Contrary to reports in local media, financial regulators in Uzbekistan have not prohibited citizens from playing the Hamster Kombat clicker game on Telegram.
Uzbekistan’s National Agency for Perspective Projects (NAPP), a major regulator overseeing e-commerce and the cryptocurrency industry, issued an announcement on June 25 clarifying the legal status of the Hamster Kombat game.
Hamster Kombat coins are not cryptocurrencies, at least for now
In the statement, the NAPP emphasized that Hamster Kombat is not a typical play-to-earn game, as its in-game coins do not have collateral or real utility.
On the other hand, in play-to-earn games, players are rewarded with assets that have real-world monetary value and can be traded, such as cryptocurrencies or non-fungible tokens (NFT).
For example, in a game like Axie Infinity, players can collect Axies — collectible creatures used to battle others in the game or trade on marketplaces.
According to the NAPP, Uzbekistan residents are free to play the Hamster Kombat game and collect in-game tokens as they are not actual cryptocurrencies and are not based on blockchain. Hamster Kombat tokens are also beyond the scope of NAPP’s regulation for that reason.
“It is possible, however, that Hamster Kombat coins may move to the blockchain in the future, thereby becoming a crypto asset,” the authority noted.
Selling Hamster Kombat tokens would likely be a problem, though
While tapping and collecting tokens on the Hamster Kombat game is not illegal in Uzbekistan, selling in-game tokens will likely get problematic for many due to local regulations.
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According to the NAPP, Hamster Kombat gamers will only be allowed to sell their in-game tokens once the underlying token is approved as a crypto asset and listed on a regulated national exchange.
“However, often such crypto-assets depreciate in value within a short period of time following the listing due to the lack of useful functionality,” the NAPP added.
The news comes a few days after the local news outlet Uzbek-MDK reported that Uzbekistani prosecutors would imprison Hamster Combat players attempting to withdraw in-game tokens.
Previously, a local court reportedly sentenced a 24-year-old man to 10 days of administrative imprisonment for selling Notcoin (NOT) tokens for 800,000 Uzbekistan soms, worth $63.
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