Cryptocurrency traders bet on hamster races for returns | CoinDesk JAPAN | CoinDesk Japan

As Bitcoin (BTC) continues to level off and the decentralized finance (DeFi) sector never fully emerges from a bear market, crypto traders have found novel ways to generate returns.

Blockchain-based platform Hamsters.gg allows users to bet on real hamster races. “Hamsters are real, bets are real. Hamsters run the track and the first hamster to cross the finish line wins,” the site explains.

Star hamsters like “Rocky” and “Buster” are already attracting bets of up to $500 per race. Other hamsters like ‘CK’ were less fortunate, losing 326 races and winning just 8. These races appear to take place every few hours, with a chatbox popping up in between, attracting at least 1,000 viewers and displaying virtual beer and hot dog emojis.

put him down man pic.twitter.com/ku9cChCz3g

—PZ (@badquant1) July 20, 2023

“Drinking wine and betting on hamster races. What could be better than that?” read one recent message on the chatbox. Some people are trying to win mathematically. “Does anyone have hamster stats?” “Do you have weight classes?”

After the rise of tokens like Dogecoin (DOGE) and Shiba Inu Coin (SHIB), whose market caps jumped to tens of billions of dollars during the previous bull market, crypto traders have learned the knack of jumping on gambling platforms and memecoins.

Anyone can invoke a smart contract to issue tokens on Ethereum (or any other blockchain) for a few cents, and the presence of a decentralized exchange (DEX) will instantly issue tokens, supply liquidity, and trade immediately.

Most of these don’t last more than a few weeks. Last year, some bets on GRIMACE, sparked by an English-language article and McDonald’s joke tweet, went to near zero within a few weeks. But some, like Pepecoin (PEPE), have a market capitalization that jumps to billions of dollars and become a big project.

According to the data, HamstersGG started live streaming in early July and live-streamed a series of races through Twitch on July 20th. Bets can be made by depositing USD-pegged stablecoin Binance USD (BUSD) from Ethereum or the BNB chain.

“Teddy” won this race. (Hamsters.gg)

Surprisingly, there is also a token called HAMS. According to a white paper on the Hamsters.gg site, the platform will cut 5% of bets, of which 4% will be distributed to HAMS holders.

Ethereum-based HAMS has raised over $6 million in funding almost overnight. On-chain data shows that HAMS is trading at 60 cents at the time of writing, an increase of about 1000% compared to the 20th. Uniswap has $450,000 in liquidity in its pool, with $9 million in trading volume in the last 24 hours.

Hamsters.gg developers say this is just the beginning of a novel hamster betting platform. “Our vision is long-term development and expansion. We have been working on this project for over three months and are committed to building a sustainable and thriving ecosystem,” they said.said in a tweet last week.

Is it silly? Interesting isn’t it? It’s like the Wild West of crypto.

｜Translation: CoinDesk JAPAN
｜Editing: Toshihiko Inoue
| Image: Hamsters.gg
｜Original: Move Over Shiba Inu: Crypto Community Flirts With Hamster Race Betting