Hamster Kombat Players Earn Just $10 Following Token Launch

The $HMSTR token was launched at a price of ‘$0.0081’ and left most of the players high and dry with paltry returns from major exchanges like Binance and OKX today.

The much-hyped $HMSTR token launch, linked to the tap-to-earn game Hamster Kombat, left many players feeling disappointed, with some earning as little as $10 or ₹830 in Indian currency (around ₦7,800 for Nigerian players) despite spending months mining tokens.

The $HMSTR token was launched at a price of ‘$0.0081,’ leaving most players with paltry returns from major exchanges like Binance and OKX on Monday.

The game gained immense popularity, especially in India and Nigeria. However, the returns were far below expectations after spending hours, days, and months on the game, which began in March 2024.

Speaking to crypto media outlet Crypto Times, one player revealed that he earned about 1,300 $HMSTR tokens, which ended up being around $10.

Another X user, going by the name Crypto with Khan, stated that there was a major bug in the Hamster Kombat airdrop, with many users receiving less than $5 in airdrop value. However, most exchanges do not permit trading for amounts below this benchmark, effectively locking users out from selling their tokens.

This problem was also highlighted by other players, with one user stating that he had earned 331.18 $HMSTR tokens, valued at only $3.45 in his Bybit account.

Many players also felt that the returns were hardly commensurate with the four months of efforts and the $HMSTR token felt like dust rather than a real airdrop. The feeling of disappointment was widespread among players who expected more from the game.

Another point of contention was the fact that Hamster Kombat disqualified over 2.3 million players for using unscrupulous methods and cheating. The harsh penalties left many players frustrated, especially those who had toiled for months farming rewards.

However, the game's developers enforced strict anti-cheating measures after detecting suspicious activities, such as one instance where a single player was linking 400 accounts to a single Binance address.

The airdrop event was also delayed multiple times, leading to a significant drop in player count for Hamster Kombat, which fell from 155 million active users to just 87 million in less than a week.

Additionally, the last-minute announcement that 11.25% of the 60 billion HMSTR tokens allocated to community members for Season 1 would remain locked for 10 months left those who planned to sell their tokens early feeling disappointed and frustrated.

Another point of contention was the fact that influencers pocketed a lion's share of airdrop compared to community members.

Kir Gusev, vice president of investment bank Troika Dialog, stated that the lock up tokens were the only answer since doling out just $10 per user to 300 million users would require $3 billion, which was simply not possible. In all likelihood, the Hamster Kombat team did not have enough money for the airdrop.