Crypto was awash with free money this year, as projects doled out hefty sums of tokens to intrepid users and devoted communities via airdrops.
With animal spirits returning to the crypto market alongside Bitcoin’s record-setting climb, some handouts dwarfed those that turned heads in 2023. Tallying up just this year’s top five airdrops, users and communities walked away with over $19 billion worth of free internet moolah.
These are some of airdrops that made a sizable splash in 2024, based on their associated token’s peak value. They range from decentralized finance (DeFi) fledglings to established NFT brands, along with everything else that fell in between.
Hyperliquid: $10.84 billion
Cruising into the top spot by a country mile, the Hyper Foundation’s distribution of HYPE handily rewarded users of the Hyperliquid Network in November.
Users of the layer-1 network, which has been optimized for high speed DeFi transactions, received a total of 31 million HYPE that was initially worth $1.6 billion. That placed the airdrop among the most valuable in history. What’s more, the value of those tokens has since swelled above a whopping $10.8 billion in a matter of weeks.
When it comes to the network, Hyperliquid’s decentralized exchange (DEX) is billed as its flagship application, offering perpetual futures trading and up to 50x leverage. Since launch, the DEX has seen over 312,000 users, according to the Hyper Foundation’s website.
Starknet: $3.09 billion
Starknet first launched its mainnet in 2021. But the Ethereum layer-2 scaling network waited three years for its much-anticipated STRK airdrop.
With 700 million STRK tokens initially handed out, including those to Ethereum stakers, the initiative saw crypto users far beyond the scaling solution’s borders rewarded with tokens. And those STRK tokens play a key role in Starknet’s governance.
In June, the network’s developer, StarkWare, signaled that it would try to bring its scaling tech, utilizing zero-knowledge rollups, to Bitcoin.
Last month, Starknet launched “phase 1” of a staking initiative, saying it had become the first layer-2 to let users earn rewards by participating in the process of validating transactions.
Pudgy Penguins: $3.064 billion
With a market cap of over $500 million, Pudgy Penguins’ flagship NFT collection has solidified its presence on Ethereum. With the project’s toys hitting shelves in Walmart and Target, its commercial efforts have stood out amid a relatively chilly NFT market.
Earlier this month, Pudgy Penguins expanded to Solana with the launch of PENGU, billed as a way for Pudgy Penguins fans to better connect with its brand. A graphic released alongside the token’s announcement indicated that around half of PENGU’s 88.88 billion supply went to members of Pudgy Penguin’s community, other communities, and FTT holders.
FTT served as the native token of collapsed crypto exchange FTX. But when it came to other projects that Pudgy Penguins brought into the fold, the initiative let NFT holders hailing from the Board Ape Yacht Club and Doodles claim tokens, among several other notable projects.
Notcoin: $2.274 billion
The coin-tapping game, Notcoin, poured gasoline on The Open Network (TON) this year, compelling legions of players to tap, tap away within the Telegram-based mini app.
While the widely anticipated airdrop faced some delays, it eventually became the biggest gaming token launch of 2024 in terms of peak value. When Notcoin released its token in May, around 80.2 billion NOT went up for grabs, with exchanges like Binance supporting the token fresh out of the gate.
Players have since been greeted by a deluge of tap-to-earn games, with Hamster Kombat surging over the summer and drawing 300 million players ahead of its own airdrop. While some familiar with TON’s community believe tap-to-earn games serve as a “viral mechanic” for introducing users to new products, other members of crypto’s gaming community believe they need more developed experiences to keep players engaged.
Jupiter: $2 billion
Rounding out the top five airdrops of 2024, the Solana-based DEX aggregator Jupiter rewarded users with 1 billion JUP tokens during an initial wave of allocations early this year.
Jupiter initially committed to releasing 3 billion more JUP tokens, with a second round approved earlier this month and still on the horizon—but the initial distribution’s size was large enough for it to land on this list. While a date has not yet been announced, the proposal passed alluded to “Jupuary.”
In Istanbul, Jupiter’s community will hold its first conference next month dubbed Catstanbul. The “cat” is a shout to its pseudonymous founder, Meow.
As one of the largest DeFi projects on Solana, the DEX aggregator has facilitated over $2 trillion in total trading volume, according to a Dune dashboard created by Jupiter.
Honorable mentions
Beyond the top five largest airdrops of 2024, many other projects and protocols doled out batches of free tokens. And there were at least four handouts that were valued at more than $1 billion at peak token value, including those from Movement, ZKsync, Eigenlayer, and Wormhole.
The Movement Network Foundation launched MOVE, a utility token for the Ethereum layer-2 scaling solution Movement. With 1 billion MOVE awarded to communities and early network participants, the airdrop’s value clocked in at $1.5 billion.
Community wallets for ZKsync, another Ethereum layer-2 scaling solution, received 3.7 billion ZK tokens in June worth $1.2 billion at their peak price.
The Eigen Foundation doled out nearly 200 million EIGEN to users of the Ethereum staking platform this year across two airdrops. When combined, the airdrops were valued at $1.1 billion.
The cross-chain protocol Wormhole launched its W governance token in April. And a 617 million W stash earmarked for its initial community and ecosystem was worth $1 billion
Edited by Stacy Elliott
