HMSTR price plummets as Hamster Kombat loses 259 million players

  • Hamster Kombat has lost 259 million players, dropping its user base by 86% in three months.
  • The HMSTR token price has fallen 76%, eroding trust among early adopters and players.
  • Government scrutiny and controversies have intensified concerns about the game’s future.

Hamster Kombat, once hailed as a groundbreaking tap-to-earn game on Telegram, has recently experienced a staggering decline, losing approximately 259 million players in just three months.

This dramatic drop has raised serious concerns about the game’s sustainability and the future of its associated cryptocurrency, the HMSTR token.

Hamster Kombat has lost 86% of its user base

Launched with an impressive user base of 300 million, Hamster Kombat attracted players with its unique blend of gaming and cryptocurrency earning potential.

Initially, the game thrived on its engaging tap-to-earn mechanics, allowing users to participate in simple gameplay while earning crypto rewards. High-profile endorsements, including a mention from Telegram’s CEO as “the fastest-growing digital service in the world,” added to its allure.

However, this initial success proved to be fleeting after the revelation that it had lost 259 million players over the past three months.

But why the decline in user engagement?

The decline in user engagement can be attributed to several key factors. First and foremost, gameplay issues have been a significant deterrent.

Players quickly grew fatigued with the repetitive mechanics of the tap-to-earn model, which offered little variation or depth.

Additionally, criticisms surrounding the quality of AI-generated art used in the game contributed to a growing perception of low production values, further alienating users.

Compounding these issues is the plummeting value of the HMSTR token. Once launched at a promising price of $0.009993, the token has since experienced a dramatic decline, currently trading at around $0.00237—a staggering 76% drop.

This HMSTR price decline has eroded trust among early adopters who had invested their time and resources in the platform, leading to widespread disillusionment and further player attrition.

The operational history of Hamster Kombat is also marred by contentious decisions, such as the controversial token airdrop, which was plagued by delays and frustrations among users.

Moreover, the sudden implementation of anti-cheat measures led to the disqualification of 2.3 million players, further damaging the game’s reputation. Reports indicate that many users felt betrayed, having dedicated time to earn tokens that could only be sold for minimal returns.

Adding to these woes, governmental scrutiny has emerged, with authorities in countries like Iran and Russia expressing concerns about the game’s influence and legitimacy. The association with Gotbit, a company facing regulatory issues, has only intensified speculation about the game’s stability despite Hamster Kombat clarifying that it has never worked with Gotbit as a market maker.

It now remains to be seen if Hamster Kombat will find a way out and regain its lost glory. If not we could be looking at its last kicks as it prepares to exit the scene.

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Paxos Issues New Yield-Bearing Legally Compliant Stablecoin

  • Paxos issued a new stablecoin, the Global Dollar (USDG), which is legally compliant with Singapore’s monetary laws.
  • Unlike other legally compliant stablecoins, USDG will distribute a large portion of the interest earned on reserves to market participants that help propagate the stablecoin network.
  • Big names like Anchorage Digital, Galaxy Digital, Bullish, Nuvei, Kraken, Paxos, and Robinhood back USDG.

Paxos, the former issuer of the now-defunct BUSD stablecoin, launched a new stablecoin called the Global Dollar, USDG compliant with the Monetary Authority of Singapore. The stablecoin is meant to be a legally compliant alternative to the likes of Tether’s USDT and Circle’s USDC.

The best of both worlds

USDG adopts features from the two largest existing stablecoins, USDT and USDC, like its pegging structure. Each USDG will be backed 1:1 by high-grade short-term government debt, predominantly US Treasuries.

This method of pegging is the most legally compliant as reserves are held with registered custodians and are liquid enough to fulfil redemption requests.

However, USDG is moving one step further to integrate yield-bearing features similar to purely on-chain stablecoins like Ethena, which are ultimately mechanisms to reward market participants that propagate the stablecoin’s use.

