Decentralized finance (DeFi) protocol Hyperliquid has joined the ranks of the largest airdrops in history with its genesis event on Nov. 29, distributing 310 million HYPE tokens to its community. At launch, the HYPE token was valued at $3.90, bringing the total distribution to $1.2 billion, according to CoinGecko data. The token’s value surged by 63% within 12 hours, trading at $6.16 at the time of reporting. Its market capitalization is now nearing $2 billion. Token Distribution and Ecosystem Hyperliquid, a layer-1 blockchain based on a proof-of-stake mechanism, is designed to handle up to 200,000 transactions per second. The HYPE token plays a central role in the ecosystem, functioning as the staking asset for consensus and the gas token for the Ethereum Virtual Machine-compatible layer, HyperEVM. Hyperliquid revealed that 31% of its 1 billion HYPE tokens were distributed during the genesis event. Of the remaining supply, 38.8% is allocated for future emissions and community rewards, 6% for the Hyper Foundation treasury, and 0.3% for grants. Core contributors will receive 23.8% of the total supply under a one-year lock period, with vesting schedules extending through 2028. Hyperliquid clarified that no allocations were made for private investors, centralized exchanges, or market makers. Comparisons to Previous Airdrops Hyperliquid’s airdrop ranks among the largest in DeFi history. In 2020, Uniswap distributed 400 UNI tokens to over 250,000 addresses, initially valued at $3.40 each, totaling $1,300 per recipient. UNI’s value later skyrocketed to over $42 during the DeFi summer of 2021. Similarly, Arbitrum conducted a significant airdrop in 2023, distributing ARB tokens to over 625,000 wallets, with a total market value of approximately $812,500. The Role of Airdrops Airdrops serve various purposes, from rewarding early adopters to promoting new cryptocurrencies. CoinGecko estimates that over $26.6 billion worth of crypto tokens have been distributed in recent years, calculated using token prices at their all-time highs.
