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Iranians Chase Dreams of Wealth and Defy Cryptocurrency Gambling Warning
A mysterious online game promising financial rewards has spread to Iran, attracting players who defy government warnings in their quest for wealth.
But what is the game and the craze all about? Why does it fascinate the masses and what fuels the opposition against it?
What is Hamster Kombat?
Hamster Kombat, a rapidly expanding “play to earn” mobile game accessible via Telegram, officially debuted on March 25. In just 72 days, it had piled up over 116 million users.
This game allows players to oversee a virtual cryptocurrency exchange, earning in-game coins that can later be converted into tokens.
The core gameplay revolves around players selecting a cryptocurrency exchange they wish to manage and tapping the central hamster icon on the screen to accumulate profits in the form of in-game coins.
As players accumulate more coins in the exchange balance, its level increases, facilitating faster coin gains.
What’s the appeal?
The game is expected to go public. Cryptocurrency listing, also known as cryptocurrency listing, involves introducing a newly launched cryptocurrency to an exchange platform, thus making it accessible to the public for trading.
Hamster Kombat game
Games Notcoin similaritya popular game in which some players achieved monetary gains, also added to its appeal.
Furthermore, it is essential not to overlook the simplicity of the game and the popularity of Telegram in Iran as well as the platform itself.
So, what could go wrong?
The game could lead to identity and data breaches, experts told Iran International.
“Since this game is NFT [non-fungible tokens]the ecosystem and platforms surrounding their use can directly lead to user tracking and data collection in several ways,” Sahar Tahvili, AI researcher and co-author of “Artificial Intelligence Methods for Learning,” told Iran International. optimization of the software testing process”.
“NFT” stands for a proprietary digital token bought or sold using a
cryptocurrency.
“This type of data is usually used for online marketing; however, it can also be used for identity fraud, phishing, social engineering, and other malicious purposes.
Besides that, they also have this system where if you invite a friend, they will reward you, from which they can create a network of people and discern their relationships and behavior patterns,” the expert told Iran International.
“Since people usually share their real identity and details when money is at stake, their real digital identity could be accessible,” he added.
Telegram, founded by Pavel and Nikolai Durov, initially gained popularity for its position against the Kremlin. However, it has since introduced uncertainties around data management and privacy due to a lack of transparency regarding the location of its servers.
Although the company asserts its independence from Russia and emphasizes the location of its headquarters in the United Arab Emirates, the distributed nature of its server network leaves room for ambiguity. Based on Information on the Telegram website“may collect metadata such as your IP address, Telegram devices and apps you have used, username change history, etc.”
The concerns arise from the possibility that the servers are located outside the EU,
potentially accessible to countries such as Russia, China and Iran. This raises questions about data sovereignty and the extent to which user information can be subject to external control and exploitation.
Why does the Islamic Republic warn against gambling?
“Storing such a large amount of personal data in a database outside of Iran could raise some concerns for the Iranian government. Indeed, other countries could potentially access the personal data of Iranian citizens, which could be used to social engineering and phishing purposes,” Tahvili told Iran International.
The game generally raises significant issues, such as data security and user data collection. However, according to Tahvili, the main concern of the Iranian authorities appears to be the high level of public engagement.
The Islamic Republic of Iran has restricted access to various messaging apps, replacing Telegram with local alternatives, the expert explained. However, domestic messaging services have struggled to rival international messaging apps, largely due to their lack of attractive features and citizens’ fears about potential surveillance.
“A filtered version of Telegram has now garnered considerable attention in Iran, and the web-based game Hamster has attracted a large number of end users. Such online engagement with external applications, has garnered much attention and has several million end users raises concerns for Iranian authorities regarding applications that could be used to bypass censorship and share news,” the researcher said.
Why do citizens challenge the position of the authorities?
Individuals’ motivations for exposing their data and identity may stem from a lack of trust in the dominant establishment, particularly in situations of economic difficulty when the perceived risk seems minimal. Millions of Iranians have become increasingly poorer since 2018, when the United States imposed sanctions. They see the slightest chance of earning money as a blessing.
