Telegram’s popular crypto game, Hamster Kombat, has seen a remarkable increase in its player base, now boasting over 150 million users, which surpasses the population of Russia. This surge represents a 50% growth from just last week when the game hit the 100 million user milestone.
Nearly one in five Telegram users have joined Hamster Kombat, a game that offers real crypto rewards as players work to build a virtual crypto exchange for hamsters. These rewards come in the form of a token airdrop scheduled for July, where players who accumulate points will be eligible to receive tokens.
Operating as a mini-app within Telegram, Hamster Kombat eliminates the need for additional downloads, making it easily accessible to users. The game’s announcements channel on Telegram has become the most popular channel on the app, with over 35 million subscribers.
Aside from its success on Telegram, Hamster Kombat has gained traction on other social media platforms as well. The game’s YouTube channel has 23 million subscribers, and its Twitter account has 7.7 million followers, both experiencing significant growth in the past week.
The game’s popularity can be attributed to its predecessor, Notcoin, which also gained a loyal following through a token airdrop to players. Notcoin’s token, NOT, has seen remarkable growth, reaching a market capitalization of over $2 billion last week and ranking among the top 60 cryptocurrencies by market cap.
Additionally, Toncoin, the native token of Telegram’s blockchain, The Open Network (TON), has also benefitted from the success of Hamster Kombat. Toncoin reached an all-time high price of $8.13, marking a 26% increase in the last two weeks.
In light of these achievements, other games are looking to follow suit. Two new Telegram-based games, Tapswap and Yescoin, have announced plans to launch on TON with similar token airdrop initiatives.
The success of Hamster Kombat has also contributed to TON’s blockchain surpassing Ethereum in terms of daily active addresses, thanks to Telegram’s massive user base of 900 million. Last week, Telegram introduced a new digital payment feature called “Telegram Stars,” allowing users to make in-app purchases on both iOS and Android devices.
With the growing popularity of mini apps on Telegram, games like Pixelverse, a Web3 Telegram-based gaming ecosystem, have also seen success, raising $5.5 million in a recent capital raise.