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ZkSync users demand $630 million tokens in the first ten hours of Airdrop
About a third of the top 10,000 addresses, including two of the top three claimants who each received over 5.6 million tokens, still hold the full ZK airdrop share.
What users see when they request their ZK airdrop allocation.
(ZK Nation)
Published June 17, 2024 at 1:45 pm EST.
Users of the zkSync Layer 2 blockchain network claimed more than 2.62 billion ZK tokens worth around $630 million in about the first ten hours of the long-awaited zkSync airdrop that launched Monday morning, data from a Dune Analytics dashboard Shows.
This means that 1.05 billion tokens remain to be claimed, worth almost $253 million. Of the first 10,000 addresses that received a ZK airdrop allocation, 29.6% sold some of their allocations, while 37% sold all of their holdings such as 0x663 and 0xb78, the fifth and sixth largest requesters they downloaded overall more than 4.9 million tokens worth nearly $1.18 million, according to the blockchain analytics firm Nansen.
The remaining 33.4% of the top 10,000 addresses, including two of the top three claimants who each received over 5.6 million tokens ($1.4 million), still hold the entire ZK airdrop allocation.
After opening at around 30 cents, ZK slumped 27% to trade at 22.8 cents, giving it a market cap of $868 million and a fully diluted valuation of $4.9 billion, ahead of memecoin PEPE inspired by frogs but behind L2 rivals, like Mantle. Starknet and optimism.
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First successes despite the congestion
“Based on the current behavior of major wallets claiming ZK, at the time of this quote, the airdrop has been a success as a significant percentage of major holders have yet to move or sell their tokens,” wrote Edward Wilson of Nansen, adding that ZK Whales’ actions “may change in the future.”
A cryptocurrency trader with the handle one third of ZK’s entire supply was for the team and investors, while the other two thirds were reserved for the community. The snapshot date wasn’t too early, and while some were upset about zkSync’s eligibility criteria, “nothing [was] out of the ordinary,” @Dissensio_Owl added in a message to Unchained on Telegram.
17.5% of the entire ZK token supply was specifically assigned to the launch, making it “one of the largest launches in history,” according to Vest CEO Justin Ma in a Telegram message to Unchained. “While it is easy to view the ZK dollar as a speculative instrument right now, I encourage everyone to view its ownership as joining the mission to create a more just and equitable world.”
While some consider the zkSync airdrop an initial success, the highly anticipated token generation event has driven activity that has congested the layer 2 blockchain network. A crypto user on She said that it took them more than 20 minutes to successfully receive their assignment in ZK.
Additionally, Binance users had to deal with delays in their warehouses in ZK due to issues with Binance’s node operator, while the exchange itself ZK withdrawals suspended due to the “congested network”, for a tweet from @BinanceHelpDesk at 7:25am EST.
Projects that received ZK Airdrop
Collaborators and treasurers of projects natively based on zkSync, such as restoration of the EtherFi protocol and perpetual futures exchange Vest, tokens have also been launched, totaling over 215 million.
“We like free money,” EtherFi CEO Mike Silgadaze wrote to Unchained in a Telegram message. When asked how EtherFi plans to use its ZK airdrop allocation, Silgadaze said, “The plan was to use it for incentives on zkSync,” while EtherFi chief growth officer Rok Kopp noted that the ZK airdrop allocation is “all about DeFi integrations on zkSync.”
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