Welcome to another exciting episode of TON Innovators, where we celebrate the trailblazers and visionaries within the TON Ecosystem. Today, we’re tapping into the world of Yescoin, a viral swipe game that recently came 2nd in The Open League and is becoming one of the fastest-growing Telegram apps. Yescoin is another example of a fun and engaging way to interact with blockchain technology while potentially earning rewards.

Today, we sit down with the team behind the real Yescoin to get the inside scoop on what makes their project stand out, how they are navigating the challenges, and what exciting developments lie ahead. Let’s dive into the conversation!

Yescoin! Welcome to TON Innovators! Can you start by giving us a brief overview of your project and what inspired you to pioneer a swipe game on Telegram?

Yescoin is a casual Web3 game on Telegram, where players can collect gold coins by swiping their fingers. It allows users to onboard onto Web3 in a fun and seamless way, which significantly lowers the barrier to entry, thus becoming a bridge between Web2 and Web3.

All of our team members are avid Telegram users, and we've been thinking about the creation of an app for crypto mass adoption on this platform ever since Telegram's launch of Mini Apps in 2023.

Our choice of swiping as the core interaction for our product had two inspirations. Steve Jobs first created the idea of unlocking your phone by swiping in 2007, which made us realize that swiping is the most natural way for users to interact with mobile devices. Also, the classic game Fruit Ninja achieved billions of downloads using simple but addictive swiping gameplay, eventually becoming a global phenomenon.

In just over a month, our fun and easy gameplay has attracted over 18 million players and facilitated over 6 million users to connect their crypto wallets. Everything has happened sp fast. Sometimes even we ourselves can't believe we really did it! But one thing is for sure: We all need to be swiping our way to Web3.

You guys came 2nd in The Open League – that’s a big achievement. How did you achieve such rapid success?

Firstly, we'd like to thank TON Foundation. Actually, when we submitted our application, The Open League was set to officially start the very next day. However, we were still unsure about a lot of the details, and even debated whether we should wait to participate in the next round. But we decided to give it a shot and reached out to The Open League staff for help. To our great relief, they patiently explained the rules and provided us with extensive guidance, which made us feel truly welcome.

At that time, we were faced with a major challenge of helping millions of users to create and connect their wallets, which made us quite nervous yet also very excited. With user experience as our first priority, our team worked 24/7, tirelessly iterating and improving. To ensure our users' asset security and their smooth experience, we tested four beta versions before official launch. Although we only participated for one week with a middling ranking, our true satisfaction comes from helping millions of users seamlessly create and connect their wallets. In the first hour, as we watched 220,000 users connect their wallets and complete online interactions, the entire team was thrilled. At that moment, we saw the potential for mass adoption to become real. All this should largely be owed to Telegram's immense user base and strong support for developers.

Lowering user barriers and enhancing user experience is our shared mission. We hope more talented developers will join The Open League in the future, enriching the TON Ecosystem together.

Can you explain how the game mechanics work? How do players earn Yescoins, and what kind of tasks can they complete, and have you got any special strategies or tips for new players?

The basic gameplay of Yescoin is very straightforward - simply by swiping your fingers on your cellphone screen, you can collect gold Yescoin coins. During the game, you can earn more gold coins by opening treasure chests and purchasing various items, such as the YesPac robot. You can also do so by completing various tasks, including daily tasks, upgraded tasks, and event tasks.

For example, we recently launched a Daily Crypto Learning Task where users can learn about blockchain everyday and complete a check-in to open a YesBox, earning both on-chain and off-chain rewards. Other daily tasks include inviting friends to join, forming squads, following Yescoin on social media, and so on. Moreover, completing each upgraded task will earn players extra gold coin rewards, including connecting wallets and upgrading your accounts.

Of course, our occasional event tasks are great opportunities to win surprise rewards. So make sure you don't miss out on our special events, holiday activities, creative challenges, and more.

For new players, we recommend completing daily tasks and inviting more friends to join. This will help them quickly accumulate their first Yescoins while getting familiar with the game mechanics. We also strongly encourage new players to participate in our special event tasks, such as limited-time missions and content competitions. These community events allow players to showcase their talents, win special rewards, and also quickly immerse themselves into the community and connect with Yescoiners from around the world.

Tell us about your community. Have there been any particularly fun, memorable or meme-able moments among Yescoiners?

Since the very first day of our launch, Yescoin has been experiencing explosive growth. Even with our years of development experience, we were amazed by Telegram's viral mechanics.

The team has been busy managing the pressure of a massive influx of users on our servers, without much time spent on brand promotion or business development. We decided to prioritize our community above all else, and every team member has dedicated time to listening to first-hand community feedback, iterating products, and optimizing user experience. In the meantime, our founder has always reminded us to listen to the unheard voices. Every week, we engage in in-depth one-on-one conversations with dozens of Yescoiners, to discover their genuine needs.

Perhaps it was because of our prompt responses and sincere communications with our community that more and more Yescoiners voluntarily started to promote Yescoin on social media, which eventually inspired us to launch the community content contest.

We are also actively discussing the long-term cultural development of the Yescoin community. Our inbox has received thousands of creative suggestions and personal stories involving Yescoin.

