CoinGecko: $26.6 billion distributed across the 50 largest crypto airdrops

From 2020 to 2023, in the course of the 50 largest airdrops, DeFi projects distributed tokens to users totaling $26.6 billion, CoinGecko researchers found.

What are the biggest crypto airdrops?

Our study shows that the top 50 airdrops have distributed $26.6 billion worth of tokens in total, based on their all-time high valuation, from 2020 to 2023.

Read the full study: https://t.co/JAB6rAM5Po pic.twitter.com/n9ecq2G85x

— CoinGecko (@coingecko) December 21, 2023

Analysts note that the distribution of UNI by Uniswap in September 2020 was the largest such campaign in DeFi history. Early users of DEX received a total of $6.43 billion.

1/ @Uniswap remains the biggest airdrop, distributing $6.43 billion worth of $UNI in September 2020.

The Uniswap airdrop was one of DeFi summer’s biggest events. Since then, airdrops have become a key part of crypto.

— CoinGecko (@coingecko) December 21, 2023

“Since then, airdrops have become a key element of the crypto industry,” the experts noted.

The second-largest airdrop was ApeCoin, which occurred in March 2022. Users received tokens worth $3.54 billion with the maximum price of APE at $23.63.

In third place on the list was the dYdX project. In September 2021, the developers of the non-custodial trading platform distributed DYDX for $2 billion (assuming the coin reached a maximum price of $26.8).

“The total value of the Uniswap, ApeCoin and dYdX distributions amounts to $11.99 billion, representing 45.1% of the 50 largest crypto airdrops,” CoinGecko researchers noted.

When did the largest airdrops take place?

18 of the 50 largest crypto-asset airdrops occurred in 2021. By comparison, in 2020 there were only five such events.

Researchers noted that due to crypto-winter in subsequent years, airdrops were not as “juicy”.

“In 2023, the total value of crypto airdrops reached $4.56 billion, using ATH. This is only 61.1% of the value of the 2022 distributions,” CoinGecko noted.

Thirteen of the 50 airdrops of the year went into the top 50. In these campaigns, tokens were distributed worth $4.56 billion.

The largest airdrop of 2023 — Arbitrum, during which ARBs were distributed worth $4.56 billion (including ATH). This sum is 2.9 times larger than the rival — L2-project Optimism, which conducted its first distribution in late May 2022.

The second-largest airdrop of 2023 — Celestia ($0.73 billion). In third place — Blur ($0.45 billion). Notably, the price of BLUR reached its ATH at $0.64 after the project\’s second airdrop.

Earlier in December, representatives of the Starknet Foundation confirmed rumors of a forthcoming STRK airdrop.

Shortly after, the LayerZero team announced the distribution of its native token in the first half of 2024.