Catizen and the second generation of TON mini-apps

If the first generation of Telegram mini-apps (Notcoin, Hamster Kombat) was the era of tap-clickers with a single TGE and a fade-out, the second generation is being built on a different model. Catizen is the prime example of that shift. By 2026 the project has turned from a narrow cat-breeding game into a “gaming hub” that’s starting to look like an App Store on top of Telegram. This article covers what happened to Catizen, how the second-generation economy works, and where TON gaming is going.

What Catizen is

The launch happened in March 2024. The game mechanic is a hybrid of an idle clicker and a city-builder: you build a “city of cats”, breed kittens of different breeds, mix them for rare types, and tap the screen to speed up the process.

Pluto Studio positioned the project from the start as the answer to Hamster Kombat — the same mass audience needed an alternative with deeper gameplay. By June 2024 — 2.8M players in the first ten weeks. By the end of 2024 — tens of millions of users.

Then the CATI token TGE in September 2024 on Binance, Bybit, OKX, Bitget. Opening price $1.50, by the end of the first quarter of trading it corrected to $0.30–0.50. As of May 2026 — around $0.10.

But the most interesting part is what happened after.

The pivot: from game to platform

In 2025 the Catizen team made the kind of pivot Hamster Kombat couldn’t pull off. Instead of continuing to develop the kitten game, they turned it into a platform for other games.

The architecture is simple. Catizen becomes a “launcher”:

• The user opens the Catizen mini-app.
• Sees a catalogue of 30+ games from different studios (Web3 and conventional).
• Launches any game in one click.
• Each game has its own economy, but many are wired to CATI as a cross-cutting currency.

By the end of 2025:

• 30+ games in the catalogue, 10 of them with Web3 mechanics.
• 63M+ users across the project’s lifetime.
• $50M+ of CATI burned from platform revenue.
• Microtransaction volume in the tens of millions of dollars per month.

In April 2026 industry trackers report ~13M MAU — below the peak, but a stable base, unlike Hamster Kombat which is shrinking month over month.

Catizen Chain: a Layer 2 over TON

The project’s main technical bet in 2025–2026 is its own Layer 2 over TON. Launched August 2025.

Why a Layer 2. TON fees are already low (~$0.005), but at hundreds of millions of microtransactions per day even that becomes expensive for developers and users. Catizen Chain targets:

• Near-zero fees (fractions of a cent).
• High TPS (thousands of transactions per second).
• TON compatibility through a bridge.

Who’s on it. Most Catizen-embedded Web3 games migrated to Catizen Chain in 2025–2026. This lowers the entry bar for new studios — plug in the SDK without paying for every action on the main network.

Effect on CATI. Transactions on Catizen Chain consume CATI as gas. This creates cyclical demand for the token — more games on the chain, more CATI burned.

CATI tokenomics

TGE distribution:

• ~43% — players and community (across various programs).
• ~20% — team with locks.
• ~15% — ecosystem fund.
• ~10% — strategic investors.
• ~7% — marketing.
• ~5% — reserves.

Total supply — 1B CATI. Emission isn’t fixed — there’s a built-in burn mechanism from platform revenue. Per 2025 data, more than $50M-equivalent of CATI has been burned.

CATI use cases:

1. Gas in Catizen Chain.
2. Premium features inside games.
3. Stakes in PvP segments.
4. Burn programs from revenue.
5. Staking for discounts and privileges.

This is systemic utility, unlike a pure airdrop token.

Comparison with predecessors

The key difference for Catizen is horizontal diversification. Notcoin and HMSTR are one product each. Catizen is a venue with dozens of products inside. Falling interest in any one game doesn’t kill the ecosystem.

AI mechanics: a new layer

In 2025–2026 the team added AI functionality as a separate competitive edge.

AI pets. Each virtual cat got a “personality” — a dynamic model that remembers user interactions, suggests gameplay tactics, replies to simple messages.

AI assistant in the gaming hub. A chatbot recommends new games based on user behaviour.

AI content generation. Users can commission unique assets for their cats through generative models.

This is the first iteration — the main AI release is expected in 2026. If it lands, Catizen becomes the first fully AI-native mini-app in Telegram.

How to engage in 2026

Casual player. 5–10 minutes a day. Open Catizen, claim daily rewards, dip into one or two games from the catalogue. Income — $5–10/month in CATI equivalent.

Active player. 30 minutes a day, participation in several catalogue games, accumulating CATI and using it inside the platform. Income — $20–50/month.

CATI holder. Buying the token on an exchange on a long-term ecosystem-growth thesis. Not a short trade — horizon 12+ months.

Builder. Listing your own game through the Catizen SDK. Access to 60M+ distribution, gas on Catizen Chain. A solid acquisition channel for GameFi startups in 2026.

What “second generation” means

Summarising the shift from Notcoin/HMSTR to Catizen and peers, the second generation is characterised by:

1. Platformisation. Not one product — infrastructure for dozens of products.

2. Useful tokens. Utility through gas and burn, not just tap-rewards.

3. Custom L2s. Catizen Chain — example of moving toward specialised infrastructure.

4. AI integration. Not marketing fluff, real UX improvements.

5. Long-term retention. Post-hype cycle planned in strategy, not improvised.

6. Real revenue. The platform earns from listing games, not just from the TGE wave.

Similar shifts are visible at Blum, MRKT, Goodies, partly at Not Games. Pure tap-clickers are out of fashion — gaming hubs and edutainment platforms are taking over.

Catizen risks

Pragmatically — what could go wrong.

1. Competition. If Telegram itself or another major player (e.g. Tonkeeper) launches its own gaming catalogue, Catizen loses its central case.

2. Regulation. Accumulating a large audience and large volumes makes the project a target for regulators in the EU and ASEAN.

3. TON downturn. If TON loses market share, the Catizen Chain ecosystem suffers first.

4. Player burnout. Retaining 63M+ users requires continuous innovation. Stagnation = fast erosion.

5. AI execution. If the AI features turn out poor, that hits the key competitive edge.

Outlook

Base case through end of 2026:

• Audience. Stable base of 10–15M MAU.
• CATI price. $0.10–0.30 depending on overall crypto market.
• Catizen Chain. 50–100 games on L2 by year-end.
• AI features. Full release in Q2 2026, retention impact in Q3–Q4.

Optimistic case — Catizen becomes the de-facto standard of TON gaming, capturing 10–15% of the entire Telegram mini-game market. Pessimistic — stagnation at current metrics with no meaningful growth.

In both cases, this is no longer a classic “tap-clicker on hype” but a mature platform with its own business model.

Sources

• coinmarketcap.com — Catizen latest updates — current project metrics.
• coingecko.com — CATI price — historical price action.
• cointelegraph.com — Interview with Catizen — team strategy.
• bitget.com — CATI Catizen Guide — tokenomics details.
• coinex.medium.com — Catizen P2E — model analysis.