On November 29, the decentralized derivatives exchange Hyperliquid launched its native token HYPE, and the Genesis Event attracted attention. After going live, the price of HYPE soared from the opening price of $2 to $9.8 on December 1, increasing nearly fivefold in less than three days, far outperforming other airdrop projects this year.
This airdrop distributed 310 million tokens, and even at the opening price, the scale reached $620 million, making it one of the largest airdrops of the year. However, there was little discussion on Chinese social media during the early stages of the event, and there are not many Chinese bloggers sharing their experiences afterward. Many KOLs focused on airdrops seem to have missed this opportunity.
The airdrop was sent to 94,000 addresses, with the highest airdrop nearing $10 million.
According to ASXN Data, the actual number of Hyperliquid's airdropped tokens is approximately 274 million (some users missed the opportunity to claim due to not signing the Genesis Event terms). A total of 94,000 addresses received the airdrop, with an average of 2,915 HYPE per address, which at the price of $9.8 on December 1, amounts to about $28,500. From this perspective, Hyperliquid is indeed one of the largest airdrops this year.
Although the average amount claimed was 2,915 tokens, this number was influenced by large holders, with the actual median being only 64.53 tokens. Overall, about 38.7% of users claimed between 10 and 100 tokens, and 17.9% of users claimed less than 10 tokens. In total, 56.6% of users claimed no more than 100 tokens, and 83.9% of accounts claimed less than 1,000 tokens. Therefore, most users claimed below the average of 2,915 tokens. However, even so, at the current price, Hyperliquid's airdrop is still enough to buy an Apple phone.
On a single address, the maximum amount claimed reached 970,000 tokens, valued at $9.56 million at $9.8, making it the highest value single address in airdrop projects of 2024. In contrast, the highest single address airdrop for Starknet and Jupiter were $360,000 and $130,000 respectively.
The airdrop brought 10,000 new users after 2 days.
Although there hasn't been much promotion on social media, the results of the luxury airdrop have brought a significant number of new users to Hyperliquid. Historical data shows that before the airdrop was announced, Hyperliquid's daily new users were generally below 500, often around 150 new users. However, on November 29 and 30, there were 10,993 new users over two days, exceeding the number of new users in the past month. On November 30, the total number of transactions even surpassed 3.44 million, increasing more than tenfold compared to before the airdrop.
However, the surge in user activity does not seem to have significantly changed trading volume. The total trading volume for the two days from November 29 to November 30 was approximately $1.8 billion and $1.9 billion, showing no obvious growth. However, compared to other projects where user numbers plummeted after airdrops, Hyperliquid's performance is indeed somewhat unique.
The growth trend of Hyperliquid has long been established. According to defillama's data, Hyperliquid Perp ranks second among all derivatives protocols, slightly below Jupiter Perpetual. On November 17, Hyperliquid briefly led Jupiter to become number one. In July of this year, Hyperliquid was ranked fourth, behind GMX and DYDX. As a rising star in decentralized derivatives exchanges, Hyperliquid's rise has already begun.
Hyperliquid ecosystem tokens have collectively surged.
As of December 1, HYPE's market capitalization has surpassed $3.3 billion, ranking approximately 44th, close to OKB. If the price continues to rise, HYPE may surpass ARB's $4 billion market capitalization.
For airdrop users, HYPE's surge is undoubtedly an adrenaline shot. Many KOLs claim Hyperliquid's airdrop is more sincere than those with complex rules. However, some users point out that HYPE can currently only be traded on Hyperliquid.
As HYPE's popularity rises, Hyperliquid has become a new gold mine. Besides HYPE, other tokens such as PURR, JEFF, HFUN, etc., have also risen significantly, especially JEFF, which increased nearly tenfold within three days. However, whether this strong rise can be sustained remains unknown.
Currently, Hyperliquid's on-chain deposits and withdrawals still need to be bridged through Arbitrum, and over 60% of USDC on the Arbitrum chain is held by Hyperliquid. This cooperation brings active funds and addresses to Arbitrum, while Arbitrum provides Hyperliquid with stable and inexpensive infrastructure.
Hyperliquid has not accepted any investments to date, and its Genesis Event announcement states that token distribution is not targeted at private investors, centralized exchanges, or market makers. Although its EVM is online on the testnet, integration with other L1s is not yet complete, and cross-chain asset transfers cannot be performed like other L1s in the short term.
As an L1, Hyperliquid's ecosystem is still not perfect, with all services like browsers and DEX being self-operated. This model helps focus on improving the performance of decentralized derivatives exchanges but also limits the expansion of brand influence. Hyperliquid's official social media content primarily consists of announcements. Although this low-key strategy seems different in the crypto circle, its recent strong performance proves that price increases are the most effective marketing.
That's all for today's article. We are currently in a bull market, and the situation is dynamic. We share codes every day.
