Hamster Kombat says Season 2 is ‘more than a game’ amid layer-2 launch

Hamster Kombat has introduced a layer-2 blockchain, Hamster Network, on The Open Network (TON) to support Web3 gaming and decentralized applications, the project announced on Feb. 25.

Hamster Kombat said the layer-2 blockchain was launched in collaboration with TON. The team said the network was the first gaming-focused layer-2 blockchain within the TON ecosystem. 

In a statement, the Hamster Kombat team told Cointelegraph the new network is designed to allow developers to build fully decentralized applications and launch games that operate entirely onchain. The team added: 

“We’re not talking about centralized games that store only specific pieces of data or NFTs onchain. We’re talking about games whose entire logic is enshrined in smart contracts.”

According to the team, the layer-2 solution enables developers to build on the network using Solidity, a widely used programming language for blockchain applications.

“An efficient L2 solution built on TON will benefit everyone by enabling the network to scale and enhancing interoperability,” the team said. 

Foundation for an entertainment ecosystem

The launch of Hamster Network is part of a broader initiative to expand Hamster Kombat beyond gaming. The team described Season 2 of the game as a foundation for an entertainment system called “Hamster Verse,” which will revolve around the characters from the Web3 game.

The team said that to support this ecosystem, its decentralized autonomous organization (DAO) proposed the creation of the layer-2 network on TON. 

They added that the layer-2 network had been launched with all the necessary infrastructure. This includes a crypto wallet, a bridge and a dedicated decentralized exchange (DEX). The team explained that users with a TON wallet can use the same wallet address on the layer-2 network. 

“Thanks to the TVM, all smart contracts and wallets are compatible with TON, too. Your wallet on the Hamster Network will have the same address as your wallet in TON,” the team said. 

Related: Why Telegram’s TON-only strategy for Mini Apps could backfire

Hamster Kombat token drops 35% in February

Hamster Kombat (HMSTR) dropped by 35% in February as the broader crypto market struggled. According to CoinGecko, HMSTR opened at $0.00272 on Feb. 1. At the time of writing, the token traded at $0.00176. 

Despite this, the Hamster Kombat team said the token will continue to play a central role in the Hamster ecosystem. “It works as a gas for transactions, governance participation, validating the network, and rewarding active community members and developers,” the team told Cointelegraph. 

Hamster Kombat said that despite the crypto market cycle becoming more challenging and complex, their focus remains the same: to ensure that the token has “maximum utility.” 

At its peak, the Hamster Kombat project attracted over 300 million users. However, users declined over time as other TON projects emerged. At the time of writing, Telegram shows that Hamster Kombat has 11.5 million monthly active users. 

Despite this, the team said it has retained its “core users” and plans to re-engage. 

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