TON Foundation VP: Telegram NFT IP Is Only “V0” — Insights on Snoop Dogg’s Drop (TON of Alpha Interview)

 

The TON ecosystem is rapidly becoming one of Web3’s hottest frontiers, fueled by Telegram’s 1 billion users and a booming collectibles market.

In the first episode of TON of Alpha, host Mr. Z sits down with Jack Booth, VP of IP Strategy at TON Foundation — the mastermind behind bringing Pudgy Penguins, Azuki, BAYC, and Snoop Dogg to TON.

In this exclusive interview, Jack unveils TON’s latest U.S. expansion strategy, explains why gifts and stickers are “just V0,” and shares how TON is partnering with major IPs to build long-term Web3 brand strategies. He also teases Snoop Dogg’s upcoming TON activation — revealed just 24 hours before the official launch of his gifts collection.

TON of Alpha (@TONofAlpha) is the open show connecting institutions and builders to the billion-user ecosystem, powered by TONX and KTON — early TON miners since 2021.

Host: Mr. Z (@69420MrZ) · Guest: Jack Booth (@jbfxdotme)

 

Key Takeaways:

• Stickers and gifts are only the starting point — major IPs are already planning to expand into games and long-term token economies.

• The real success of NFTs and gifts lies in creating new forms of social identity and expression inside Telegram.

• TON’s IP strategy is shifting from short-term hype to long-term, value-driven growth, prioritizing sustainability and authentic community engagement.

• Exclusive details on Snoop Dogg’s upcoming activation on TON — a surprise that could reshape mainstream entry into the ecosystem.

• A forward-looking vision for how games, collectibles, and tokens can work together to build self-sustaining, revenue-backed ecosystems.

TON of Alpha EP1: Full Interview Transcript

Mr. Z:

Hello, ladies and gents. It’s your host, Mr. Z here. Welcome to the first-ever episode of TON of Alpha, where we delve into the TON and Telegram ecosystem.

Today, I’m extremely excited because we have the VP of IP Strategy at TON Foundation, Mr. Jack Booth. 

Jack is the man behind bringing the biggest Web3 brands — from Pudgy Penguins, Azuki, and BAYC to Snoop Dogg — into the TON universe. He’s here to help us unpack the sticker-fueled bull market, the IP Super Cycle, and where the next 500 million users are coming from.

Jack, welcome to the show. Let’s give him some applause!

Jack Booth:

Thank you very much. What an intro. I love the energy. It’s fantastic to be here.

Why NFTs and Stickers Are Rising on TON

Mr. Z:

So, today’s topic. What is actually going on with TON NFTs? TG Gifts and stickers are posting all-time highs. Is this just hype? Or are we seeing real user behavior? And why is this model working?

Jack Booth:

Let me start with the story of how this all started. As many people know, the TON Foundation has been focused on gaming for quite a while. Our first major bull run last year happened because of gaming projects.

But then we realized these growth loops — where people bring in traffic, promise the world, and don’t deliver real token utility — aren’t sustainable.

So we started to think: what could be the alternative strategy? How do we create more sustainable games? And how do we enter the Western market? Telegram has a reputation in the West; it’s not the most above-board platform. So, you need to be a trusted entity to enter successfully.

These two goals — building a sustainable token system and entering the West — came together with the idea that existing IPs with engaged audiences could help us.

We started to build this strategy: how do we activate IP? Our first idea was gaming — to get IPs to do branded games on Telegram. But that’s a big lift, especially on a new platform. They often want to know: “What’s the revenue potential?”

Then the sticker store came along, and stickers started to be sold on TON. Then gifts came along. Gifts created this whole market on Telegram — people interested in collectible assets they can wear and use in chats, bios, and channels.

Initially, we had mini-games, but it was hard to get IPs excited about building those. Once stickers and gifts appeared, they became the perfect entry point — a lower-risk, monetizable activation that looks and feels less risky than a brand token.

Brands can’t launch meme coins anymore because they just get sold, and they get massive criticism. So it looks much more “risk-off” for these big IPs to launch Telegram stickers. People can use them, people love them, and they have immediate utility.

