Telegram Game Value Discussion: CATI and HMSTR Token Economics and Price Performance

Author: 0xEdwardyw

Preface

Catizen and Hamster Kombat are the two most promising game projects in the TON ecosystem. Catizen is a virtual cat cafe where players can earn CATI Tokens by participating in fun games and activities, while Hamster Kombat is a rapidly rising Telegram tap-to-earn game where players play as the CEO of a virtual encryption exchange.

These two projects have caused widespread attention in the encryption community. Both of their Tokens have just been launched, with the CATI Token from Catizen launched on September 20, 2024, and the HMSTR Token from Hamster Kombat launched on the TON platform on September 26, 2024.

This article will explore the tokenomics of CATI and HMSTR and their price performance.

Catizen (CATI) Token

CATI Token is the native utility and governance token of the Catizen ecosystem, a play-to-earn platform based on Telegram.

Token Utility:

• CATI Token has multiple important functions in the Catizen ecosystem:
• In-game currency: CATI is the universal currency in the Catizen ecosystem. Users can use CATI to purchase in-game items, upgrades and services, such as Game Center, Launchpool and Open Task. By using CATI to make these transactions, users can access advanced content and features.
• Governance: CATI acts as a governance token, allowing holders to vote on important decisions in the ecosystem, including the upcoming Launchpool project. Decentralization governance helps shape the future of the platform.
• Launchpool Participation: Users can stake CATI Tokens in Catizen's Launchpool to receive rewards, including exclusive Airdrops and incentives.

stake and returns:

• Users can stake CATI Token in Catizen's Launchpool to participate in yield generation activities. In addition, users holding CATI can receive future Airdrop rewards through the Open Task platform. Staking provides multiple benefits:
• Payment Discount: Users can enjoy a 30% purchase discount when using CATI for payment in the game center.
• stake rewards: By staking CATI in Launchpool or Earn Pool, users can earn Tokens from other high-value projects.
• Airdrop rewards: Users participating in the Open Task platform can earn points, which can be exchanged for CATI every three months. The reward pool releases over 1% of CATI Token every quarter, including Airdrop rewards from other projects such as Bombie and Vanilla.
• Fee discount: Users can also use CATI to pay for platform transaction fees on platforms such as Vanilla TG trading robots and enjoy a 30% discount.

Token Distribution:

The total supply of CATI is fixed at 1 billion, and the specific allocation is as follows:

Airdrop and Ecosystem (34%):

• 15% released during TGE (Initial Token Issuance) for player rewards in Season 1.
• 19% was not released at TGE and the remaining part will be used for the Airdrop activity in the quarterly competition season to reward players in future seasons. 9,900,000 tokens (0.99%) will be Airdropped in the early stage of the second quarter. This number will increase by 10% every quarter until the seventh quarter, after which the release will rise linearly. The entire Airdrop will be completed within 12 quarters after TGE.

Launchpool (9%): Used for Launchpool, users can stake Token to earn additional rewards.

Team (20%): Allocated to the team, tokens are not released at TGE and will start unlocking after 12 months, followed by linear unlocking within 48 months.

Finance (15%): As a strategic reserve, 10% will be released at TGE, and the remaining portion will follow a 12-month lock-up period and a 48-month linear release plan.

Investors (10%): These Tokens will be linearly unlocked within 48 months after a 12-month lock-up period.

Advisor (7%): Same unlocking method as investors, no initial release at TGE, linear unlocking after 12-month lock-up period.

Liquidity (5%): These Tokens are fully unlocked at TGE to ensure immediate Liquidity.

CATI Price Analysis

After Catizen (CATI) Token was launched on September 20, 2024, it experienced significant price Fluctuation. Initially, the Token price quickly pumped, reaching an All-time high (ATH) of $1.11 on the first trading day, reflecting strong early demand. However, this pumping momentum quickly faded, and the price fell to an Opening Price of nearly $0.75 within a few days. By the end of September, the trading price of CATI was about $0.79, 31% lower than its historical high.

Currently, the circulating supply of CATI is approximately 30.5%. By September 2025, it is expected to gradually increase to 40%. This means that about 10% of new CATI Tokens will enter the market within a year. This may bring some selling pressure, and the Catizen team is developing new stake functionality to incentivize users to hold and stake Tokens, thereby alleviating the selling pressure.

To better understand the positioning of CATI in the TON ecosystem, its market capitalization can be compared with other major projects. For example, as of September 28th, the market capitalization of the leading tap-to-earn project Notcoin is $1 billion, while the market capitalization of CATI is $218 million, only one-fifth of Notcoin's. However, considering the Fully Diluted Valuation (FDV), CATI's FDV is $720 million, which is closer to Notcoin's $1 billion.

Potential and Risks

Compared to other simple tap-to-earn games, Catizen is more complex. Unlike games that only require tapping the screen to earn in-game currency, Catizen requires players to slide and merge cats of the same level to earn rewards. This additional gameplay element makes Catizen more attractive than purely click-based games. As of September 2024, Catizen has over 34 million users, with 800,000 paying users contributing an average revenue per user (ARPU) of $33. These strong fundamental data support its current valuation as a top-tier game project on TON, according to a report by Cointelegraph.

It is worth noting that the leading tap-to-earn project in the TON ecosystem, Notcoin, is a completely distributed Token, and therefore is not affected by the continuous selling pressure caused by unlocked Tokens. Despite this advantage, Notcoin's price has been falling since reaching its peak in June, even during the recent more widespread market Rebound, there was no apparent recovery. Notcoin's performance is inferior to ETH and TON, despite its smaller Market Cap. Projects with smaller Market Caps usually experience a larger rebound during market Rebound. This poor performance may indicate that investors' interest in tap-to-earn Tokens has waned compared to the beginning of the year, which is a potential challenge for similar projects in this field.

