Cryptocurrencies have been awash with free money this year, with projects distributing huge sums of tokens to intrepid users and loyal communities across the globe. Airdrop.

With the return of animal spirits to the cryptocurrency market side by side BitcoinAfter its record-breaking rise, some charitable giving dwindled The ones that turned heads In 2023. Counting the top five airdrops of the year, users and communities received over $19 billion in free internet money.

These are some of the airdrops that made the most noise in 2024, based on the maximum value of the token associated with them. They range from decentralized finance (Decentralized finance) Establishment chickens She denied Brands, along with everything else in between.

Super Liquid: $10.84 billion

Pushing to the lead by a country mile, the Hyper Foundation's distribution of HYPE easily rewarded Hyperliquid Network users in November.

Users of the top-tier network, which is optimized for high-speed DeFi transactions, received a total of 31 million HYPE with an initial value of $1.6 billion. This airdrop mode is in between The most valuable in history. Furthermore, the value of these tokens has since ballooned to exceed $10.8 billion in a matter of weeks.

When it comes to the network, Hyperliquid's decentralized exchange (Direct implementation) is described as the main application it offers Perpetual futures contracts Trading with leverage up to 50x. Since its launch, the DEX has seen more than 312,000 users, according to the Hyper Foundation Website.

Starknet: $3.09 billion

Starknet launched its mainnet for the first time in 2021. But Ethereum The Layer 2 measurement network waited three years for the long-awaited STRK airdrop.

With 700 million STRK tokens initially Thank youincluding those of Ethereum The strikersThe initiative saw cryptocurrency users being rewarded beyond token scaling solutions. These STRK tokens play a key role in Starknet governance.

In June, StarkWare, the network's developer, indicated that it would try to bring its own expansion technology, using... Zero-knowledge groups, To Bitcoin.

Last month, Starknet launched "Phase One" of its staking initiative, Saying It has become the first second layer that allows users to earn rewards by participating in the transaction validation process.

Fat Penguins: $3.064 billion

together Market value Valued at over $500 million, leading NFT collection Pudgy Penguins has increased its presence on Ethereum. With the project's toys hitting shelves at Walmart and Target, its merchandising efforts have stood out amid a relatively cool NFT market.

Earlier this month, Pudgy Penguins expanded to Solana With launch Pledgeswas described as a way for Pudgy Penguins fans to better connect with its brand. A graphic released alongside the token announcement indicated that about half of PENGU's 88.88 billion supply went to members of the Pudgy Penguin community, other communities, and FTT holders.

FTT served as the original token for the collapsed cryptocurrency exchange FTX. But when it comes to other projects that Pudgy Penguins has brought into the fold, the initiative has allowed NFT holders coming from Monkey Yacht Club Board The doodles claim unique symbols, among several Other notable projects.

Non-cryptocurrencies: $2.274 billion

coin click game, Not a currencyHe poured gasoline on him Open network (TON) This year, legions of gamers were forced to tap and tap away inside the Telegram-based widget.

While the widely anticipated airdrop encountered some delays, it ultimately turned out to be the perfect solution The biggest gaming token launch of 2024 In terms of peak value. When it is not a currency Released Its token in May, about $80.2 billion was up for grabs, with exchanges like Binance supporting the new token out of the gate.

Since then players have been welcomed by a flood of Click to win gameswith Hamster Kombat Hike during the summer and paint 300 million players Before its airdrop. While some TON community insiders believe that tap-to-earn games serve as "Viral mechanic“To introduce users to new products and other members of the cryptocurrency gaming community He believes They need more sophisticated experiences to keep players engaged.

Buyer: $2 billion

Among the top five airdrops for 2024 is the Solana-based DEX Jupiter complex reward Users who acquired 1 billion JUP tokens during the initial wave of allocations early this year.

Jupiter has initially committed to issuing an additional 3 billion JUP tokens, with a second round to follow consent It was released earlier this month and is still on the horizon, but its initial distribution volume was large enough to land it on this list. While a date has not yet been announced, the proposal that was passed hinted at “January.”

In Istanbul, the Jupiter Group will hold its first conference next month, dubbed Katstanbul. “The Cat” is a shout out to its pseudonymous founder, meow.

As one of the largest DeFi projects on Solana, the DEX pool has facilitated over $2 trillion in total trading volume, according to Dune. Dashboard Created by Jupiter.

Honorable mentions

In addition to the five biggest airdrops of 2024, many other projects and protocols have distributed pools of free tokens. There were at least four publications valued at more than $1 billion at the highest nominal value, including those issued by a movement, ZKsync, Self layerand wormhole.

Movement Network Foundation Fired MOVE, a movement token for Ethereum's Layer 2 scaling solution. With 1 billion MOVEs awarded to communities and early network participants, the value of air distribution reached US$1.5 billion.

Community wallets for ZKsync, another solution for scaling Ethereum-2 layer, receive 3.7 billion ZK tokens in June worth $1.2 billion at peak price.

Aigen Foundation distributed Nearly 200 million EIGEN users of the Ethereum staking platform this year via two airdrops. When combined, the value of the airdrops was $1.1 billion.

Cross-chain protocol wormhole Fired W token its governance in April. The 617 million watts allocated to its initial community and ecosystem was worth $1 billion

Modified by Stacey Elliott