Eventually, we want IPs to move from stickers to community building, then into games or mini-apps, and finally into tokens — but in a sustainable way.

If mini-games capture paying users, that revenue can support a token. More users of collectibles and games equal more revenue, which means more ability to buy back tokens or fund prize pools for holders.

No one has done this completely yet, but that’s the vision. Start with stickers, then go into games, and only then launch tokens, so you have a model that’s supported by real business lines.

Brands don’t want to worry about managing tokens; they want to focus on great games and assets that people actually use in chats and channels.

The Social Value of NFTs and Gifts on Telegram

Mr. Z:

It’s great to see some stats. The average on-chain plus off-chain trading volume is around two to three million US dollars per day. Some days it even surpasses Ethereum. Looks like NFTs here are actually finding product-market fit and real utility.

Jack Booth:

Yeah. Take Notcoin, for example. It succeeded because it tapped into improving the social experience.

What I’ve seen work well and grow fast in this ecosystem are things that improve Telegram’s social experience. Gifts are a great example. Gifts let me brand my profile in different ways.

I can show people who I am with the little Gifts I’ve pinned to my profile. And it improves the experience because I can flex too. I can get a Plush Pepe, and suddenly everyone knows, “Hey, this guy is a big baller.” There are only 2,000 of them, and they’re worth about $15,000 — that’s a flex.

It taps into that same culture that PFPs had but with more utility, more customization, and more ways to show different sides of your personality. You can only have one PFP, but you can have six different Gifts — some people even go all out.

Collectors are also building their own curated collections based on themes and colors and then showcasing them almost like an Instagram feed on their profiles.

Moving Beyond Tap-to-Earn

Mr. Z:

Jack, you mentioned Notcoin. Airdrops definitely bring attention. But how do we avoid tap-to-earn fatigue? What makes an NFT or mini-game economy really sticky?

Jack Booth:

I think the main thing is to look at it holistically. All these activations should contribute to building a brand’s community on Telegram.

It should start with a value-additive mindset. We tell every IP: “Don’t just do stickers; do the whole flow.”

Look at Pudgy Penguins. They’ve done it best so far. They started with sticker packs, built communities, and their founder Luca has his own channel on Telegram.

Then they launched Pengu Clash — a game built on Olympics infra. It’s play-to-win, not play-to-earn. You don’t get prizes just for showing up; you have to show real skill to win.

That model is more sustainable because users fund the prize pool themselves by competing, rather than just getting rewarded for tapping.

Last year, we weren’t working closely with these games. Even Notcoin worked independently. But this year, we’re much more hands-on, supporting projects that add value instead of just extracting it.

Reflection on TON’s Strategy Last Year

Mr. Z:

It reminds me of your tweet: “Open-minded over maximized, value additive over extractive, and willingness to learn and adapt.”

Jack Booth:

Yeah, these are the values we need to reward. I honestly don’t think we did the best job of that last year. It wasn’t really anyone’s fault — everyone just got excited about the growth.

You can’t help but get excited when you see 300 million users playing a game on TON. But if we had been in closer contact and looked deeper into these teams’ future plans, maybe some stories would have ended differently.

Strategy for IP and Celebrities

Mr. Z:

Here’s the next question. Snoop Dogg, Notcoin, Pudgy… Is this just a celebrity trend or a real cultural flywheel forming? How far can this go?

Jack Booth:

I definitely think it’s a new trend, and we’re working to make it sustainable. Once a brand starts testing the waters, they often want to go deeper.

They might start with stickers, but when they see how active Telegram communities are, they take the next steps. The deeper they go, the more it becomes part of their reputation to keep supporting these activations.

It also becomes more relevant for them to bring audiences from other channels into Telegram — which is crucial since we didn’t really have that Western audience before.

This flywheel is super powerful. And since we focus on long-term, reputable IPs and brands, there’s less risk of cash grabs.

A lot of these NFT collections have been around for years and are still here, still building, still bullish. They haven’t been discouraged by price movements.

There’s only one platform on the planet that can help you both build community and activate them natively with Web3 mechanics — that’s Telegram.

