The airdrop craze has subsided, and the true strength of the four popular projects is being revealed: who is swimming naked?

Author: Golem, Odaily Planet Daily

The four major airdrop projects in the first half of 2024 (Starknet, ZKsync, LayerZero, Blast) have finally come to an end after the airdrops, yet there are still frequent debates on social media regarding their real network conditions. Some opinions suggest that their once-glorious on-chain data is due to the presence of users and studios looking to exploit the airdrop, and that after the airdrop, they will become a "ghost town on-chain" with only "8 real users."

So what is the actual situation? How many users remain after the excitement fades? It is time to examine their true strength. In this article, Odaily Planet Daily will compare and summarize these four projects from the perspectives of on-chain active addresses, TVL, transaction volume, and other data.

Starknet: Significant User Loss, but Network Quality Has Not Declined Significantly

The airdrop claim period for Starknet's official token STRK was from February 20 to June 20.

Active Addresses Decreased by About 80% Compared to Before the Airdrop

To sell early and avoid selling pressure, many users chose to claim the airdrop as soon as possible. According to data from Starknet's official explorer starkscan, on February 21, the daily active addresses on the Starknet network approached the historical peak of July 2023, exceeding 380,000 addresses.

However, after most users claimed their airdrops, the daily active addresses plummeted, and by June 20, the number had dropped to levels seen in March 2023, around 15,000 to 20,000.

From May 2023 to February 2024, before the airdrop announcement, the average daily active addresses on the Starknet network were about 100,000, but it appears that after the airdrop claim ended, the number of daily active addresses has decreased by about 80%.

TVL: Decrease in U-denominated Value After Airdrop, but No Decrease in Coin-denominated Value

According to data from Starknet's official explorer starkscan, overall, the TVL of the Starknet network is still on an upward trend. In terms of coin-denominated value, the amount of ETH locked has been increasing. Even after the STRK airdrop, the TVL did not decline significantly; the drop in TVL in April was due to a price crash, while the actual total amount of locked STRK did not change much.

No Significant Change in Daily Transaction Volume, but Transaction Count Decreased

According to data from Defillama, the daily transaction volume on the Starknet network showed no significant change before and after the airdrop, and the end of the airdrop did not dampen users' enthusiasm for trading on the Starknet network.

However, the daily transaction count saw a sharp decline. According to data from Artemis, on the day of the airdrop on February 20, the daily transaction count on the Starknet network reached a new high, but subsequently showed an overall downward trend, far below pre-airdrop levels.

Summary

The above data generally reflects that due to the exit of users and studios looking to exploit the airdrop after its conclusion, the number of active users and transaction frequency has decreased. However, the overall network quality has not declined significantly; the network's TVL and daily transaction volume did not show much difference before and after the airdrop. Meanwhile, the overall decrease in transaction count has led to a decline in network fees and revenue after the airdrop.

ZKsync: Highest Proportion of Real Users, Good Network Quality

The airdrop claim period for ZKsync's official token ZK began on June 17.

Active Addresses Decreased by About 40% Compared to Before the Airdrop

According to the Dune dashboard created by Matter Labs, on the day of the airdrop, the daily active addresses on ZKsync reached a historical high. After most users claimed their airdrops, the daily active addresses decreased by about 70% compared to the airdrop day, but only decreased by about 40% compared to before the airdrop.

TVL: U-denominated Value Decreased, but Not Significantly Affected by the Airdrop

According to data from Artemis, the TVL of the ZKsync Era network in U-denominated value had already shown a downward trend before the airdrop began in March, and continued to decline after the airdrop in June.

However, according to data from L2 beat, in terms of coin-denominated value, the downward trend of TVL after the ZKsync Era airdrop is not significant. This indicates that the decrease in TVL is not greatly influenced by the airdrop, but may be more affected by other factors (such as overall market conditions, coin prices, ecosystem development, etc.).

No Significant Change in Daily Transaction Volume Before and After the Airdrop

According to data from Defillama, due to the demand for claiming airdrops, on June 17, the transaction volume on the ZKsync Era network reached $240 million, setting a record for 2024. However, after the airdrop claims were completed, the daily transaction volume quickly returned to average levels, with no significant decline.

Similar to the daily active addresses, the daily transaction count on the ZKsync Era network reached a historical high of about 1.7 million transactions on June 16, the day of the airdrop. Subsequently, the daily transaction count decreased, dropping by about 50% compared to the average daily transaction count before the airdrop.

Summary

The above data generally reflects that the ZKsync Era network has a relatively high proportion of real users, with user and transaction frequency only decreasing by 40% to 50% before and after the airdrop. Other aspects of network quality were minimally affected by the airdrop.

