Telegram CEO Pavel Durov took to his messaging app to announce the tap-to-earn crypto game Catizen has "earned" $16 million from in-app purchases.

"Catizen is a mini game on Telegram with over 26 million players. The game has already earned $16 million from in-app purchases and donated 1% of it to rescue stray cats," Durov posted on Tuesday.

Durov said on Monday that Telegram now has approximately 950 million users worldwide.

Pluto Studio is the publisher of the Telegram game Catizen which, like other similar titles accessible through the Telegram app, such as Hamster Kombat, is built on The Open Network (or TON) blockchain. Binance Labs has backed the company, The Block reported earlier Tuesday.

"Catizen introduced millions of people to blockchain, because it uses …