With Catizen and Hamster Kombat failing to meet their airdrop deadlines, what are the underlying issues causing these delays?
Lately, there has been a lot of buzz in the Telegram gaming community about two highly anticipated air currencies: CATI from the puzzle game Catizen and HMSTR from the clicker-to-earn (T2E) game Hamster Kombat.
Both were scheduled to launch their tokens on The Open Network (TON) in July. As the month drew to a close, neither had delivered on their promises, causing frustration among eager players.
Pluto Studio, the company behind Catizen, has publicly addressed the delay, citing planning challenges.
Similarly, the Hamster Kombat team has hinted via social media that their code release may not happen this month either, though their website still lists July as a target date.
Let’s understand what happened and why there are delays.
Why was the Catizen airdrop temporarily halted?
Catizen is a web3 social entertainment platform on Telegram, aiming to create a decentralized application that integrates mini-games, short dramas, and e-commerce.
Catizen has over 27 million active users worldwide and has handled over 20 million transactions on the chain to date.
In addition to this success, Telegram founder Pavel Durov recently reported that Catizen has made $16 million from in-game purchases. Impressively, they also donated 1% of that amount to saving homeless cats.
The Catizen community was eagerly awaiting the planned CATI token distribution, which involved distributing 43% of all CATI tokens using the TON blockchain. However, the distribution has been postponed.
According to Pluto Studio, the developer of Catizen, several challenges arose during the planning stages. They cited the need to improve key elements such as securing leading exchanges, ensuring adequate liquidity, and setting a listing price. Compliance and market sentiment also played a role in the delay.
Pluto Studio also revealed that seed round investors, advisors, and the team will receive 0% of CATI tokens at the Token Generation Event (TGE). Instead, there will be a 12-month slump period followed by a 4-year vesting schedule. This strategy is designed to align the interests of developers and the community, and ensure the long-term value of the CATI token.
The Katizen team asked for patience and understanding from their community, and promised that they are doing everything they can to achieve the expected results.
In addition to the delay in launching their token, Pluto Studio has also faced frustration from players over a $100,000 donation they made to animal rights non-profit People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) earlier this month.
The donation was part of an effort to share a portion of the game’s profits with charities that help stray cats. However, PETA’s controversial history of killing animals it deems unhelpful has caused a backlash.
On July 29, Pluto tweeted that it had “received feedback” about PETA’s practices and was “temporarily suspending collaboration.” It explained that all of Katizen’s donations to PETA would be used only to feed, vaccinate, rescue, and assist adoptions.
Meanwhile, Bybit, the world’s second-largest cryptocurrency exchange by trading volume, announced Advertise It will list the CATI token on the pre-market trading platform on July 30.
Hamster Kombat game download delay
Hamster Kombat is a popular game created within the Telegram messaging platform. In Hamster Kombat, players act as the CEO of a fictional cryptocurrency exchange, aiming to grow their startup to the top of the industry by investing in marketing, licensing, talent, new products, and more.
In just a few months, Hamster Kombat has amassed over 250 million players, making it a major player in the Telegram gaming community, though it has come under fire from government officials along the way.
In May, Hamster Kombat announced via Twitter its decision to launch its token, HMSTR, on the TON blockchain. Its website remains Indicates July was set as the date for TGE. However, since July is coming to an end, the token has not been launched yet.
Recently, the Hamster Kombat team addressed the community via another tweet, explaining the situation. They highlighted the technical complexity of the airdrop, noting that the scale of Hamster Kombat is one of the largest projects in the industry, and could lead to the largest airdrop in history.
They assured players that they are actively working to make the airdrop process run smoothly, and addressing potential network overload issues to ensure that every player gets their tokens.
The Rise of Telegram-Based Crypto Games in 2024
2024 has been an incredibly favorable year for Telegram-based crypto games, which have seen increased interest and massive growth in user numbers.
Leading the way is Notcoin (NOT), a game launched by Open Builders in early 2024. Notcoin’s success lies in its simple and engaging T2E mechanism, allowing users to easily earn cryptocurrencies.
Notcoin’s simple gaming model quickly gained popularity, propelling it into the top 100 coins by market cap. As of July 30, it was ranked 63rd with a market cap of over $1.3 billion.
The success of Notcoin also paved the way for other Telegram-based games like Hamster Kombat and Catizen, capitalizing on the popularity of the TON blockchain.
Other projects, such as YesCoin (YES) and TapSwap (TAPS), have also seen a significant increase in usage and popularity, contributing to the overall trend.
The current trend of growing interest in Telegram-based crypto games suggests that the way is now paved for Hamster Kombat and Catizen to successfully launch their own airdrops.