The HYPE token witnessed an extraordinary 63% price increase within its first 12 hours of release, rising from its initial price of $3.90 to $6.16.
This surge followed the massive airdrop conducted by Hyperliquid, making it one of the most notable events in the DeFi space this year. With a current market cap of $2.2 billion, the token has sparked significant enthusiasm among its holders.
Hyperliquid’s record-breaking airdrop
On November 29, Hyperliquid, a layer-one blockchain operating on a proof-of-stake (PoS) consensus model, carried out its highly anticipated airdrop. The project distributed 310 million HYPE tokens to its community. This allocation represents 31% of the token’s total supply of one billion, making it one of the largest airdrops in decentralized finance history.
The HYPE token plays a crucial role in Hyperliquid’s ecosystem. It is the staking asset and gas fee token for HyperEVM, the blockchain’s Ethereum Virtual Machine-compatible layer. With the network capable of handling up to 200,000 transactions per second, the token’s utility is expected to grow as adoption increases.
Tokenomics and supply plan through 2028
Hyperliquid has laid out a detailed token distribution plan that extends until 2028. While 31% of the supply was included in the airdrop, 38.8% has been set aside for community rewards and future emissions. The Hyper Foundation treasury received 6% of the total tokens, and 0.3% was allocated to grants for ecosystem development.
Core contributors will receive 23.8% of the supply under a one-year lock period. The project did not allocate tokens for centralized exchanges, private investors, or influencers, underscoring its focus on decentralization and community ownership.
Among the largest airdrops in deFi history
This event is being compared to some of the most significant airdrops in the history of decentralized finance. In 2020, Uniswap’s airdrop gave 400 UNI tokens to over 250,000 addresses, each valued at $3.40. Similarly, the Arbitrum protocol distributed its native token in 2023 to 625,000 wallets at $1.30 per token. Both events helped establish the precedent for large-scale token giveaways to incentivize adoption.
Airdrops remain a popular mechanism in the crypto industry, serving purposes such as rewarding early adopters and driving awareness of new projects. According to data from CoinGecko, over $26.6 billion worth of tokens have been distributed through airdrops, with HYPE now among the most notable examples.
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