Spinprofy Explains How Telegram Reshapes User Acquisition Funnels in 2026

Telegram Web Apps have officially redefined the digital landscape of 2026. By removing legacy app store friction, the platform created a high-speed social distribution model. With more than one billion monthly active users, it successfully integrated gaming, finance, and AI into a unified super-app ecosystem, rewriting global marketing rules forever.

Strategic Growth and the Path to IPO

This dominance was set in motion between 2024 and 2025. Historical reports from LinkedIn News highlight that the platform hit 900 million monthly active users in March 2024. This growth accompanied a strategic shift toward profitability, guided by Pavel Durov, preparing the company for its massive initial public offering.

Data from CCN showed Telegram's valuation had reached above $30 billion that year. Investors recognized the potential of a socio-economic layer bypassing traditional mobile operating systems. Financial stability ensured high throughput for a massive economy, allowing for the expansion of developer tools and global data center capacity in 2025.

Shattering Legacy User Acquisition Models With Spinprofy and Co

Traditional app stores have become secondary for modern game developers. Previously, user acquisition required complex advertisement campaigns on Meta or Google. Today, the funnel starts directly within a chat window, leveraging the social graph for organic growth. This shift has rendered crowded marketplaces far less relevant for emerging studios.

Innovative resources like the portal Spinprofy, which specializes in entertainment analytics and platform reviews, were among the first ones to exemplify how high-frequency engagement thrives in this environment. By blending social dynamics with instant-access architecture, such platforms helped set the 2026 benchmark for engagement.

Optimized Onboarding Steps

The current onboarding process involves high-conversion steps that minimize player drop-off. In 2024, users faced multiple barriers, including store redirects and massive file downloads. Today, the process is instantaneous, ensuring that users transition from discovery to gameplay in seconds, significantly increasing overall conversion rates for studios.

The Instant Onboarding Funnel:

1. A user receives a direct invitation or viral link from a contact in a chat group.
2. One tap launches the game interface without any external file downloads or store visits.
3. The system automatically recognizes the social profile for an immediate, secure login.
4. A built-in crypto-wallet is activated invisibly to handle rewards and secure digital assets.
5. Gameplay starts within 3 seconds, ensuring maximum engagement during the critical discovery phase.

Global Monetization via Telegram Stars

The adoption of Telegram Stars, launched in mid-2024, proved to be the turning point for monetization. According to the Telegram Official Blog, Stars provided a unified currency for digital goods. This system ensured compliance with global policies while providing economic legitimacy for developers across both major mobile operating systems.

By 2026, the Stars economy has matured into a multi-billion dollar market. Users utilize Stars for transactions ranging from in-game power-ups to premium subscriptions to platforms reviewed by Spinprofy. This internal currency removed the need for repeated credit card entry, making one-click purchasing the standard and acting as a functional bridge between fiat and Web3.

Technical Infrastructure and the TON Blockchain

The TON blockchain provides the necessary decentralized infrastructure for this revolution. Reports from TONStat show on-chain activity reached record levels in early 2026, with Daily Active Wallets surpassing 18 million. The circulation of native USDT on TON has reached approximately $670–691 million, providing immense liquidity to the gaming sector and enabling real ownership of in-game items.

Metrics on TONStat prove that millions of wallets are now active daily. Users earn and trade assets with the blockchain operating silently in the background. This high-speed infrastructure allows for true asset portability, where items are held in personal wallets rather than locked to a specific game server.

Key On-Chain Advantages:

1. Portability allows gamers to value their digital effort, as the network handles millions of transactions per second.
2. Invisible Web3 integration ensures users interact with blockchain technology without technical complexity or seed phrases.
3. The platform achieved more than 500 million users interacting with Mini Apps monthly by eliminating visible blockchain transaction costs (gas fees), inviting hundreds of millions of retail users.
4. Low costs have made TON the primary choice for developers requiring high throughput for mass-market apps.
5. Real ownership of items is now legally recognized and technologically enforced within the decentralized TWA environment.

The Rise of the Agent Economy

The Agent Economy, a concept by the TON Foundation, introduced autonomous AI agents into the ecosystem in 2026. As examined by Spinprofy experts, these agents manage game assets, execute trades, and personalize user experiences. Telegram is no longer just for human interaction; AI and humans now co-exist in a sophisticated, self-sustaining financial world.

Agents act as automated facilitators within Mini Apps, helping users navigate complex economies. AI agents handle tedious tasks like resource farming or scouting for rare items, effectively reducing the "grind" associated with traditional games. This allows players to focus exclusively on the high-value, entertaining aspects of the experience.

The New Economics of Acquisition

Today, the Telegram funnel has effectively minimized traditional advertising overhead. When a user sees a game shared by a friend, they tap a button and start playing. This efficiency has caused the Average Cost Per Install to plummet compared to the era of store-based marketing.

While traditional mobile acquisition in 2024 was about $10.00, Telegram acquisition in 2026 costs less than $0.20 per user. Retention rates are higher than for standalone apps due to social integration. Engagement is persistent because the game is integrated into the tool users open dozens of times daily.

Future of Distribution

As of Q2 2026, the user acquisition funnel has been permanently flattened, making digital distribution truly democratic. The combination of social reach and a frictionless economic layer is too powerful for legacy platforms to ignore. Early adopters have now become the new industry leaders.

Success stories proved that social engagement is the ultimate currency in the digital age. The Agent Economy described by the TON Foundation is only just beginning, with more sophisticated AI interactions expected to redefine personalized entertainment soon. Telegram remains the most influential platform shaping global acquisition strategies for the next decade.

The Roadmap to 2030:

1. Continued growth toward 2 billion users is expected as more AAA studios join the platform.
2. Deeper integration with real-world e-commerce using TON payments is currently being piloted in major cities.
3. Cross-app asset portability allows items from one game to be used in entirely different titles.
4. Decentralized governance allows players to have more influence over the development of their favorite games.
5. Automated AI ecosystems will continue to lower entry barriers for small, innovative development teams.

List of sources:

1. LinkedIn News: Telegram hits 900m users and eyes IPO
2. Statista: Telegram growth and MAU history
3. Financial Times: Telegram’s founder considers IPO

Media Contact:

Oskar Flasiński

SpinProfy

oskarflasinski@spinprofy.com