiments and changes; no parameter, mechanism, or feature is set in stone. Constant testing and changes will help The Open League deliver on the goal of more active and sticky users for TON.

Pilot Season Level 1 starts today and includes five projects already boasting over 26 million Monthly active users: Wallet, tApps Center, Notcoin, and GetGems.

These projects will provide a simple, incentivized onboarding experience to Web3 with use cases anyone can enjoy. tApps Center will provide a familiar way of exploring all the applications built on TON and Telegram. Notcoin will give users their first meme-coin with its simple tap-to-earn minting mechanism. GetGems will help users understand and own their first collectibles, providing an easy on-chain experience. Finally, Fanton will help users get familiar with connecting their wallets in Telegram, topping up, and earning through an easy-to-use football fantasy game.

Pilot Reward System

The Open League's reward system is based on 1 major concept: incentivizing only real and active users. Over time, the system should weed out fake accounts and bots to make sure rewards are distributed to real people.

There are 4 systems at work here:

1. Soul-Bound Tokens (SBTs)
2. Experience Points (XP)
3. The XP Lottery
4. Referrals

Soulbound Tokens (SBTs)

Level 1 of the Pilot Season starts with Soul Bound Tokens (SBTs). SBTs are non-transferable, so you can't sell them; they are awarded for completion of each quest.

Experience Points (XP)

At Level 2, we will introduce Experience Points (XP). XPs are off-chain points backed by TON. XPs can be exchanged for TON anytime, but the exchange rate is time-based, so the longer you hold your XP, the more they are worth until the final day of Season 2, where each XP will be worth 1 TON.

The XP Lottery

XP will be awarded to users in a weekly lottery. Each SBT acts as a lottery ticket, with some SBTs worth more than 1 entry; the more quests you complete, the higher your chance of winning a share of the weekly prize pool. Each level the SBTs needed to qualify for the lottery will be reset, giving everyone a fair chance to win.

Referrals

Viral mechanics are a key feature of TON projects in Telegram. Users who refer their friends to join the quests will earn Influencer SBTs, awarding them additional lottery entries and increasing their chance of winning the weekly prize.

SBTs and Experience Points (XP) together build your on-chain reputation. In time, this on-chain reputation will help any project on TON airdrop to users they know are loyal, valuable, sticky, and active. So work hard to build a reputation that deserves reward because this is just the start, and the very best users will earn for years to come.

How to Participate in the Pilot

It's simple to get started, but before you start, head to TON Society and read the intro to The Open League.

1. Open the Level 1 Quest here
2. Complete each project's quest
3. Claim your SBT at the end of each quest
4. Track your SBTs in your TON Society profile

NB: There is a small blockchain transaction fee to mint an SBT - currently 0.07 TON, so make sure you have TON in your wallet when you try to claim, or it won't work.

You must complete Level 1 to qualify for Level 2, so you have a month. Have fun, learn about TON, and enjoy The Open League. A world of rewards and reputation awaits every pilot who completes the training.