We received a rap song about Yescoin from a 16-year-old French boy and an oil painting dedicated to Yescoin from a Turkish artist. One Yescoiner shared a story about having a competition with a local team about who could invite more Yescoin players, while another talked about how they celebrated a birthday with a group of Yescoiners they had never met before. We even heard from a Yescoiner who taught her 85-year-old grandfather to swipe for coins.

There are countless creative ideas and stories, which we plan to compile into a collection to share with the community in the future, showing how Yescoin has helped create real human stories and how these narratives have in turn become part of the Yescoin story itself.

Optimism is a recurring theme mentioned by many Yescoiners. It appears all the time in the content and stories we receive, inspiring us to keep pushing forward. We hope more Yescoiners will use their creativity and stories to spread this optimistic spirit to more people.

Last but not least, we want to proudly talk about the Yescoiner community. In just over a month, over 18 million people from more than 200 countries and regions, despite their differences in languages, cultures, or identities, have come together because of Yescoin. This is incredible power, and also the most valuable asset of Yescoin.

In June, we'll officially launch the Global Yescoin Ambassador Program to invite more Yescoiners to co-build our community, creating an even greater story.

With the success of Telegram Mini Apps, more and more scams are popping. It seems there are multiple ‘Yescoin’ projects too. Can you tell us what measures have you taken to protect your community?

When we first started, our user base was growing very fast. However, soon after, multiple 'Yescoin' imitators appeared in the market. Initially, we didn't pay much attention, but as time went on, we encountered some truly challenging moments— our trademark and even our logo were maliciously registered by others, our backend servers were constantly under DOS attacks, and misleading rumors, phishing attempts, and fake Yescoin token announcements were muddying the waters.

Despite these challenges, we always prioritized our users and their asset security. We spent a considerable amount of time repairing servers to ensure everything is on track. We promptly clarified every suspicious piece of information on our Telegram channel and official Twitter.

We are immensely grateful for the trust and support from every Yescoiner, who stood by us during the hardest times. Please follow our official Twitter and Telegram. Asset-related announcements should be considered valid only if they were official communications.

We also discovered the presence of malicious bot farms in our app. Thanks to our unique swipe-based interaction and the relentless efforts of our technical team, we have largely prevented such malicious activities. But of course this is still an ongoing battle.

Defending the fairness of everyone in our community is our most important duty. We firmly believe that only by enhancing product experience, maintaining fairness, and valuing our community can we become the true Yescoin in the hearts of our users.

The name Yescoin originated from our team's idea in 2023 of a product that can bring large-scale users into Web3. We wanted a name that the world could immediately remember, and so we had three options: Seedcoin, Onecoin, and Yescoin. For various reasons, this product didn't enter the market back then. However, thanks to the emergence of Telegram bots, we decided to bring this idea to life and eventually named it Yescoin (we didn't overthink it back then).

We must admit there was an element of luck involved, as the novelty and huge success of Notcoin brought us quite a lot of extra attention. We extend our highest respect to the pioneer and its zero to one innovation. Standing on the shoulders of giants, we see a broader landscape full of possibilities. We can't help but think of the Dao in Eastern Philosophy, where mutual support leads to mutual success. We felt inspired to quicken our paces, hoping that one day YES and NOT will complement each other like 'Tai Chi' and become integral parts of the Telegram and TON Ecosystem.

What role does TON Blockchain and Telegram play in Yescoin? How does it enhance the game and user experience?

Telegram Mini Apps can be used without having to install anything, and Wallet and TON Space provide a seamless connection experience. These features are the crucial backbone of Yescoin's viral growth and the future large-scale onboarding from Web2 to Web3.

In the meantime, numerous Telegram communities and channels have become the main venues for users to share and interact with each other. Telegram's diverse user base, global distribution, high user engagement, and long online duration have greatly facilitated the promotion of our product.

Telegram is the core platform for Yescoin's growth. Thanks to the great performance of TON Blockchain, we are confident in our ability to onboard hundreds of millions of users into Web3.

Can you share any upcoming features or events that Yescoin players can look forward to in the near future?

During this month's rapid growth, our entire team has been working around the clock to create a cool and enhanced user onboarding system called the Three-Stage Rocket Plan, for rich on-chain and off-chain rewards and infrastructure preparation for the upcoming airdrops. It will be launched soon.

Also, we are planning a series of Summer Carnival-themed events with super surprises.

Additionally, we are currently brainstorming for the second half of the year. In the future, a boat named Yescoin will sail to ports in Europe, Africa, Asia, Oceania, and the Americas to meet with more Yescoiners and host events, promoting our ultimate onboarding mission. The plan is still being developed, and we welcome interested partners or sponsors to contact us.

Still, it's just the beginning. Please don't hesitate to join Yescoin. We have some exciting partnerships and major announcements coming soon - but allow us to keep them under wraps for now. More details will be announced on our official Twitter and Telegram channel!

You have 30 seconds to convince someone in an elevator to play Yescoin – what do you say?

Do you want to earn coins by simply swiping your fingers? Join Yescoin now!

Do you want to receive the luckiest prizes this summer? Join Yescoin now!

Do you want to play the hottest Web3 game with friends from around the world? Join Yescoin now!

Do you want to co-build the future most inspiring community in crypto history? Join Yescoin now!