Who’s Winning in Hamster Kombat? The Aftermath of the Largest Airdrop

On September 26, the highly anticipated click game Hamster Kombat from the TON ecosystem launched its airdrop, boasting an impressive user base of 300 million players. The associated token, HMSTR, was simultaneously listed on major exchanges including Binance, OKX, Bybit, Gate.io, and Bitget.

While Hamster Kombat achieved the largest user base for an airdrop to date, it faced criticism reminiscent of past airdrop events. Many users expressed frustration over receiving only about $1 worth of tokens after months of engagement, while reports indicated that numerous bots obtained significant amounts of tokens. Are the efforts of dedicated users being overshadowed again? And who truly benefits from this airdrop extravaganza?

Average Airdrop Earnings of Just $3 and Criticism of “Witch” Rules

As the user base grew, distributing the airdrop became a significant challenge for Hamster Kombat. Previous large airdrops, such as those for Jupiter and zkSync, typically attracted millions but rarely surpassed ten million participants.

Hamster Kombat did not initially implement effective measures against sybil attacks, allowing many exploitative accounts to participate. Ultimately, while Hamster Kombat reported 300 million users, only about 131 million were deemed eligible for the airdrop, with around 2.3 million accounts identified as sybil addresses.

The total supply of HMSTR tokens is set at 100 billion, with 60% allocated for this airdrop—approximately 60 billion tokens. With 131 million eligible users, this translates to about 458 tokens per user, valued at roughly $3.20 based on a price of $0.007 per token.

Despite the massive user base, HMSTR’s market capitalization stands at around $440 million, which is lower than the initial $640 million for DOGS and the $1 billion for NOT. This indicates that Hamster Kombat’s market value did not see a significant premium despite its large user base. Ongoing delays in the airdrop and token launch, coupled with the introduction of multiple competing products in the TON ecosystem, have dampened market interest, resulting in lower token values for users.

Community dissatisfaction is palpable. One user, @roe1527, expressed on Twitter their discontent after participating for 109 days, ultimately receiving tokens worth about $17, with further vesting required. They remarked, “I may not care much about this airdrop, but respect for people’s hard work is essential. This is unacceptable; it will tarnish the project’s reputation.”

Project Teams, TON Blockchain, and Exchanges as the Real Winners

Beyond the user base, the project teams, exchanges, and the TON blockchain itself emerge as significant winners in this massive airdrop.

TON blockchain data indicates that the number of addresses has surged by 30 million since September, reflecting a 50% increase. Recently, the TON Foundation announced that the monthly active wallet count reached 10 million, marking a historic high.

The exponential growth of TON’s ecosystem is largely attributed to the explosion of various mini-games. In early June, the number of addresses was only 27 million. According to Binance, as of September 12, the number of Hamster Kombat accounts linked to TON wallets reached 55 million.

The influx of users also provided considerable advertising revenue for Hamster Kombat. The game’s Telegram channel currently boasts about 60 million subscribers, while its YouTube channel has approximately 37.6 million subscribers and its Twitter account has 14.2 million followers. Such a vast audience represents substantial monetization potential.

The official Telegram channel began accepting advertising early on, and with a minimum CPM (cost per thousand impressions) of €2, the estimated advertising revenue from 50 million views could exceed €100,000. Given the frequency of advertisements, total revenue might reach millions of dollars.

Additionally, the airdrop has triggered a competitive rush among exchanges, reminiscent of the earlier DOGS frenzy. Binance, OKX, HashKey Global, and Bitget have launched various trading or airdrop initiatives for HMSTR tokens. In this capital competition, Binance emerged as the largest winner.

As of September 27, Binance accounted for about 18% of all HMSTR holdings, the highest among exchanges, with Bybit and OKX following closely. Data from CoinMarketCap indicates that HMSTR’s 24-hour trading volume exceeded $1 billion, making it the 12th largest token in the market, with Binance handling nearly half of that volume.

However, the extent of new user acquisition driven by Hamster Kombat remains uncertain. Bybit’s founder, Ben Zhou, has suggested that the user acquisition effect might start to wane. On-chain data reveals only 214,000 distinct HMSTR holders.

An Unconventional Success Story

Hamster Kombat’s success is an atypical case. Launched in March 2024 without any investment news, the game gained attention in the TON ecosystem, which was fueled by the popularity of other click games such as Tapswap and Catizen.

By May, Hamster Kombat boasted 15 million users, slightly trailing Tapswap’s 20 million, yet its Telegram channel was the third largest globally. Over the subsequent months, Hamster Kombat claimed to reach 300 million users, with its Telegram channel now holding 69 million subscribers—ranking first worldwide.

The game’s success can largely be attributed to its engaging gameplay. Unlike other click games, Hamster Kombat not only involves accumulating coins through clicks but also shifts towards simulating investment mechanics as the game progresses. Essentially, Hamster Kombat evolves into a virtual management game, providing a level of playability that surpasses many competitors.

Another factor in its rapid growth is the team’s savvy marketing strategies. The game incorporated referral and social media engagement mechanics to earn points. Notably, Hamster Kombat introduced a daily news program where players could discover reward codes, driving significant engagement and increasing social media followers. This approach garnered real views and leveraged platform algorithms, playing a crucial role in driving further traffic.

Conclusion

Overall, Hamster Kombat’s success offers valuable insights for project teams. Rather than solely relying on large fundraising rounds and traditional airdrop strategies, the game has demonstrated the power of engagement and player experience to build a solid user base.

However, in contrast to earlier airdrops that yielded substantial rewards, this distribution model has been met with skepticism from many users, signaling that the era of lucrative airdrops may be fading.