Key takeaways:
- Catizen (CATI) token started trading on major exchanges like Binance on Sept. 20.
- CATI surged 30% at launch, but there’s concern about the longevity of play-to-earn tokens.
- Catizen’s airdrop was marred by accusations of unfair distribution after the developer changed the criteria at the last minute.
The Catizen (CATI) token officially started trading on Binance, the world’s largest crypto exchange, on Sept. 20, marking a major milestone for the kitty-themed Telegram game.
Catizen had already rolled out pre-market trading on other exchanges like OKX and Bybit, ahead of the launch.
A few days earlier, Binance had announced the listing of Catizen on its so-called Launchpool, allowing users to stake their Binance Coin (BNB) tokens and the dollar-pegged stablecoin First Digital USD (FDUSD). By doing so, users could “farm” CATI – in other words, earn the token without ever playing the game.
As spot trades opened on Sept. 20, Binance users who received the token, whether via an airdrop or staking, could buy or sell the asset across pairs that include CATI/USDT, CATI/BNB, CATI/FDUSD, and CATI/TRY. As of this writing, the token is trading at around $0.94.
Manel Sort, CEO and co-founder of Games for a Living (GFAL), told Cryptonews that listing on a major exchange like Binance makes a token more visible and accessible.
“This potentially leads to increased trading activity and short-term price movements,” explained the studio lead.
Catizen’s airdrop has been rocked by controversy, with accusations of unfair distribution. There’s also lingering concern about the project’s future given that, in the past, similar P2E tokens have crashed soon after launch as profit-hunters cashed out.
Here’s a look at the Catizen project and the potential pitfalls that await it.
What Is Catizen?
Catizen is a play-to-earn game (P2E) that can be played via Telegram mini-apps, similar to Notcoin or Hamster Kombat. The game was launched by developer Pluto Studio in March and is embedded within the messaging platform. To start playing, you simply launch the Telegram bot.
The game demands more involved gameplay, known as swipe-to-play, as opposed to “clicker games” – where users furiously tap their smartphone screens – which can be set to run automatically.
The Catizen player runs a cat café where visitors come to check out the felines. They make money when a cat is picked by a patron and are rewarded with vKitty, an in-game currency.
The key to the gameplay is to swipe same-level cats into one higher-level cat, which can earn more points when picked up.
Starting with one basic-level cat, the player receives more during the game. They can also use vKitty deposits to buy some supercats that will fast-track their quest for points.
Catizen Tokenomics and Airdrop Controversy
According to its website, Catizen says a total of 40 million people play the game, with an average 4.1 million daily active users. Since its launch, the project claims to have generated $27 million in revenue from one million users making in-game purchases.
During its airdrop, eligibility was based on performance. Players were categorized into seven leagues, including “Silver League” and “Gold League,” depending on their vKitty earnings. On Sept. 19, 15.2 million users qualified for the CATI airdrop.
But more than half of the community – over 20 million – fell into the Bronze League and didn’t qualify for the airdrop. And when those who qualified finally got their tokens, many felt cheated about not getting enough to make up for the time spent playing the game.
“Rank 6,054 out of 36 million players but got only 39 CATI,” one player complained on X. “How can someone call this fair distribution? We need transparency about the token allocation.”
“I wouldn’t have almost fried my laptop motherboard running your [Catizen] game 24 hours,” fumed yet another user, in response to a post by Pluto Studio announcing a sudden change in airdrop distribution criteria. Others called Catizen a “scam”.
Pluto initially announced that 43% of the CATI token’s total supply of one billion coins would be distributed to players. But the developer changed goal posts days before the airdrop, revealing that only 30% of the supply would be circulating at launch.
Of those estimated 305 million tokens, only about half, or 15%, were airdropped during the initial token launch on The Open Network (TON). This does not include the 90 million tokens (9% of the total supply) allocated for the Binance Launchpool.
The Binance allocation hit users by surprise, as it was not previously communicated. There are other things about the airdrop that Pluto changed at the last minute that did not sit well with users, like dropping vKitty earnings as a key determinant in airdrop allocations.
In its defense, the developer said that “the original airdrop criterion would significantly undermine the benefits of genuine players and community supporters!” Pluto added:
“During the data review for this CATI airdrop, we discovered that numerous bot accounts exploited this public rule by using scripts to boost their vKitty profit speed, attempting to gain a disproportionate amount of CATI tokens,”
Catizen (CATI) Soared 30% at Launch but Doubts Remain
On Sept. 20, CATI was listed not only on Binance. Several platforms, including OKX, Bybit, Kucoin, BitGet, Gate.io, CoinEx, and others, opened CATI spot trades.
After the launch, CATI’s price soared 29% to $1.12, a record high. The digital currency later pared some of those gains to trade at $0.94 at the time of writing. Catizen’s total market value rose about 10% to $286 million, and volume reached $1.13 billion.
According to data from CoinMarketCap, most of the token’s 24-hour volume happened on Binance, with $461 million worth of trades, followed by BitGet ($92 million), Bybit ($84 million), OKX ($50 million), and Gate.io ($49 million).
The surge in the price of Catizen comes as the top TON-based decentralized exchange Ston.fi launched CATI farming on its platform, allowing users to share in rewards worth a total of around $86,000 in STON, the native currency of the eponymous trading site.
The campaign runs until Oct. 4, and users will receive their rewards split equally between CATI/TON and CATI/ USD. BitGet has also started allowing users to lock their CATI tokens on the platform in exchange for TON, worth $300,000 in winning bonuses.
“Farming” tends to boost the prices of new cryptocurrency tokens. However, Catizen is launching at a time when play-to-earn games have been dogged by issues of “airdrop dumping” – a situation where players quickly cash out their tokens shortly after receiving them, leading to massive price declines.
There’s concern whether Catizen will be able to keep its current momentum. For example, the cyberpunk-themed gaming ecosystem Pixelverse (PIXFI) – also built on TON – has slumped more than 75% in price since it launched in late July.
LumberJack (LUMBER), another blockchain game built on The Open Network, has crashed 95% within just two months of launch. Other P2E crypto games like Axie Infinity and Decentraland have all struggled to retain their initial appeal.
Manel Sort, the Games for a Living CEO, said while Catizen’s exposure to big exchanges like Binance may attract a wider audience, it does not guarantee long-term success. He told Cryptonews:
“The token’s sustained performance will depend on the underlying fundamentals of the game, particularly its ability to engage and retain players through enjoyable content. Success in this industry hinges on creating engaging, high-quality games that retain users because they enjoy the gameplay, not just because they’re chasing financial incentives.”
