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It’s not just Bitcoin and other big-cap coins that are surging lately: Some tokens tied to games launched as Telegram mini apps have also seen impressive gains recently. Most notably, the tokens tied to the Elon Musk-themed X Empire and combat training game Rocky Rabbit both reached respective all-time high prices on Sunday.
Tap-to-earn games have dominated Telegram this year, as projects launched mini apps that prompted players to tap their screens for in-game coins or points. Typically, that game progression would lead to a slice of a future crypto airdrop—following a token launch.
Many coins have tumbled following their release: Hamster Kombat (HMSTR) and Catizen (CATI) both plummeted 50% in the weeks following their creation, and even X Empire (X) fell nearly 55% in the weeks following its launch. But things changed on Election Day last week.
When Donald Trump secured reelection as U.S. president, X Empire’s token skyrocketed in price. This is likely due to Musk's close ties to the Trump campaign, despite the Tesla owner having no official link to the Telegram game.
It quickly hit an all-time high last week, drawing back over the coming days before surging to a much higher peak price on Sunday. Prior to the election, X was valued at $0.00003719, but jumped as high as $0.00054 on Sunday—that’s a 1,370% election-related jump.
RabBitcoin (RBTC), the token linked to Telegram game Rocky Rabbit, has also reached its all-time high, albeit without any obvious political ties. RBTC saw major green candles from Sunday through to Monday as it hit an all-time high price of $0.00002435.
What exactly caused this run from RabBitcoin is unclear. Looking broadly at Telegram-related tokens, as categorized by CoinGecko, the sector is up 16.2% over the past 24 hours with RBTC leading the way. Perhaps the naming association with Bitcoin is doing favors for the token.
Both tokens have cooled off since reaching their respective peaks, however, with X down to $0.00035 and RBTC trading for $0.000014 as of this writing.
Hamster Kombat (HMSTR), by far the most popular of the tap-to-earn games, is also up 91% over the past week. This comes as players continue to wait for the next season, touted to be “right around the corner.”
Still, HMSTR is way below its all-time high, which happens to be the price it launched at of approximately $0.01 according to CoinMarketCap. Its current value of $0.0045 is still 55% below this initial price.
Other notable token jumps over the past week include Notcoin (NOT) rising 30%, Catizen (CATI) jumping 43%, and Toncoin—the native token for the blockchain that powers most of the tap-to-earn craze, The Open Network (TON)—climbing 13%.
Edited by Andrew Hayward