Paxos intends to share profit generated from its reserve assets with entities who help push USDG forward. Usually, stablecoin issuers like Tether and Circle retain all proceeds of their reserve assets as profits, a move which has proven highly profitable as Tether reported a $2.5 billion profit for Q3-2024.

However, Paxos’ CEO Charles Cascarilla, in an interview, stated that “This [USDG] is meant to be a community token” and that “Anybody can join the Global Dollar Network and accrue rewards for activity. We’re distributing something like 97% of the economics. That’s a big difference from how other stablecoins have been set up and created to date.”

Different from others in the family

USDG is not the only stablecoin that Paxos issues. Earlier in June 2024, the company issued the Paxos Lift Dollar (USDL) in UAE which is regulated by the Financial Services Regulatory Authority (FSRA) of Abu Dhabi Global Market (ADGM).

USDL is a yield-generating stablecoin with a programmatic daily yield of around 5% for end users.

Unlike the mechanism employed with USDL, Paxos will share yields generated by USDG’s reserve assets with the companies that serve various functions that contribute to the growth of the stablecoin network rather than end users.

Other stablecoins in Paxos’ lineup include PayPal USD (PYUSD), Pax Dollar (USDP), and Pax Gold (PAXG). USDG is available in the United States.

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State of Michigan pension fund discloses $10m Ethereum ETF holdings

  • State of Michigan pension fund holds over $11 million in spot Ethereum exchange-traded funds.
  • The 13F filing the State of Michigan Retirement System about $10 million in Grayscale ETF ETHE and $1.1 million in Grayscal Ethereum Mini Trust ETF (ETH).

The State of Michigan pension fund has disclosed in a 13F filing that it acquired and holds over $10 million in spot Ethereum exchange-traded funds.

In the latest 13F filing, details show that the State of Michigan Retirement System disclosed its holdings of the Grayscale Ethereum Trust (ETHE) and Ethereum Mini Trust ETF (ETH).

Per the filing, the Michigan state pension holds 460,000 shares of ETHE worth about $10 million and 460,000 shares ETH (the mini trust ETF) worth roughly $1.1 million.

VanEck head of digital assets Matthew Sigel shared the details below on X.

State pension funds buying spot crypto ETFs

With these spot Ethereum ETF holdings, the State of Michigan pension fund has become the first such entity to disclose an ETH ETF holding.

Notably, the State of Michigan Retirement System already disclosed its spot Bitcoin ETF holdings, revealing a $7 million position. Going by the latest 13F filing, the pension fund’s ether ETFs position is bigger than its spot BTC ETF one.

Commenting on this, Bloomberg senior ETF analyst Eric Balchunas said it is a “big win” for Ethereum. In particular, it’s because BTC price has seen massive price gains compared to ETH which has struggled a lot over the last several months.

Balchunas wrote in a post on X:

“Not only did Michigan’s pension buy Ether ETFs but they bought more then they did of bitcoin ETFs, $10m vs $7m, this despite btc being up a ton and ether in the gutter. Pretty big win for ether which could use one.”

Several US states have disclosed spot ETF holdings since SEC approved BTC ETFs in January this year. These include the State of Wisconsin Investment Board and Florida, whose chief financial officer revealed in an interview last week that the state’s crypto holdings are around $800 million.

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Crypto price prediction: Is Vantard (VTARD) set to outperform Pepe (PEPE)?

  • PEPE price has declined alongside that of Bitcoin ahead of the week’s major events – the US election and Fed’s interest rates decision.
  • Vantard has raised over $300 in seed round as investors eye the meme supercycle.

Pepe (PEPE) price has dropped significantly, but could this be a buy opportunity given potential market pump? What about the token creating the most buzz in the meme coins space today – Vantard (VTARD)?

Here’s the price prediction for PEPE and VTARD, and why the latter could outpace the frog-themed meme coin.

Vantard meme index fund

Vantard (VTARD) is a meme coin token that offers access to an index fund. For investors who have heard of Vanguard, then this is a project that seeks to replicate successes of its top funds in the crypto market.