We’re seeing it take hold already with Pudgy Penguins. And who knows what Snoop Dogg’s going to do — apart from me, of course.

Content and Distribution on TON

Mr. Z:

More private sessions coming. Telegram and TON might become the happiest places in Web3. You know, it reminds me of what Manny from TON Foundation always says: “Content is king, distribution is queen — and she’s wearing pants.”

Jack Booth:

Yeah, Manny often says that, and he’s right. Distribution has always been the missing piece. But distributing to no-name projects or those without long-term plans doesn’t bring real value.

It gives the illusion of value but doesn’t actually provide it to the community.

Our IP strategy is about working with big, credible builders who have multi-year plans to grow real, active communities. They’re not here for a quick cash grab; they’re here to build for five years or more.

Distribution on Telegram is so easy and powerful that it’s been abused before, which damaged TON’s reputation.

But over the last six months, we’ve seen a shift — the teams interested in TON now are different. We’re moving in a much better direction.

Quick Fire Round

Mr. Z then kicked off a rapid-fire session with Jack, sparking quick insights and fresh alpha.

Which IP Would You Onboard?

Mr. Z:

If you could onboard any IP tomorrow, who would it be?

Jack Booth:

Studio Ghibli. I think they’d be the coolest anime partner because of their iconic and beloved style. With all the “Studio Ghibli style” AI content recently, having official Ghibli collectibles on TON would be incredible.

Labubu would also be fantastic. Imagine Labubu Gifts on your profile — they’d go crazy.

Mr. Z:

That would really pull in Chinese investors. In Asia, Labubu is huge, even in Korea. Yesterday at a Blackpink concert in Seoul, fans threw Labubu on stage — though Lisa tossed it aside!

I think more Asian IPs would be a great idea: Blackpink, K-pop idols, Naruto… Have you been thinking about this?

Jack Booth:

Yeah, you look at what Azuki is doing — they bought anime.com, started an anime series, hired a top creator. Our relationship with them will continue, especially to reach Asian audiences.

We work through IP studios rather than directly with IPs. Studios handle licensing, activations, marketing, and community building.

TON doesn’t want to spend millions upfront on licenses. Instead, we partner with studios that already have access and can handle activations with us.

What If You Controlled TON for a Day

Mr. Z:

If TON Foundation gave you full control for a day, what would you do?

Jack Booth:

Hmm… I’m not exactly sure. But there’s an idea I’ve had for a while: a TV show about builders in the TON community.

Picture two teams of builders, each paired with normies — people who know nothing about crypto — on an island. They have to build a project together, and at the end, only the normie gets to pitch to a VC.

It would be hilarious to see normies struggle, learn, and eventually pitch. Like a “Love Island” but for builders.

Mr. Z:

Exactly! We need ways to introduce builders to a normie audience if we want to onboard more people.

Jack Booth:

Right. We need to think creatively, like how Netflix’s “Drive to Survive” completely changed F1’s demographics, bringing in a younger audience.

Crypto lacks that kind of mass narrative. Right now, most outsiders just think “scams.” We need bold, fun storytelling to break that perception and reach new audiences.

One Alpha for the TON Community

Mr. Z:

All right, one last one. Give us one piece of alpha that no one is talking about. Something special for the TON fam.

Jack Booth:

The main alpha is: while stickers are one activation, every IP we’re talking to is also looking at games.

You can already predict which games are coming just by watching which stickers are launched. Get ready for stickers to lead into games — that’s the big play.

Games will give new utility to the stickers you’re buying and create deeper engagement with those IPs. That’s the real forward-looking strategy here.

Mr. Z:

That’s some serious alpha. Love it.

Q&A Session

Mr. Z then opened the floor to the community on X Space, leading to a series of constructive questions and discussions.

Behind the Scenes with Snoop Dogg

Viktor (@s0meone_u_know):

Yeah Jack, what’s cooking with Snoop? He’s pretty active on Telegram. What’s going on there?

Jack Booth:

I wish I could reveal more, but that’s some really juicy stuff.

What I can say is, what he’s cooking is super valuable for TON. It follows the same model we just discussed, so you can guess what that means.