LayerZero: Largest User Loss, Sudden Decline in Network Quality

LayerZero announced a snapshot in early May and officially announced the opening of airdrop claims on June 20.

Daily Active Addresses Decreased by About 85% Compared to Before the Snapshot Announcement

According to Dune data, since LayerZero announced the completion of the snapshot in early May, the number of active addresses on-chain has plummeted. Before May 2, there were over 110,000 active addresses, but after May 2, this number dropped by about 40%, and subsequently continued to decline to new lows, decreasing by over 85% compared to before the snapshot announcement.

Cross-chain Messages Decreased by About 80% Compared to Before the Airdrop

According to data from LayerZero's official explorer layerzeroscan, the total number of messages using LayerZero for cross-chain communication also experienced a sharp decline after the official snapshot announcement. Except for a brief increase on the day of the airdrop claim on June 20, the average number of messages decreased by over 80% compared to before the airdrop, returning to levels seen in March 2023.

Cross-chain Amount and Daily Transaction Count Decreased by Over 90%

According to Dune data, the daily funds used for cross-chain transactions via LayerZero plummeted after the official snapshot announcement, averaging around $15 million daily, a decrease of over 90% compared to the peak period before the airdrop.

At the same time, the daily transaction count using LayerZero also dropped by about 47% on the day the snapshot ended, with an average of around 20,000 daily transactions after the airdrop, a decrease of over 90% compared to the average of 200,000 daily transactions before the airdrop.

Summary

The above data reflects that LayerZero's network performance is not objective, with significant differences in data before and after the airdrop. Both user numbers and network quality have declined by about 90% compared to before the airdrop, which also proves that when users and studios looking to exploit the airdrop exit, the real user demand for LayerZero is only 1/10 of what it was before the airdrop.

Blast: Insufficient User Confidence, Future Development in Doubt

Blast announced a week after February 20 that it would distribute an airdrop, with the official token BLAST's airdrop claim period starting on June 26.

Daily Active Addresses Continue to Decline

According to data from Artemis, the daily active addresses for Blast showed an overall upward trend in June, indicating that user confidence in Blast was actually increasing. However, when the airdrop was implemented on June 26, the daily active addresses plummeted, quickly returning to levels seen in March, and this downward trend continues.

TVL Began to Decline Before the Airdrop

According to data from Artemis, the TVL of the Blast network had already begun to show a downward trend when it officially announced the upcoming airdrop on June 20, and by June 26, after the airdrop, the downward trend became more pronounced, with funds being withdrawn from Blast.

No Significant Change in Daily Transaction Volume, but Daily Transaction Count Plummeted

According to data from Defillama, the transaction volume on the Blast network showed an upward trend in June, reaching a historical high on June 26 due to the airdrop claims, but quickly returned to the average level seen before the airdrop in June.

The daily transaction count, similar to the daily active addresses, began to decline after the official announcement of the airdrop on June 20. There was a brief rebound due to the airdrop from the decentralized leverage trading protocol Particle on July 2, but the overall trend remains downward.

Summary

The above data reflects that although the first phase of the airdrop for Blast has not ended long ago, user confidence in Blast is clearly insufficient, with both users and funds showing significant signs of withdrawal compared to before the airdrop. However, the trading volume indicates that due to ecosystem application development and new phase airdrop incentive measures, the network quality is currently still in a relatively good state.

Conclusion

In summary, it can be seen that before the airdrop, these four projects indeed had significant inflated user numbers and on-chain activity. However, with the exit of many users and studios looking to exploit the airdrop after its conclusion, the real on-chain data has been restored, and as all projects return to their intrinsic value, we can objectively see who is swimming naked.

For the two Ethereum L2s focusing on technical narratives (Starknet and ZKsync), after the airdrop ended, in terms of real user numbers and network quality, they are not as bad as imagined; their TVL and transaction volume did not decrease in proportion to the reduction in active addresses.

In contrast, the cross-chain interoperability protocol LayerZero and the yield-generating L2 Blast showed significant differences in data before and after the airdrop, especially LayerZero, which not only saw a significant drop in active addresses but also experienced a sharp decline in daily cross-chain amounts. This indirectly indicates that after the airdrop bubble bursts, the true value of cross-chain protocols awaits further evaluation.

Of course, the current data does not represent their performance; as mainstream narratives evolve, market conditions change, and project roadmaps progress, the market will choose truly valuable projects while eliminating those that gained temporary popularity through airdrop point strategies.

After all, when the airdrop ends, what matters is the real competition.