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, <a href="https://www.coindesk.com/consensus-magazine/2024/07/08/what-hamster-kombat-did-how-telegram-built-a-web3-gaming-juggernaut" target="_blank">as part of the “soft war” on Iran’s government.</a>

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 <a href="https://www.coindesk.com/policy/2024/11/21/crypto-foe-sec-chair-gary-gensler-will-quit-when-trump-takes-office" target="_blank">announced he planned to resign</a> early next year, Yun, <a href="https://x.com/steveyun_ton/status/1859663768122503263" target="_blank">tweeted</a> “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, <a href="https://www.coindesk.com/coindesk-news/2024/12/05/most-influential-2024" target="_blank">click here</a>.

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