Despite government warnings, the economic incentives offered by gambling often outweigh cautionary advice.
This vulnerability is further exacerbated among those accustomed to living under a dictatorship, who may be unaware of their privacy rights, making them vulnerable targets for such games.
There is such a widespread lack of trust that if authorities issue warnings against a particular activity, the immediate assumption is that they are seeking exclusive control over it.
Conversely, if the authorities support the activity, the suspicion remains that they have ulterior motives involving illicit activity.
What is the international position?
Ukraine emerged as a major state in response to Hamster Kombat.
The website of the Ukrainian government, specifically the Center for Strategic Communications and Information Security (Spravdi), warned citizens against the game.
The concern stems from the registration of the Russian domain under the RU-CENTER group.
“Considering the legal obligation of Russian companies to store user data on servers and communicate it to law enforcement agencies upon request, this situation represents a potential threat to Ukrainians,” read Spravdi’s statement published in May. “Personal data may be vulnerable to exploitation for undisclosed purposes.”
What is the Iranian official and media position?
Paradoxically, the theocratic Iranian government seems to be in agreement with Ukraine. As the game’s popularity grew in Iran, the media also took notice, and soon authorities, from the police to hard-line clerics, began issuing warnings.
The spokesperson for Iran’s National Center for Cyberspace issued a warning about Hamster Kombat on Friday, saying the money-making games have “become an ideal platform for hackers and thieves.”
“Players of these games are advised to take extra care in protecting their information and accounts,” Hossein Deliriyan wrote on X.
The Iranian cyber police on Saturday it said it was assessing threats and damage and would announce its findings soon.
Hamshahri online, The website of Tehran’s municipal newspaper published the views of high-level clerics, including Ayatollah Nasser Makarem Shirazi, a hardliner who holds one of the highest ranks in Iran’s Shiite clerical hierarchy, and Mohammad Mohammadi Golpayegani, head of Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei’s staff regarding the buying and selling of digital currencies.
Almost all of these clerics, with the exception of Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei himself, explicitly ban cryptocurrency trading and related activities, citing that “cryptocurrencies do not have a clear and precise source and can endanger the country’s economy as well as circumvent sovereignty and launder money”. , are therefore prohibited or illegal.”
Khamenei only said that cryptocurrency trading should be “in accordance with the country’s official laws on the matter.”
Is there an official regulation?
The legal status of cryptocurrency in Iran remains a gray area. While a potential ban was initially discussed in Parliament, it was later clarified that this would only apply to state institutions, leaving the cryptocurrency’s status for the general public uncertain.
The judiciary website, Mizan, states that “in general, it is not legal to trade cryptocurrencies in Iran, but there is no law that explicitly states that trading cryptocurrencies in Iran is illegal or considered a crime.”
However, cryptocurrency mining, which involves verifying transactions and generating new tokens, requires “obtaining permission from the government.”
However, in 2022, the state intelligence ministry reported a blockade 9,000 accounts of 454 people used for illegal or undeclared currency exchanges. Based on the exchange rate during that period, the relevant transactions amounted to 600 trillion riyals, or about $2 billion.
Is the Islamic Republic using a double standard in its approach to cryptocurrency?
Experts say the Iranian government is self-inflicted “confusing relationship with cryptocurrencies”, which facilitates government evasion of sanctions while enabling illicit activity.
According to Iranian media reports, major cryptocurrency mining operations are conducted by influential or well-connected networks, along with some Chinese companies that exploit cheap and subsidized electricity at mining facilities established in Iran. Such activities could only have been authorized by Iranian intelligence services the Revolutionary Guard.
In April, the United States Department of the Treasury urged Congress to do so pass legislation give the department the power to intervene in cryptocurrency-based terrorist financing and sanctions evasion methods. During a Senate hearing, it was revealed that the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) had used cryptocurrency to finance certain entities.
In 2022, it was revealed that the cryptocurrency the Binance exchange giant has processed Iranian transactions totaling $8 billion since 2018, despite U.S. sanctions aimed at isolating Iran from the global financial system.