Hamster Kombat’s 2024 airdrop distributed 6 billion tokens to 50 million users, peaking at 300 million players. Post-airdrop, HMSTR crashed 77%, reducing holders to 3.8 million. The HamsterVerse launch aimed to retain users via Layer-2 apps, but engagement dropped as profit-taking dominated. Pre-airdrop, daily active users soared; post-airdrop, activity plummeted, with only 15% profitable. Unlike Tapswap’s utility focus, HMSTR’s ecosystem struggled to maintain relevance, highlighting that hype alone can’t sustain long-term activity without compelling retention strategies.