The Telegram gaming community has been buzzing with excitement over the anticipated token airdrops of CATI from Catizen and HMSTR from Hamster Kombat. However, both projects have missed their deadlines, leaving players frustrated and curious about the underlying issues causing these delays.
Catizen, a web3 social entertainment platform on Telegram with over 27 million active users worldwide, was set to distribute CATI tokens through the TON blockchain in July. Unfortunately, the airdrop has been postponed due to planning challenges faced by Pluto Studio, the developer behind Catizen. These challenges include optimizing key elements such as securing leading exchanges, ensuring liquidity, and determining the listing price. To align the interests of developers and the community, seed round investors and the team will not receive any CATI tokens at the token generation event but will go through a vesting schedule instead.
In addition to the delay in launching their token, Catizen faced backlash for donating $100,000 to PETA, an animal rights nonprofit with a controversial history. As a response to community feedback, Catizen temporarily suspended the collaboration with PETA and ensured that donations would only be used for animal welfare purposes.
On the other hand, Hamster Kombat, a popular game within Telegram with over 250 million players, announced the launch of their token HMSTR on the TON blockchain. Despite the anticipated TGE date in July, the token is yet to be released. Hamster Kombat cited technical complexities as the reason for the delay, emphasizing the scale of their project as one of the biggest in the industry.
The success of Notcoin in 2024, a Telegram-based crypto game that quickly gained popularity with its T2E mechanism, has paved the way for other projects like Hamster Kombat and Catizen. The rise of Telegram-based crypto games indicates a growing interest in this sector, with projects like YesCoin and TapSwap also seeing increased usage and popularity.
Overall, the current trend suggests that the road is set for Catizen and Hamster Kombat to successfully launch their airdrops once the underlying issues causing the delays are resolved. With the community’s patience and understanding, both projects have the potential to thrive in the Telegram gaming scene.