This Week in Crypto Games: ‘Hamster Rumble’ Airdrop and Expansion, $50 Million Gaming Scam
The crypto gaming space is abuzz with activity lately, as popular games make their debut, token airdrops abound, and various other exciting developments unfold. It’s a whirlwind of information!
Thankfully, our team at Decrypt’s GG has you covered. If you’re looking for a quick way to catch up on the latest happenings in the world of crypto games, you’re in luck—we proudly present This Week in Crypto Games.
Our weekly roundup brings you the most significant news from the past week, along with a few hidden gems you might have overlooked. Plus, we feature some of our own original stories from the week.
Biggest news
Hamster Rumble airdrop: The incredibly popular Telegram mini-game Hamster Rumble launched its HMSTR token on The Open Network (TON) this week. The tap-to-earn game has amassed over 300 million players, with 131 million of them being eligible for the airdrop. However, an additional 2.3 million cheaters were excluded from the rewards.
However, not everyone was satisfied with their “free money.” Some players expressed disappointment with the initial value of their HMSTR tokens, as the price plummeted to as low as $0.006—contrary to the pre-market trading prediction of $0.095 per token the day before the airdrop. Nevertheless, the airdrop sparked significant trading activity, with over $1.2 billion worth of tokens changing hands within the first 24 hours. Despite concerns, TON remained resilient.
Prior to the airdrop, the Hamster Rumble team unveiled its roadmap for the upcoming year. The anonymous developers plan to release NFTs, launch new games, and most notably, expand beyond the confines of Telegram exclusivity.
This expansion will begin with the development of a progressive web app (PWA) for iOS, Android, and desktop platforms—a PWA is a website that functions like a regular app. Months later, the team aims to integrate Hamster Rumble directly into desktop games, moving away from the PWA.
$50M gaming scam: Binance recently collaborated with Indian law enforcement to apprehend four individuals suspected of defrauding victims out of $47.6 million through an online betting and gaming app called Fiewin. The app enticed users with promises of easy earnings, but ultimately trapped their funds, preventing them from making any withdrawals.
The investigation revealed that once substantial funds had been amassed, the app froze users’ accounts and proceeded to move the money through various cryptocurrency wallets, making it harder to trace. Nevertheless, Binance’s Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU) provided invaluable technical expertise in tracking the movement of funds.
ICYMI
- Deadrop released an exciting new gameplay trailer showcasing notable improvements.
- Dr. Disrespect claimed he had a hunch he would join the Midnight Society once again. However, the studio promptly denied this rumor.
- Space Nation Online “soft launched” its MMORPG, aiming to become the next Star Wars.
- Flappy Bird confirmed the launch of its FLAP token and outlined plans for staking rewards.
FLAP will be the fuel that powers the Flappy Bird ecosystem 🎮
By staking the $FLAP token, players will earn rewards from the Flappy Bird Foundation.
Participate during Season 1 of the Flap-a-TON to become eligible!https://t.co/KpZYYxcyxQ pic.twitter.com/dyPSnbhBQ2
— Flappy Bird (@flappy_bird) September 28, 2024
- Treasure announced its plans to bring its decentralized gaming console to the ZkSync ecosystem.
- Crypto farming game Pixels offered a sneak peek of its upcoming Telegram tap-to-drive game.
- Shooter game Farcana launched a staking program for its FAR token.
- The British gambling regulator cracked down on the NFT fantasy soccer game Sorare, pursuing legal action against it.
GG spotlight
Here are some of our original stories from this past week that we highly recommend checking out:
Edited by Andrew Hayward