Hamster Kombat- a new clicker game on Telegram messenger app is the talk of the town with millions hooked to its rather simplistic gameplay.
From the U.S. to Iran to Russia, people young and old- are spending hours everyday, clicking frantically on the Hamster icon, where each click ensures a reward token.
The popularity of the Hamster Kombat game is reminiscent of the massive success of other mobile phone games such as Candy Crush, Subway Surfer and Temple Run. However, it is not the gameplay of Hamster Kombat that has hooked the masses but a hope for cashing out the reward tokens in near future.
Hamster Kombat was launched in March this year on the TON blockchain network and in mere three months, it has attracted over 240 million users worldwide. The gameplay is simple- you need to adopt a virtual hamster in order to run a fictitious exchange, where the topmost position is that of CEO. Every time you click on the hamster icon, you earn one HMSTR token which then can be used to do mining or complete other game activities that bear extra rewards.
The craze for the game has alerted governments and enforcement agencies across the globe with an Iranian official even going to the extent of accusing the U.S. of “distracting their citizens” by launching an “addictive” game. Similarly, Russian authorities have termed the game as a “pyramid scheme” and warned their citizens of possible attempts by scammers to dupe people of their money on TON wallets through the game.
However, beyond the advisories issued by enforcement authorities, there are other pressing issues with the game and their creators that new users must be aware of.
Anonymity of Creators
There is no information regarding the identity of the makers of this game- they remain anonymous-thereby fuelling conspiracy theories in the crypto community. The game makers maintain four official channels on Telegram, Meta, X, and Youtube with a combined follower count of above 100 million. The makers also maintain 17 different YouTube accounts in different languages in order to promote the game. Yet not much is known about the origins of this game except that it was launched on the TON Blockchain network in March.
Zero Transparency
The makers of Hamster Kombat have not released a whitepaper on the game in the interest of transparency. There is no information regarding smart contracts, revenue models, game mechanisms, and security aspects that are usually mentioned in a whitepaper whenever a new project is launched on DeFi mechanism. With such ambiguity around the game, users are having a difficult time believing the prospect that one day they will be able to encash their tokens.
No clarity on Listing/Spot Trading
Although Bybit has announced HMSTR token on pre-market trading on July 8, there is no clarity on whether the token will be listed on Bybit spot trading platform. Moreover, Bybit has clarified in a statement that the reward tokens being held by gamers are not exactly crypto tokens but “points.” These points will then be converted into regular token orders once the project makers announce the official conversion rate. Similarly, there is no update regarding other crypto exchanges allowing HMSTR tokens to be listed for spot trading.
Low-Hanging Fruit for Scamsters
The anonymity around the makers of Hamster Kombat has resulted in several scamsters creating duplicate websites with malicious links to dupe players of their money. A Russia-based cybersecurity company F.A.C.C.T had recently reported that hackers were targeting players’ accounts by tricking them into logging into fake bot Hamster Kombat links and scamming them of their money in TON wallets.
Similarly, the scamsters also target users by promising them fake airdrops of HMSTR tokens.
Conclusion: Is there real money involved?
Whether or not users will be able to cash out their HMSTR tokens is a million-dollar question. The pre-market trading announcement made by ByBit is indeed positive news for the users but there is still ambiguity regarding the actual monetary value of the tokens they have been holding. While there is no harm in holding onto your tokens and hoping for the best, it is advisable for users to take adequate security precautions to safeguard their money from scamsters.
