How Two People Quietly Took Control of the Telegram Sticker Market

How Two People Quietly Took Control of the Telegram Sticker Market

@blog_anton

Disclaimer: The materials used in this article were provided by an anonymous source. I cannot guarantee the accuracy, completeness, or reliability of the individual pieces of information. The publication reflects their content as received. The materials were sent for publication in https://t.me/blog_anton

The sticker market in the TON ecosystem appears explosive and new, but its history is far less chaotic than it seems at first glance. Despite dozens of projects, loud partnerships, and a series of “global launches,” most of this movement is driven by just two people — Hassan Shaikh and Ahmad C.

This pair operates through two structures — Stratosphere LLC and AnkhLabs Ltd. According to many market participants, they are the ones determining which Web3 brands enter Telegram, how their launches take place, through which platforms they are sold, and how revenue models are built.

There is no official confirmation of this, but hundreds of messages in Telegram channels, public threads on X, and data from representatives of several projects form a stable narrative that became the focus of our analysis.

Who Are Hassan and Ahmad and Why They Matter

Hassan Shaikh (@readyplayerh)

Owner of Stratosphere LLC (USA), Telegram ID: 993422863

Company address: 1200 Brickell Ave STE 1950 #149, Miami, FL 33131, USA.

Hassan is known because of one of the most problematic NFT projects — SteadyStackNFT.

According to public threads (including https://x.com/islaystuff/status/1915770896129704044 and https://x.com/lostplay_/status/1768622707065651215), users accuse the project of lack of transparency and failures of promised directions. It is impossible to independently verify these claims, but their scale and consistency have persisted for months.

What the authors of public posts claim:

  • NFTs fell from ~5 ETH to ~0.05 ETH.
  • The mining direction advertised by the project, according to investors, produced extremely low returns.
  • In several posts, users claim a “collective lawsuit” is forming. We did not find official confirmations in court registries.

Before SteadyStack, the Shaikh brothers launched several other projects — Youtube Automatic, Rank One Ecommerce, Brightvision, Mining Automatic.

Trustpilot contains negative reviews, but this data does not provide a full picture and reflects only users’ attitudes toward the project; we include them as historical references:

Ahmad C. (Ankh, @OXAnkh)

Owner of AnkhLabs Ltd (UAE), Telegram ID: 393424694

Ahmad is the media and operational partner of Hassan, the owner of a marketing structure that, according to representatives of the industry, supports almost all Web3 IP entering Telegram.

The company is officially registered in RAK DAO (UAE):

RAK DAO business Centre, Al Rifaa, Post Box #30099, Sheikh Mohammed Bin. Zayed Road, Ras Al Khaimah, United Arab Emirates.

The role of AnkhLabs in the TON ecosystem is a subject of much discussion:

  • Managing Telegram channels for Web3 brands
  • Interaction with Sticker Store (Sticker Pack), Goodies, and @mint
  • Sticker production (likely through contractors)
  • Launching Telegram Mini App games, two of which (Pengu Clash, Doodles UP!) were in partnership with Elympics Studio

We did not find public confirmations of the scale of AnkhLabs’ influence, but its large footprint in social media indicates a high level of involvement.

How the Mechanism of Monopolization Works

The following analysis is based on open data and claims from users and administrators of Telegram channels.


1. Stratosphere searches for Web3 brands

Presents TON as a promising platform and offers them to enter the Telegram ecosystem.


2. Stratosphere becomes the “entry point” for brands

The team communicates with brands on behalf of the TON ecosystem, forming the image of the main gateway into Telegram.


3. AnkhLabs packages the brand’s launch

Marketing, creation of “official” channels, communication with storefronts, production.


4. A repeating cycle of launches

The same brands, without deep involvement or development, pass through a cycle:

Sticker Store (Sticker Pack) → Goodies → @mint


In each store, the product is the same:

Stickers without utility, without development, without games — but presented under a different narrative.

Commission fees that the team receives from primary sales — according to our data, around 80%. How much of these 80% actually goes to brand owners (according to some estimates, 40%–50%) remains unknown, as this information is not public.


5.  Lack of prospects

According to several anonymous sources in Telegram communities, the following statements were voiced:

  • There are no long-term development plans for the projects
  • The sticker market is limited to ~20,000 active buyers
  • The strategy is to maximize short-term revenue

These statements cannot be verified with documents; we cite them as part of public community discussions.

Promises and Constantly Changing Rules

1. Goodies and the list of “partners” that did not exist

When Goodies entered the market, the project began with a demonstrative gesture — its website displayed an impressive list of “partners.” The list looked like a gallery of major Web3 brands, creating the impression of widespread industry support.

However, it soon became clear that many of these companies were hearing about their “partnership” with Goodies for the first time.

For example, @ilyaremix contacted the CEO of Chimpers, who were listed on the website. The project lead directly stated that he had never heard of Goodies and was surprised to see the brand listed as a partner.

A similar situation occurred after a post about this appeared in the aid_crypto channel: Stepn representatives independently contacted @ilyaremix (comment under the post: https://t.me/c/2061857143/221648), also stating that they knew nothing about their participation and had not given permission to use their logo (https://t.me/aid_crypto/3648).