There’s also a huge surprise specifically with Snoop that no one is prepared for — and it’s launching very, very soon.

I was in a call with Snoop Dogg’s son the other day. He’s super excited about the TON activation. They’re looking at this from a very long-term perspective and really want to add value to the ecosystem.

Snoop Dogg is apparently the eighth most famous face on the planet, according to his son. Across all his channels, he has over 300 million people, and they’re going to activate all of that to bring that audience over to TON and Telegram.

It’s a huge activation, launching any day now.

P.S. Just 24 hours after this interview aired live, Snoop Dogg dropped his “Gifts” music video and launched his Telegram Gifts collection — nearly 1 million unique NFTs sold out in just 30 minutes, generating over $12 million in sales.

Integrating DeFi and NFTs

Tradoor (@tradoor_io):

Hey everyone, that’s Lev, Head of Partnerships at Tradoor.

Jack, how do you think DeFi projects like ours — DEXs — could get deeply involved in the trend of Telegram gifts and NFTs?

I know we could do giveaways of gifts or NFTs as campaign rewards or to incentivize activities on the platform. But I’m more curious about something more complex and integrated.

For example, we’re collaborating with NFT and gift lending platforms to let users unlock liquidity through lending gifts, then use them in our liquidity pools for yield — without needing to sell them.

I see these as strategies that could work, but maybe you’ve seen other things or have ideas that could bring more value to both users and the ecosystem.

Jack Booth:

Yeah. I think the lending use case is super cool. It’s already been established on Ethereum with major NFT collections, but it’s still missing wider retail adoption.

Don’t underestimate giveaways. Everyone in the TON community loves them. If you want to raise awareness and get people in the door, giveaways are a great tool. Even Snoop Dogg was doing gift giveaways in his channel — we gave away three Plush Pepes before they blew up. Those early winners are sitting very happily now.

It’s hard for me to come up with completely new DeFi use cases because I’m not the DeFi guy at TON. But lending and giveaways — using gifts to grow your project — are great and proven. Definitely worth exploring.

Tradoor:

All right, thanks! We’ll keep exploring. There’s so much potential to bring value considering how big gifts and NFTs are becoming.

Viktor:

Yeah, I’ve also been thinking about contests — they encourage more genuine contributions. Maybe even a platform where people can create contests, provide rewards, and distribute prizes randomly.

Hosting contests is a powerful tool to boost creativity, not just for gifts or NFTs but also for DeFi and other topics. You’d need to provide prizes, of course.

There’s also tokenization of NFTs, which is possible too. There are already some examples out there. It’s another way to integrate NFTs into DeFi products.

Jack Booth:

Yeah. Also, what about order book trading for gifts and NFTs? Instead of just using a basic ask/bid market, there could be an order book that makes it easier and more transparent for people to trade.

Tradoor:

Yeah, that’s actually really interesting. Thanks for the idea. It definitely feels like a gap in the market.

What’s Next for TON in the Next 6 Months

Ethan (@0xEthanDG):

Hey Jack, in the next six-month horizon, is there any alpha you can share about what you’re most excited for in the TON ecosystem?

Jack Booth:

Yeah. I think I’d love to see one or two major celebrities, one or two major Web3 IPs, and one or two major Web2 IPs really running the whole flow — from building a community, launching collectibles and stickers, maybe getting access to gifts and games, and eventually launching a branded token.

At the end of all this, I think the branded tokens are going to be the real benefit for the community.

If we can make that model sustainable and get those tokens to launch — you’re talking about a branded IP-based token around a celebrity that’s backed by the revenue of its games and collectibles business — that’s something no one’s ever seen before.

My goal would be to get one or two of those launched this year, and that’s really, really exciting.

Ethan:

I like that. I think that’s a much better way of doing tokenomics.

When you mentioned branded coins, I was going to ask you about the revenue model — but you covered it. It’s something people haven’t really tried on a big scale yet. It’ll be interesting to see how it plays out.

If TON can do it right, the next cycle is going to be TON’s cycle. That’s for sure.

Jack Booth:

Exactly. Imagine if you’ve got a celeb token, plus a celeb game and celeb collectibles.

