Introduction
Catizen and Hamster Kombat are two of the most promising gaming projects in the TON ecosystem. Catizen is a virtual cat cafe where players can earn the CATI token through engaging gameplay and activities, while Hamster Kombat is a fast-growing Telegram tap-to-earn game where players act as CEO of a virtual crypto exchange.
These projects have generated significant interest in the crypto community. Both projects have just launched their tokens, where Catizen's CATI token launched on September 20, 2024, while Hamster Kombat launched its HMSTR token on TON on September 26, 2024.
This article delves into the details of both CATI and HMSTR tokenomics and their token price performance.
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Catizen (CATI) Token
The CATI token is the native utility and governance token of the Catizen ecosystem, a Telegram-based play-to-earn platform.
Token Utility:
The CATI token serves several essential functions within the Catizen ecosystem:
- In-game Currency: CATI is the universal currency in the Catizen ecosystem. It allows users to purchase in-game items, upgrades, and services such as the Game Center, Launchpool, and Open Task. By using CATI for these transactions, users can access premium content and features.
- Governance: CATI acts as a governance token, enabling holders to vote on important ecosystem decisions, including upcoming Launchpool projects. This decentralized governance helps shape the future of the platform.
- Launchpool Participation: Users can stake CATI tokens in Catizen’s Launchpool to earn rewards, including exclusive airdrops and bonuses
Staking and Earning: Users can stake their CATI tokens in Catizen's Launchpool to participate in yield-generating activities. Additionally, holding CATI allows users to receive future airdrops through the Open Task platform.
Staking offers multiple benefits:
- Payment Discounts: Users enjoy a 30% discount on in-game purchases made in the Game Center when paying with CATI
- Staking Rewards: Staking CATI in the Launchpool or Earn Pool allows users to earn tokens from other high-value projects
- Airdrop Rewards: Users who participate in the Open Task platform earn points, which can be exchanged for CATI every three months. The reward pool releases more than 1% of CATI tokens quarterly, along with other project airdrops like Bombie and Vanilla
- Fee Discounts: CATI can also be used to pay trading fees on platforms like the Vanilla TG trading bot, where users enjoy a 30% discount
Token Allocation:
The total supply of CATI is fixed at 1 billion tokens, with the following allocation breakdown:
Airdrop and Ecosystem (34%):
- 15% TGE released 100%, for Season 1 Player Reward.
- 19% TGE released 0%, For the remaining portion of airdrop, it will be used for quarterly season airdrop campaign, rewarding players in future seasons. 9,900,000 tokens (0.99%) will be airdropped in the beginning of second quarter. This figure will increase by 10% every quarter until the 7th quarter, after which the release is linear. The entire airdrop process will be completed within 12 quarters following the TGE.
Launchpool (9%): 9% for the Launchpool, where users can stake tokens to earn additional rewards.
Team (20%): Allocated to the team, with no tokens released at TGE. This allocation is subject to a 12-month cliff followed by a 48-month linear vesting period
Treasury (15%): A strategic reserve, with 10% released at TGE. The remaining tokens are locked with a similar 12-month cliff and 48-month linear release
Investors (10%): These tokens are vested over 48 months after a 12-month cliff
Advisors (7%): Similar vesting as investors, with no initial release and a 12-month cliff followed by a linear vesting
Liquidity (5%): These tokens were fully unlocked at the time of TGE to ensure immediate liquidity
CATI Price Analysis
The Catizen (CATI) token, launched on September 20, 2024, has experienced notable price fluctuations since its debut. Initially, the token surged to an all-time high (ATH) of $1.11 on its first day of trading, reflecting strong early demand. However, this rally was short-lived, and the price quickly dropped, settling near its opening price of $0.75 within a few days. As of late September, CATI is trading around $0.79, approximately 31% below its ATH.
CATI's circulating supply is around 30.5% currently, and will increase gradually to around 40% by September 2025, thus around 10% of new CATI token will enter into the market in the span of one year. This would bring moderate selling pressure, and Catizen is now working on the new staking function to incentive holding and staking in order to mitigate the selling pressure.
To better understand the positioning of the CATI token within the TON ecosystem, we can compare its market capitalization with that of other leading projects. For instance, the leading tap-to-earn project Notcoin currently boasts a market cap of $1 billion as at 28 Sep, while CATI's market cap sits at $218 million—which is only about one-fifth of Notcoin's. However, when looking at the fully diluted valuation (FDV), which accounts for the total supply of tokens (including those not yet in circulation), CATI's FDV stands at $720 million, bringing it closer to Notcoin's FDV of $1 billion.
Potential and Risk
Catizen is a more involved and complex game compared to some of the more basic tap-to-earn games on Telegram. While other games simply require users to tap or click on the screen to earn in-game currency, Catizen has a gameplay mechanic where players need to swipe and combine cats of the same level to earn rewards. This added layer of gameplay makes Catizen more engaging than just mindlessly tapping. As of September 2024, Catizen has reached over 34 million users, with 800,000 paying users contributing to its $33 average revenue per user (ARPU), according to a report on Cointelegraph. This strong fundamental justifies its current valuation as a top gaming project on TON.
It’s important to note that Notcoin, the leading tap-to-earn project on TON, is a fully distributed token, meaning it does not experience the continuous selling pressure typically caused by token unlocks. Despite this advantage, Notcoin’s price has been on a downward trend since reaching its peak in June and has not shown any significant recovery, even during the recent broader market rebound. Notcoin has underperformed relative to both ETH and TON, despite its smaller market cap, which would typically result in a larger rebound. This underperformance may signal a declining investor interest in tap-to-earn tokens compared to earlier in the year, indicating potential challenges for similar projects in the space.