After the situation gained traction on Telegram and X, Goodies were forced to respond. A new label — “community partners” — appeared on the site, followed by a post on X attempting to explain the changes. The project’s rhetoric shifted: now the company claimed that Goodies supports the listed communities, not the other way around.

2. Manipulations with “partnerships” and access to the closed Goodies club

Immediately after publishing the partner list, Goodies began actively using it in marketing. Users were told that, to get access to an exclusive club — with bonuses, privileges, and early giveaways — they needed to purchase NFTs from the listed partners.

However, the reality turned out to be different.

Many users bought NFTs expecting access, only to find that the NFTs did not work on the Goodies website. When people began contacting support, the project changed the conditions: it was now claimed that access required an NFT worth at least $1000. After backlash, the rules were again “quickly” corrected — access was granted with just one NFT.

But the outcome for users remained the same: holders of NFTs purchased for ETH received nothing.

Goodies created a “closed” club Telegram channel, which in reality was not only not closed but also easily bypassed. Users with one NFT transferred it between their accounts, adding dozens of profiles to the channel to participate in the first two giveaways and receive WL for new sticker drops. After these giveaways, the channel was abandoned despite earlier promises.

3. How Goodies organized a covert raid to “warm up” whales and push a sellout of a new collection


When doubts arose in the community about Goodies’ prospects and it became clear that the new penguin collection might not sell out, the team moved to the next manipulation.

According to our data, Goodies involved the owner of the Ice Gang club — @baron_hatter. This is a closed community of “whales” holding more than 10 old penguins, and its owner is in regular communication with Hassan.

Baron (Baron Hatter, @baron_hatter, Telegram ID 7031417997) was tasked with contacting @ilyaremix and initiating a raid in the large channel https://t.me/aid_crypto/3915 to artificially “warm up” old holders and push them to support the new collection.

Transcription:

I’m bringing them the old whales

So the floor of the old ones doesn’t drop even more

This isn’t really my idea

Ankh suggested it 

@ilyaremix did not immediately understand the true purpose and initially believed he was helping the community, although the orchestrated raid was aimed solely at creating the illusion of strong strategic interest in the launch.

!P.S! A small comment from @blog_anton - I talked to @baron_hatter and he provided proof that when he wrote to Ilya (@ilyaremix), he only wanted to support his own club, not Goodies. And the initiative with WL was his own, not a task from above.

The consequences were predictable:

  • Artificial hype caused the price of old penguins to crash, as whales were pushed into the market to support the new collection;
  • Goodies achieved their goal — the sellout occurred, but only due to manipulation of their own holders.

What All This Means for the TON Ecosystem

The behavior of Hassan and Ahmad is not proven to violate any rules or laws.

But repeating patterns are, at minimum, what the market is discussing:

  • ambitious, loud statements;
  • aggressive marketing;
  • loss of participants’ funds due to price drops caused by supply dilution from constant new collections;
  • lack of long-term strategy for the IP brought into the ecosystem;
  • repeated sales of similar products through different platforms.

The main question remains:

Did the stores know?

Or did the desire to quickly showcase major brands outweigh the understanding that there would be no development behind the nice visuals?

What’s Next

In the next publication — an investigation into the activities of Jack Booth, ex-TON Foundation and current CEO of @mint.

We’ve found materials that Jack will have to answer for.

My opinion (AUTHOR'S PART)


As you can all see, most sticker pack creators don't work for a long time and try to pump out the money to the maximum, after which they forget about their product.

To be fair, I want to single out one of the few projects that does not follow this principle: No Signal and Mr.Freeman

Utilities for sticker packs

Have you seen any applications for sticker packs from other collections? I haven't seen it, but Mr.Freeman will turn the story around.


  - A real sticker utility in the form of installing a unique sticker with attributes!!! in the profile of TG

 - Using sticker packs in the future of TMA

 - A unique idea with the burning and battle of collections, which will be released in a few days.

In addition, there is a simple and understandable business model in the form of an AI agent, a large number of fans around the world and large Web2 and Web3 partners.

The ecosystem around Mr. Freeman is rapidly expanding, with top players from several major blockchains joining them.

🔴 TRON:

Mr. Freeman has previously made a successful collaboration with Sundog— a memcoin personally from Justin Sun. The project has now received (https://t.me/zoned/484) support from the very top of the TRX ecosystem.

🔴 Base:

Support from Mr. Miggles (https://x.com/MrMigglesOnBase)— top memcoin on Base with official support.

🔴 Sui:

Hippo support is one of the largest SUI memcoins. This will strengthen the reach in another large market.

🔴 Solana:

Solana Monkey Business is officially collaborating with them (https://x.com/SolanaMBS) is one of the most recognizable and influential blue—chip projects in the world. This is a huge sign of trust from the Solana community.


Freeman goes through all key ecosystems and unites the most high-profile communities. In addition, the project will be supported by ecosystem players, which you will learn about soon.


Thanks for reading the article! What conclusions to draw is up to you. I hope that the situation with the stickers will change, but in the meantime, we continue to monitor what will happen.


P.S.
This article is based on open information from anonymous sources and data collected in various community chat rooms. I acknowledge that some information may be inaccurate or incomplete, but I have made every effort to present all available materials.
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