Hamster Kombat, a popular Telegram game that attracted over 300 million users to the TON ecosystem, is set to officially launch its $HMSTR token on September 26. However, recent announcements regarding airdrop rules have sparked significant controversy within its community.
The game's developers revealed that out of a total supply of 100 billion $HMSTR tokens, 60 billion will be distributed in the first airdrop, with an additional 15 billion reserved for the second season. Eligible players will receive 88.75% of their tokens on September 26, while the remaining 11.25% will be held back for 10 months, to be fully distributed by July 2025.
Community Feels Cheated
While Hamster Kombat has been played by around 300 million people, only 129 million users qualified for the airdrop. Around 2.3 million players were disqualified due to cheating, further frustrating the community. There has also been discontent over the airdrop’s weighting, which favours referrals and newly introduced features such as earning keys. This has led to accusations that influencers and YouTubers are benefiting at the expense of regular players who have invested months into improving their in-game profit-per-hour (PPH), which was initially promised to be the most important factor in determining airdrop eligibility.
In response, some users have launched a boycott of the game, calling on others to stop playing, unsubscribe from Hamster Kombat's YouTube channel, and cease watching its videos to deprive the team of revenue.
Read more: Hamster Kombat Unveils Anti-Cheating Strategy to Ensure Fair Play
34 Billion Tokens Redistributed
On September 24, in an effort to restore community trust, the developers announced the redistribution of 34 billion tokens, 50% of the 6.8 billion $HMSTR tokens confiscated from the disqualified players. The remaining 50% will be burned, reducing the overall supply and potentially increasing the token’s scarcity.
The developers posted:
"We have banned over 2.3 million cheaters—enough to fill the entire city of Rome!
We have taken 6.8 billion tokens from these cheaters. 50% has been redistributed to honest players, and the other 50% will be burned.
Cheaters do not belong in our community. They used software to gain an unfair advantage over regular players. We care about our participants, especially long-term holders, and aim to protect them."
Read more: Russian players extremely disappointed as Hamster Kombat ends first season amid token airdrop controversy
$HMSTR Token Pre-Launch Price
Despite the developers' efforts, many community members remain dissatisfied, with some still questioning the fairness of the airdrop rules. Some users have gone as far as declaring they are no longer interested in playing the game, calling the airdrop one of the worst in history. However, many players are closely monitoring the token's price ahead of the September 26 launch.
Pre-launch trading of $HMSTR is already live on exchanges such as Bybit, Gate.io, Bitget, BingX, and OKX. At the time of writing, the token is trading at 0.0088 USDT on OKX, 0.084 USDT on Bybit, and 0.0096 USDT on Bitget.
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