In this context, the current valuation of CATI may face challenges, especially with the launch of TON on-chain similar game projects. These new Tokens may dilute the Liquidity of CATI, as investors may choose to allocate funds among multiple game projects in the ecosystem, thereby intensifying competition for market share and attention.

To prove the higher valuation is reasonable, it is crucial to closely follow the development of Catizen's products. Only when Catizen can provide significantly better gaming experience in the TON ecosystem, it is possible to support a higher valuation. In a competitive and evolving ecosystem, strong product performance is key to maintaining investor confidence and capturing market share, especially with the launch of new game projects on TON on-chain.

Hamster Kombat (HMSTR) Token

HMSTR is the utility token of the Hamster Kombat ecosystem, mainly used for in-game rewards, personalization customization, and participation in various activities within the Hamster Kombat ecosystem.

Token Utility:

$HMSTR Token has multiple uses in the Hamster Kombat ecosystem:

• In-game currency: HMSTR Token is the main currency for various transactions in the game, which players can use to purchase, sell, and trade items, characters, and upgrade content.
• Access exclusive content: Players can use HMSTR Token to unlock special content that regular games cannot obtain, including rare items and unique characters.
• Participation in activities: This Token allows players to participate in limited-time events and tournaments, which provide unique rewards and create a competitive and fun gaming environment.
• Unlock advanced features: players can use HMSTR Token to access advanced customization options and accelerate the upgrade mechanism, thereby gaining a competitive advantage in the game.

Token Distribution:

The total supply of Hamster Kombat (HMSTR) Token is 100 billion, a considerable portion of which is used for player rewards and ecosystem rise. Here is the detailed allocation of Tokens:

Initial allocation: 64.38% of the total supply (64.375 billion HMSTR) will be released during the token generation event (TGE).

Player Rewards:

• 60% is used for player rewards in Season 1: Players can only receive 88.75% of their HMSTR Token allocation on the first day, and the remaining 11.25% will be released linearly over 10 months. In other words, approximately 53.24 billion Tokens will be airdropped to users during Token issuance, while 6.75 billion Tokens will be released over the 10 months after listing.
• 15% is reserved for the player rewards of Season 2: These Tokens are reserved for the Airdrop of Season 2, but have not started yet.

Other Allocations

By allocating a large number of Tokens as rewards to players, Hamster Kombat aims to incentivize user participation and drive ongoing interest in the platform. The HMSTR Token does not have investors. According to the White Paper, the project does not involve any investment firms or venture capital (VC). This is explicitly stated to reduce dumping pressure and ensure that the Token remains community-driven.

The project emphasizes that the value of Token will be determined by the participation of the community, demand, and the ecosystem, rather than relying on external investors seeking Liquidity. This approach helps to avoid common exit strategies of investors, which often cause selling pressure and have a negative impact on Token prices.

HMSTR Price Analysis

The trading price of HMSTR Token was approximately $0.009758 when it went online, and quickly pumped to a high point of around $0.01004, achieving a market capitalization of $646 million in a short period of time. However, this pumping momentum lasted for a short duration, and the Token plummeted to $0.007 within a few hours.

During Token issuance, the circulating supply of HMSTR is relatively high, accounting for about 64%. The team's Token allocation will be locked until September 2025, and the only Tokens to be unlocked within the next year are those reserved for partners and rewards, with a total unlock of only 1.5%. In addition, the project has also reserved 15% of the total supply for the second season airdrop, but the specific plan for the second season has not yet been determined.

As of now, HMSTR has a Market Cap of approximately $437 million, which is about half of the leading tap-to-earn project Notcoin Market Cap in the TON ecosystem. In comparison, HMSTR's Fully Diluted Valuation (FDV) is $680 million, similar to CATI's $710 million. Both FDVs are lower than Notcoin's $1 billion.

However, HMSTR's over 64% high circulation supply (compared to CATI's 30.5%) means that after token issuance, Airdrop participants may quickly dump tokens, facing higher short-term selling pressure. Nevertheless, due to relatively smaller future token unlocking pressure, its price may stabilize more quickly. This may also explain why HMSTR's current Fully Diluted Valuation (FDV) is slightly lower than CATI's.

HMSTR and CATI face similar challenges as leading tap-to-earn Tokens. Since reaching its peak in June, Notcoin has not shown significant price recovery, indicating that the tap-to-earn sector may be losing investor follow. In addition, HMSTR and CATI may face more intense competition with the increasing number of similar projects launched in the TON ecosystem.

Conclusion

CATI and HMSTR are tap-to-earn game Tokens newly launched in the TON ecosystem, with their current Fully Diluted Valuation (FDV) estimated at around 700 million US dollars, which is lower than the leading tap-to-earn Token Notcoin's 1 billion US dollars.

CATI has a more aggressive Token unlocking plan, which may lead to greater long-term selling pressure as more Tokens enter circulation. In contrast, HMSTR has a higher initial circulation supply, leading to higher short-term selling pressure, especially from Airdrop participants trying to dump Tokens. However, this means that the long-term selling pressure on HMSTR may decrease after the initial activity ends.

Both face similar challenges, including the shift of market narrative from tap-to-earn to other areas, as well as increased competition brought by TON Block on-chain new gaming projects. These factors may affect investor interest and market liquidity, so CATI and HMSTR must respond by differentiation and maintaining user engagement to remain competitive in this rapidly evolving market.