What is Hamster Races Betting? Inside Crypto Degen's New Game World and the Animals Involved

For years people have been betting on ponies with horse racing, an activity that includes in-person betting at racetracks and also online thanks to the rise of online sports betting and horse racing betting.

Cryptocurrency fans could have a new form of animal betting with the rise of HAMS/USD Hamsters and other animal racing-related cryptocurrencies.

What happened: A new blockchain-based platform called Hamsters.gg was recently launched, which offers viewers the opportunity to bet on hamsters in live races and bet and win cryptocurrency.

"Hamsters are real and the bets are real. Hamsters race down a track and the first hamster to cross the finish line wins," says the Hamsters website.

Streamed on Twitch, four hamsters race on a short track with users betting Binance USD BUSD/USD. Punters can deposit BNB chain or Ethereum ETH/USD tokens.

According to Coindesk, the HAMS white paper states that the platform takes 5% of all bets placed. Of this total, 4% is distributed to HAMS token holders.

Rising betting on the platform has helped HAMS's valuation soar in recent days, peaking at $3.32 on July 21, before falling back to below $1.

The Hamsters Twitter account promised more announcements to bet on the Hamsters and also brushed off claims of using replays and renaming the same Hamsters for races.

Related link: How to use Binance Smart Chain

Why it matters: If the use of hamsters in the cryptocurrency world sounds familiar, it might be because you remember a hamster named Mr. Goxx.

In 2021, Mr. Goxx captured the heart of the cryptocurrency world by trading live through a Twitch account. The hamster would run on a wheel and then select one of dozens of pre-selected cryptocurrencies. The hamster would then also choose whether to buy or sell the token in question.

Decisions made by Mr. Goxx turned into actual cryptocurrency trades and saw Mr. Goxx outperform Warren Buffett, Cathie Wood and other stock market investors in a short period of time.

With the rise of hamster betting, cryptocurrency degenerates might already be moving on to the next kind of animal racing. New crypto-themed betting platforms for races involving snails, rats, and rabbits have also popped up, according to Decrypt.

Coingecko now tracks a new category of tokens themed around races from across the animal kingdom, including HAMS.

Horse racing's connection to the world of cryptocurrency and NFTs also saw the launch of Zed Run in 2019, which was an early hit in the 2021 NFT bull run. Users can buy NFT horses, breed them, and race them for tokens.

When betting on hamsters or a token associated with the project, it should be remembered that sometimes the value of new tokens loses value and investment and crypto modes may fade.