Analysis: ZKsync Era’s daily revenue plummeted after the airdrop, highlighting the plight of the Layer2 market
PANews reported on August 21 that according to The Block, ZKsync Era was once a popular Layer 2 scaling solution, but its revenue has plummeted sharply. Last Sunday, its revenue plunged to only $6,800, in stark contrast to the peak of $746,000 before the airdrop. This significant decline coincides with the token airdrop of the project on June 24, when 3.675 billion ZK tokens (17.5% of the total supply) were provided to eligible wallets. Despite high expectations, this airdrop has led to a massive exodus of network users and liquidity, with daily transaction volume dropping from a peak of 1.8 million to only 200,000.
The struggles of ZKsync Era reflect a broader trend in the crypto market, particularly in Layer2 solutions and recent token releases. The value of ZK tokens has plummeted 64.06% so far this year, similar to the performance of other recent airdrops, such as LayerZero's ZRO token, which has declined 19.21% over the same period.
The GML2 index, which tracks Layer2 tokens, has fallen 66% from its March high, indicating that the entire industry is facing challenges. This pattern of post-airdrop decline has raised questions about the effectiveness of token distribution strategies in the current market environment. While airdrops aim to reward early adopters and drive network effects, they seem to be increasingly triggering short-term speculation, followed by rapid sell-offs.
