Crypto's Hamster Obsession Gets a New Fix: Betting on Rodent Car Races

Every day in crypto seems to bring a new race to capture the attention and coins of the world’s degen traders—many of whom have an apparently insatiable desire for the next sufficiently amusing, ridiculous, or grotesque premise on which to spend their collective billions.

Now, a newly organized betting platform is hoping to entice those gamblers with something they (hopefully) haven’t seen before: wagers on real hamsters, racing in real (plastic) cars, streamed in high definition with live commentary.  

Every day since the beginning of the month, four fluffy rodents—held in an “undisclosed location”—have squared off against each other again and again (typically four races per day) over a Twitch livestream in the Hamster Racing League.

Users can bet on their favored hamster using USDC on Arbitrum, the popular Ethereum scaling network. Chewsain Bolt currently tops the leaderboard with 38 victories.

At the end of a given race, in a standard parimutuel betting format, the shared pot of all bets is split proportionally among the victors depending on how much they initially waged, minus a commission taken by the platform hosting the races, Fanplay. 

Fanplay launched earlier this year, attempting to distinguish itself in a crowded field of crypto casinos and prediction markets as a “content-first” platform with “’what the fuck moments’ that you wouldn’t find anywhere else,” co-founder Gregor Cooney told Decrypt. 

That appears to be where the hamsters and their tiny cars come into play. To be clear, Fanplay didn’t design the plastic vehicles, but rather stumbled upon them in a pet store and figured they would add an air of legitimacy to the operation.

If the terms “hamster,” “race,” and “degenerate profligate gambling” are causing you some deja vu, then you’re not alone. Last summer, the trend was briefly crypto’s Hot New Thing, until the project that started the sensation was accused of rug pulling and pre-recording races. It soon fell apart, though hamsters have gone on to fuel crypto’s biggest video game sensation.

Fanplay seeks to rehabilitate the besmirched reputation of crypto hamster racing by bringing the whole affair above board, and making it sleeker. The company’s hamster racing operation is currently licensed by the tiny Dutch constituent island of Curacao, a popular destination for crypto gambling licenses. It also says it’s retaining the services of a British production company to give the whole affair an extra sheen. 

Brady Nagel, another Fanplay team member, says that hamster racing is only the first stop on a broader mission to capture degens’ supposed hunger to bet on tangible, live-action events. 

“It’s a massive market,” Nagel told Decrypt. “There are millions of people that participate in this, but at the same time, you’re not going to hear about it so much going through [Crypto Twitter].”

So far, the betting pools on Fanplay’s hamster races have yet to capture the big bucks. Races have rarely netted winners jackpots above $100. But the company is nonetheless enthusiastic that there is more juice to be squeezed from live rodent racing, and that crypto gamblers aren’t already looking for a more extreme high.

Fanplay is currently available in most countries, with the notable exceptions of the United States, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, and Australia. 

And if none of the hamsters under Fanplay’s stewardship decide they want to push a fake car to the end of their track for the 97th consecutive time, then fret not, degen—Fanplay says you’ll be refunded.

Edited by Andrew Hayward