The hamster frenzy shows no signs of letting up as Bybit announced it is listing the token for Hamster Kombat for pre-market trading. Scammers posing as Coinbase reps swindled $1.7 million from one victim in a single phone call. Meanwhile, Britain’s crypto advocates called for a consistent digital asset policy from their new government.

Bybit lists Hamster Kombat’s token for pre-market trading

Cryptocurrency exchange Bybit is advancing its support for emerging projects on the Telegram Open Network (TON) by listing the token for the record-breaking game Hamster Kombat for pre-market trading.

Bybit, on July 8, officially announced the listing of the Hamster Kombat (HMSTR) token on its over-the-counter (OTC) platform called Bybit Pre-Market Trading.

The platform is designed for trading new tokens before their official listing, enabling buyers and sellers to establish quotes and execute trades at predetermined prices.

According to the announcement, Bybit’s pre-market OTC platform launched trading for HMSTR on July 8 at 10:00 am UTC. Details of the delivery schedule will be released shortly, the statement notes.

Bybit stressed that the inclusion of HMSTR tokens on its pre-market platform represents a “significant step forward,” providing users with the chance to get their hands on HMSTR tokens before they become listed for spot trading. The firm added:

“This exclusive access allows users to secure HMSTR tokens ahead of the market and to lock in their purchase or sale prices early, marking an innovative advancement in our trading offerings.”

Coinbase-posing scammers steal $1.7M in one scam call

Coinbase users have reported being targeted by scammers impersonating as Coinbase staff in the past week, with one victim claiming they were swindled out of $1.7 million.

Edge & Node co-founder Tegan Kline shared that her friend had their self-custody wallet drained of $1.7 million by a scammer who faked being from Coinbase and tricked them into sharing part of their seed phrase.

The scam involved multiple emails that appeared to be from Coinbase claiming the victim’s wallet was being drained. The victim was told to enter their seed phrase into a website to make it stop but hesitated, only typing in “a portion” without sending off the info — still enough for the scammer to catch part of their seed phrase and have a computer guess the rest.

Meanwhile, two X users said a scam caller claimed they were from Coinbase saying someone had attempted to log in to their Coinbase accounts. The scammer sent a phishing email to one user that appeared as a password reset — aiming to nab their account password.

Around $1.19 billion was lost to crypto security incidents in the first half of 2024 — over $900 million was stolen through phishing and seed phrase compromise attacks.

U.K. crypto advocates want clear crypto policy after Labour win

With the Labour Party set to form a majority government in the United Kingdom, crypto industry advocates have called on the new administration to apply consistent policies regarding digital assets. 

According to Keld van Schreven, the co-founder and managing director of digital asset investment company KR1, the change in leadership comes at a “pivotal time” for the U.K.'s blockchain industry. 

“Great progress has been made on outlining a regulatory framework, but more work needs to be done to make the U.K. a global crypto hub,” Schreven said.

Meanwhile, Bivu Das, the managing director of Kraken’s U.K. operations, said he expects crypto policy to be “business as usual” under the new government. Nevertheless, “The incoming government has an opportunity to keep driving innovation and growth in this emerging asset class and reinforcing the U.K.’s position as a leading jurisdiction for blockchain-based innovation,” Das said.

As of July 5, the Labour Party had accumulated 412 seats in the 650-seat House of Commons, whereas the Conservatives likely won 122 seats.

Additional reporting by Felix Ng, Sam Bourgi and Geraint Price.