At this year's TOKEN2049, everyone remembered a Web3 ride-hailing app called TADA mini.
Written by: Zhou Zhou, Foresight News
"Did you pay for my ride with Crypto?"
When Singaporean driver Kay learned that the reporter was using cryptocurrency to pay for the ride, he was quite surprised, as Kay, as the driver, still received Singapore's fiat currency.
During the Token 2049 event in Singapore, a ride-hailing app called TADA mini suddenly became popular.
Word of mouth spread rapidly, and almost overnight, Web3 practitioners from around the world attending the conference in Singapore switched from using Grab to TADA mini for their rides. Foresight News found that at the ride-hailing pick-up points of various conference venues, many attendees opened Telegram, clicked on TADA mini, and began their first ride paid for with cryptocurrency.
According to official news from TADA, considering multiple passengers sharing a ride, the number of people using Crypto to pay for rides during TOKEN 2049 was about 10,000.
Meanwhile, while these Web3 practitioners were passionately discussing the reasons behind the sudden popularity of this product, Singaporean drivers and the general public hardly felt any change. Of course, they were also unaware of the significant changes happening behind TADA's attempts, supported by Telegram and its Web3 ecosystem—the TON chain.
A Unique Web3 Experiment
"Do you see that building? It's over twenty stories tall, and it's the headquarters of Grab, but TADA is said to have only about 20 people." Singaporean driver Kay told Foresight News.
In Singapore's ride-hailing industry, the leading app Grab occupies over twenty floors, while the second-place TADA is perceived by local drivers as just a small team of about 20 people. In fact, according to Foresight News, TADA currently has over 300 employees across seven countries and more than 300,000 drivers. In 2024, TADA mini will gradually provide services in four countries, including Vietnam, Cambodia, and Thailand. Additionally, Hong Kong will be a key development area for TADA mini in the future.
In the eyes of HashKey Chain's head Kay, TADA's founder Kay, who shares her name, is an entrepreneur well-versed in Crypto.
"At the KBW conference in Korea, we had a deep conversation, and he mentioned that there would be a big move coming, which turned out to be this." Kay said.
HashKey's Kay had been paying attention to TADA's founder Kay for a long time; she noticed this unique company while participating in the listing review work at Bybit. At that time, TADA was not well-known in the Crypto industry, and no one realized that suddenly an "alternative company" was excelling in Crypto.
"A small team has its advantages; they have the motivation, drive, and courage to embrace the new ecosystem," Singaporean driver Kay said. For TADA, Singapore has many tourists and attendees from around the world. Although there are still few passengers using crypto payments now, as cryptocurrency becomes more popular, this user segment could become important for TADA.
As for Grab, as the leader in Singapore's ride-hailing industry, it has been paying attention to Crypto for a long time and has integrated Crypto features into its products. However, this feature was the same a year ago as it is now—unusable and merely decorative.
Driver Kay is a local Singaporean of Teochew descent, and his grandfather's generation settled in Singapore. Kay told me that he now primarily uses Grab and TADA for rides in Singapore, with Grab dominating most of the local ride-hailing market.
When asked which of the two products is more comfortable to use, Kay said, "I feel TADA gives me more freedom because we have the freedom not to accept rides, but Grab strictly controls driver behavior; you must accept rides, or else you'll be penalized."
Grab's monopoly has trapped Singaporean drivers in an algorithm.
Kay bluntly stated, "Just like the early development process of Didi and Kuaidi in China, Grab and Uber also engaged in fierce competition, and ultimately Grab, backed by the Singapore government as an investor, acquired Uber and dominated the Singapore market."
"In the game with Grab, drivers gradually lost their voice, and Grab's commission fees have risen from 20% to 25%." In contrast, TADA charges only $1 regardless of how far the user goes, whether they place an order or cancel it.
When Kay heard that the reporter was using Crypto to pay for the ride, he was very surprised because Kay, as the driver, still received Singapore dollars.
Behind TADA, Telegram's Two "Big Weapons"
The successful entry of TADA into crypto payments is backed by the dramatic changes happening within the Telegram ecosystem.
"Telegram is fully replicating WeChat; it's said that Telegram's CEO Durov visited Zhang Xiaolong a long time ago and has been continuously monitoring WeChat's development. The launch of mini-programs on Telegram was also inspired by WeChat," Akio said.
Akio was once the head of Tencent's blockchain and is now starting a business in the TON ecosystem, founding Televerse. Most of their team members are former Tencent employees. Akio told me that there are quite a few former Tencent employees starting businesses on the TON chain. Some were directly recruited into the Telegram ecosystem as employees, responsible for replicating WeChat's mini-program experience on Telegram.
What does Telegram want to do? Two things: the first is to create mini-programs, and the second is to develop TON (a cryptocurrency payment system comparable to WeChat Pay).
In simple terms, Telegram was previously just a pure social software. Now it aims to integrate "mini-programs" and "crypto payments" into Telegram, transforming it into a global version of WeChat.
TADA successfully created a "Web3 ride-hailing app" against this backdrop. According to Foresight News, TADA's attempt may have had a very low cost.
The crypto contract platform KiloEx told Foresight News: "Implementing a Telegram Mini App version of the website only takes a few days and doesn't require hiring an additional employee. However, if you want to create a mobile app, you need to hire two more employees, which increases costs significantly for a startup, along with additional promotional costs."
KiloEx is a perpetual contract DEX on the opBNB Chain and Manta Pacific, supported by institutions such as Binance Labs, Foresight Ventures, and Manta Foundation. KiloEx's Mini APP just launched on the UXUY wallet's mini-program on Telegram, allowing users to conveniently experience contract products directly on their mobile devices. According to Foresight News observations, there have been few on-chain contract platforms in the crypto industry entering the mobile space, but with the emergence of Telegram, this situation may soon change.
According to Foresight News observations, there have been few on-chain contract platforms in the crypto industry entering the mobile space, but with the emergence of Telegram, this situation may soon change.
Benjamin told Foresight News that the company will not directly enter the TON chain at this stage but is willing to "mobilize" its platform, providing users with more convenient options and richer experiences.
This is also an observation made by Foresight News reporters during TOKEN2049: Web3 is developing towards "mobilization," with many public chain startup projects considering or already creating a version of their platform on Telegram mini-programs. This approach does not affect their existing rights on public chains, allows crypto users to experience the convenience of mobile operations, and expands potential user groups, achieving multiple goals with one effort.
Telegram has pointed out a new direction for the large-scale implementation of Web3.
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