The choice tokens for this index fund are the blue chip meme coins currently dominating the altcoin ecosystem. As a token, VTARD is the ticket to a portfolio that collates all the mega moves of top memes like dogwifhat, Popcat and hot new trends like GOAT and MOODENG.

All this does is allow investors buy a token that represents all the top movers.

The fund will rebalance periodically to add the hottest meme coins. Investors are bullish on VTARD, which stormed to $500k in its pre-seed sale and has surpassed $300k as the seed sale accelerates.

Pepe price prediction

Pepe price has declined 8% this past week and more than 21% over the past two weeks, with bulls struggling to hold key support levels.

As such, PEPE currently signals a bearish outlook as price hovers at levels last seen in mid-September. PEPE has plummeted below the key $0.0000087 area, and the downtrend has sellers eyeing the $0.0000065 level.

Both the Moving Average Convergence Divergence (MACD) and Relative Strength Index (RSI) indicators on the daily chart suggest bears have the upper hand. However, despite the bearish outlook, the overall market setup could help bulls flip momentum.

PEPE chart. Source: TradingView

Should meme coins return to an upward trajectory as its looks very likely they will with a Donald Trump win, PEPE could target a strong recovery to $0.000010. The YTD highs above $0.000017 will be a key target.

If not, likely with a Kamala Harris win, the short term price outlook could be a dip below $0.0000065. The demand reload level in this case will be the area around $0.0000048, a support level seen in April. Notably, bulls bounced off this area above before rallying to the year-to-date highs in May.

Vantard price prediction

VTARD currently sits at $0.00012 but could skyrocket as top meme coins in the portfolio begin to explode.

As noted above, the meme coin market is bullish as the US goes into Election Day on Tuesday, November 5, 2024. The crypto space is buzzing for a Trump win, with the forecast that a win for Harris could see prices fall short term.

In all these, crypto analysts have pointed out to the meme coin narrative as the one to watch.

Vantard’s unique proposition means the seed round is potentially a great entry level. As the project claims, this could be the first 1000x meme index fund, with performance riding the next meme supercycle.

To learn more about Vantard, visit the official website.

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PONKE spikes 10% after Binance announces perpetual contract listing

  • PONKE price has jumped 10% amid Binance Futures listing.
  • Binance has recently listed perpetual contracts for several meme coins, including GOAT.

Binance has announced the listing of the PONKEUSDT perpetual contract, with traders getting up to 75x leverage as from Nov. 4 at 12:30 UTC.

PONKE, a meme coin on Solana that has recently seen significant community interest amid market resurgence, surged more than 10% after the news. The price of PONKE had traded near $0.46 early Monday, but went vertical to near $0.55 as traders reacted to the Binance Futures news.

Last week, the price of meme coin Goateus Maximus also rocketed as Binance added perpetual contract for GOAT.

Ponke price surges 10%

Gains for the PONKE meme coin come as most cryptocurrencies eye upward bounce following this weekend’s dip. Per data from CoinMarketCap, Ponke was among the largest 24-hour gainers in the top 500 by market cap. PolitiFi tokens MAGA and TRUMP were seeing the most gains as polls suggested Donald Trump is leading Kamala Harris in the race for White House.

Binance has not announced spot trading support for Ponke, but the community is excited at the visibility and traction that the perpetual contract listing brings.

Notably, this comes amid the social media commentary around token listing on Binance and Coinbase.

In a post on X, Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong noted that the US-based crypto exchange charges $0 fees to token listing. This was in response to another post that claimed Binance had asked for millions of dollars to list a top tier project.

However, Fantom co-founder Andre Cronje refuted Armstrong’s claims, noting that Coinbase had asked for millions in listing fee but Binance hadn’t. Tron founder Justin Sun also supported Cronje’s assertion.

Meanwhile, Binance co-founder Yi He, took to X to dismiss the FUD and to clarify the exchange’s listing policy.

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