Then there’s a programmatic way for all that revenue to buy back token supply from the market — so there’s always a buyer.

On top of that, they could even add a staking mechanism in the game where you stake the token and get raffle access to weekly prizes — maybe you get to meet the celeb, win tickets to a game, get an iPad, or even a luxury car.

The revenue from the business buys those prizes.

It becomes a much more sustainable circular economy. Now we know that if the collectibles and games business is going well, that means more revenue is buying back the token and funding prizes for users and holders.

That’s what’s been missing from a lot of token launches — they mostly just try to extract value.

Pretty much this entire cycle, only HyperLiquid and Jupiter have really done tokens well. There haven’t been many successful examples.

I think the time has come to do this differently. And we’re going to do it on TON.

Big Collections and Rarity

Gio (@Giooton):

I just want to ask what Jack is actually thinking about the current sticker market.

Jack Booth:

I think the current sticker market is like a V1. Actually, it’s not even V1 — it’s a V0.

The sticker market today doesn’t really take advantage of the massive, huge demand we see. In the Sticker Store, we’ve had 100,000 people — even 300,000 people in the case of BAYC — all trying to get these stickers.

The demand is much bigger than people realize. If that many people actually got access, there would be even more hype and excitement.

Right now, we’re not using the real value of Telegram — its huge user base. We shouldn’t do collections of just 3,000. We should do collections of 100,000 or even 200,000.

Then add rarity into the mix, just like Gifts did. Gifts collections can be 500K in size with a low mint price, and that works because there’s rarity. You have an equal chance to get a rare one.

That’s what’s missing from the sticker market — big collections and rarity.

This is what NFTs did so well in the past. We have the chance to do it 10X or 20X bigger.

The Gifts market already proved this. So, let’s take the sticker market to the next level.

Upgrading Stickers to NFTs

Ibrahim:

Currently, stickers aren’t NFTs yet. Is there a way they could be upgraded into NFTs?

Jack Booth:

Yeah, OK. There are some developments in this space. It’s a bit premature to say exactly when, but I can say that the Foundation is working towards an NFT standard for stickers, and it will be available very, very soon. There are lots of things involved and different teams working on it.

Then, we’ll move all of this off-chain sticker activity on-chain, which will be a huge benefit for TON.

Instead of these launches with BAYC, Azuki, and Pudgy Penguins all being off-chain and not really adding value to the blockchain itself, these future launches will be fully on-chain.

All the trading volume and excitement will then directly benefit the TON blockchain. That’s a super exciting moment, and we won’t have to wait long for it.

Closing Thoughts

Mr. Z:

So is there still anything that you’d like to share with our community, with our big TON fam? Otherwise, we will wrap up.

Jack Booth:

I would just say — if you’re buying these IPs and getting excited about them, this is just the very, very start. As I said, stickers are at V0. The gaming ecosystem around IP is also at V0. All of these things are brand new.

These are new activations, experimental stuff. We’re talking cutting-edge Telegram and TON community mechanics. This is just the beginning.

And these OG collections and OG IPs coming into the space are going to be building for the long term. That’s our goal — to help them do that. And that’s what we’re all focused on: building sustainable communities around IPs that people know, love, and want to be a part of.

So let’s go. This is just the start. First TON of Alpha. And hopefully, everyone got a ton of alpha today.

Mr. Z:

Definitely. All right, that’s a wrap for the first episode of TON of Alpha. Once again, massive thanks to Mr. Jack Booth for bringing the heat and helping us decode what’s really going on in the TON universe.

If you found value in this, please retweet, share, and follow TON of Alpha on X. TON of Alpha is just getting started. And I’m your host, Mr. Z. See you next time, guys.

Jack Booth:

Bye. Have a good one.

 

If you enjoyed this first episode and want to stay ahead of the latest developments across the TON and Telegram ecosystem, be sure to follow TON of Alpha on X (@TONofAlpha) for upcoming episodes and exclusive insights.

For more perspectives and behind-the-scenes updates, follow host Mr. Z (@69420MrZ) and guest Jack Booth (@jbfxdotme).