Given this backdrop, CATI's current valuation may face challenges, particularly with the upcoming launch of similar gaming projects on the TON chain. These new tokens could potentially divert liquidity away from CATI, as investors may choose to allocate their capital across multiple gaming projects within the ecosystem, increasing competition for market share and attention.
To justify a higher valuation for CATI, it's crucial to closely monitor the product development of Catizen. Only if Catizen can deliver a significantly better gaming experience within the TON ecosystem will a higher valuation be warranted. Strong product performance, particularly in a competitive and evolving ecosystem, is key to maintaining investor confidence and capturing market share, especially with new game projects launching on the TON chain.
Hamster Kombat (HMSTR) Token
HMSTR is the utility token of the Hanster Kombat ecosystem, serving primary roles as facilitating in-game rewards, customization, and participation within the Hamster Kombat ecosystem.
Token Utility
The $HMSTR token serves multiple purposes within the Hamster Kombat ecosystem.
- In-Game Currency: The HMSTR token functions as the primary currency for various in-game transactions, enabling players to buy, sell, and trade items, characters, and upgrades within the Hamster Kombat game
- Access to Exclusive Content: Players can use HMSTR tokens to unlock special in-game content that is not available through regular gameplay, including rare items and unique characters
- Participation in Events: The token allows entry into limited-time events and tournaments that offer unique rewards, fostering a competitive yet engaging environment
- Unlocking Premium Features: Players can use HMSTR tokens to access advanced customization options and faster progression mechanics, providing a competitive edge in gameplay
Token Allocation
The Hamster Kombat (HMSTR) token has a total supply of 100 billion tokens, with a significant portion allocated to player rewards and ecosystem growth. Here's a breakdown of the token distribution:
Initial Allocation: 64.38% of the total supply (64.375 billion HMSTR) will be available during the Token Generation Event (TGE).
Player Rewards
- 60% for Player Rewards Season 1: Players can only claim 88.75% of their HMSTR token allocation on day one, with the remaining 11.25% vested for 10 months. This means that about 53.24 billion tokens were airdropped to users at the token launch, while 6.75 billion tokens will be released 10 months after listing.
- 15% for Player Rewards Season 2: These tokens are reserved for Season 2 airdrop, which hasn't started yet.
Other Allocations
By allocating a significant portion of tokens to player rewards, Hamster Kombat aims to incentivize user engagement and drive sustained interest in the platform.
The HMSTR token has no allocation to investors. According to the whitepaper, there is no involvement of investment firms or venture capitalists (VCs) in the project. This is explicitly stated to minimize sell pressure and ensure that the token remains community-driven.
The project emphasizes that the value of the token will be determined by the community, demand, and ecosystem engagement, rather than by external investors looking for liquidity. This approach helps avoid the typical exit strategies employed by investors, which can create selling pressure and negatively impact token prices.
HMSTR Price Analysis
Upon its launch, HMSTR began trading at approximately $0.009758 and quickly reached a peak of around $0.01004, achieving a market capitalization of $646 million shortly after trading commenced. However, this momentum was short-lived, as the token experienced a sharp decline, dropping to $0.007 within hours.
HMSTR has a high circulating supply of around 64% at the token launch. The team's token allocation will be locked until Sep 2025, and the only vesting token for the next year is the allocation for Partnership & Grants, total unlocking will only be 1.5% in the span of one year. The project has reserved 15% of the total supply for Season 2 airdrop. However, the exact plan for Season 2 has not yet been finalized.
As of now, HMSTR has a market cap of approximately $437 million, which is roughly half that of Notcoin, the leading tap-to-earn project in the TON ecosystem. When comparing fully diluted valuations (FDV), HMSTR's FDV is $680 million, similar to CATI’s $710 million. Both HMSTR and CATI are trading at an FDV lower than Notcoin's $1 billion.
However, HMSTR’s higher circulating supply of over 64% (compared to CATI’s 30.5%) suggests that it could face higher immediate selling pressure after the token launch as airdrop farmers rush to dump the tokens. Despite this, its price may stabilize more quickly since it will experience less continuous selling pressure from future token unlocks. This could explain HMSTR's currently slightly lower FDV than CATI.
HMSTR faces similar challenge as CATI, as the leading tap-to-earn token, Notcoin, has not shown any significant recovery since peaking in June. This suggests that the tap-to-earn sector may be losing traction among investors. Additionally, both HMSTR and CATI are likely to encounter increased competition from similar projects launching within the TON ecosystem.
Conclusion
CATI and HMSTR are two newly launched tap-to-earn game tokens within the TON ecosystem, both currently trading at a fully diluted valuation (FDV) of approximately $700 million. This is lower than the FDV of Notcoin, the leading tap-to-earn token, which stands at around $1 billion.
CATI has a more aggressive token unlocking schedule, which could lead to greater selling pressure over time as more tokens enter circulation. In contrast, HMSTR launched with a larger initial circulating supply, resulting in higher short-term selling pressure, particularly from airdrop farmers looking to offload their tokens. However, this means HMSTR may face less selling pressure in the long run, after the initial post-launch activity subsides.
Both tokens face similar challenges, including a shifting market narrative away from tap-to-earn toward other sectors, as well as increasing competition from newer gaming projects launching on the TON blockchain. These factors could impact investor interest and liquidity, making it crucial for both CATI and HMSTR to differentiate themselves and sustain user engagement in a rapidly evolving market.
