Life after zero fees

Two weeks ago, Tonnel’s developer refused to introduce a 2% fee on Telegram Gifts trading, even though all other marketplaces had collectively agreed to do so. Back then, the situation turned into a public back-and-forth between Freeman and Telegram’s in-house designer Adler Toberg. Now that the emotions have cooled down, let’s look at the numbers and see how it played out.

According to Dune data, the zero-fee bet worked. Before July 13, Tonnel accounted for around 3.5% of total Gifts trading volume. On the day the fee was reduced, its share jumped to almost 25% and later stabilized around 12–15%.

Over the past week, overall market volume dropped by roughly one-third, but Tonnel still managed to grow its own numbers. In other words, zero fees helped the marketplace pull in a meaningful share of the market.

Interestingly, Freeman did not stop at lower fees and keeps improving the marketplace. For example, Tonnel added Dump Sell mode today — users can now sell up to ten gifts at once into the best buyer bids. Let’s see where this marketplace fight goes next.

@thedailyton