Hamster Kombat, a renowned tap-to-earn Telegram game, recently made headlines with the launch of its HMSTR token on multiple major exchanges. Despite the high anticipation, the airdrop left many players feeling disillusioned. Some even labeled it as one of the worst airdrops in crypto history. What exactly went wrong, and why did the much-anticipated airdrop fail to meet expectations? Let’s delve deeper.
Unfair Reward Distribution, Sudden Rule Changes
In the lead-up to the airdrop, a significant number of participants were unexpectedly disqualified. Many players who had diligently focused on increasing their points per hour (PPH) to gather tokens found themselves banned just before the airdrop. The introduction of a new ‘anti-cheat’ system caught many off guard, and the affected participants claimed that the move disproportionately benefited influencers. A substantial portion of the tokens seemed to be redirected to these influencers instead of regular players, causing widespread outrage.
Initially, the team had scheduled the airdrop for July 2024, but it was delayed due to technical issues. This delay frustrated many participants who were eagerly awaiting their rewards. Eventually, the team announced that the airdrop would occur in September, and while they met this new deadline, they had already lost the trust of many community members.
To make matters worse, the developers later revealed that participants would only receive 88.75% of their tokens, with the remaining 11.25% being withheld until July 2025. This unexpected rule change led to a growing boycott movement within the community.
Fears Of Low Listing Price of HMSTR
A primary concern surrounding the airdrop was the value of the HMSTR token at launch. The token debuted at $0.01, but its price immediately began to decline. The sharp 30% drop in value disappointed both long-term and short-term investors who had higher expectations for the project’s token.
A user on X expressed their disappointment, stating, “Where are those YouTubers and influencers who gave the community false hope of $0.10 or $0.50? Hamster Kombat has turned out to be the worst airdrop in crypto history. It’s almost 50%-60% down now.”
As of this writing, HMSTR is trading at $0.0019, almost 40% lower than its initial value.
Disappointing Payouts, Challenges In Selling The Tokens
Despite months of interacting with the game, many participants found themselves with only a few dollars’ worth of HMSTR tokens. Players complained that the rewards were disappointingly low, considering the time spent on activities like tapping hamsters to earn tokens.
“Hamster Kombat has cheated the community. They have allocated a large portion of airdrops to YouTubers and influencers for referrals. They’ve implemented vesting without informing the community. They’ve made people work like labor, day and night to collect keys from their games and gave $5 or $10 tokens,” commented Crypto with Khan, a prominent crypto influencer.
Crypto analyst Gaumtamgg criticized the Hamster Kombat team in an X post, stating that they “lack experience” and are “making crazy money from YouTube (views & ads) by doing this.” He further noted that the project lacks a clear use case or utility and has no impressive roadmap for the future.
Additionally, participants with small token amounts faced further challenges when trying to sell them. For example, some exchanges, like Binance, require a minimum transaction value of $5, making it impossible for users with smaller token balances to cash out their HMSTR.
Telegram Wallet Outages
The launch of HMSTR trading coincided with technical issues in the Telegram wallet, which is operated by the TON blockchain. TON, built on the remnants of a previously abandoned Telegram crypto project, runs the crypto wallet within Telegram where users hold HMSTR tokens. Due to network overloads, many users found themselves unable to access or trade their tokens, adding to the frustrations surrounding the airdrop.
