Annual largest airdrop? Hyperliquid average airdrop of $28,500 per person, HYPE popularity brings new gold rush

Author: Frank, PANews

After much anticipation, it finally arrives. On November 29, the decentralized derivatives exchange Hyperliquid announced the launch of its native token HYPE with a genesis event. After the token went live, the price of HYPE soared from an opening price of $2 on November 29 to a peak of $9.8 on December 1, nearly a fivefold increase in less than three days.

Compared to other major airdrop projects this year, HYPE's market performance has been truly impressive. In this airdrop, Hyperliquid distributed a total of 310 million tokens, which, even at the opening price of $2, amounts to a scale of $620 million. It can undoubtedly be considered one of the largest airdrop projects of the year.

However, strangely, there was little discussion among Chinese KOLs on social media prior to Hyperliquid's airdrop announcement, and there were not many Chinese bloggers sharing their gains afterward. It seems that those KOLs focused on quick profits collectively missed out on this significant opportunity.

Airdrop Sent to 94,000 Addresses, with a Maximum of Nearly $10 Million

According to data from ASXN Data, the actual number of tokens airdropped by Hyperliquid was 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 tokens per address, which, based on the price of $9.8 on December 1, is equivalent to $28,500. From this perspective, Hyperliquid is indeed one of the largest airdrops this year.

However, behind the average of 2,915 tokens lies the Pareto principle, as the average is skewed by large airdrop recipients; the median airdrop amount was only 64.53 tokens. In terms of overall distribution, about 38.7% of users received between 10 and 100 tokens, while 17.9% received fewer than 10 tokens. Therefore, approximately 56.6% of users received no more than 100 tokens. Additionally, accounts receiving fewer than 1,000 tokens accounted for 83.9%. This indicates that most people did not reach the average of 2,915 tokens, but even a few hundred dollars could buy an iPhone.

For a single address, the highest amount claimed was 970,000 tokens, which, at $9.8, would amount to $9.56 million. This should become the highest value claim for a single address in airdrop projects in 2024 (the largest single address in Starknet was $360,000, and in Jupiter, it was $130,000).

Airdrop Brings 10,000 New Users in 2 Days

Although there was not much promotion on social media, the luxurious airdrop results still brought a significant number of new users to Hyperliquid. Historical data shows that before the airdrop announcement, 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, exceeding the total 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 impacted trading volume, with total trading volumes of approximately $1.8 billion and $1.9 billion on November 29 and 30, respectively, showing no notable increase. Nevertheless, compared to other projects where user numbers plummet sharply after airdrops, Hyperliquid's performance is indeed somewhat unique.

The growth trend for Hyperliquid has already formed. According to data from Defillama, 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 ranked fourth, behind GMX and DYDX. As a rising star in decentralized derivatives exchanges, Hyperliquid's rise has already begun.

Hyperliquid Ecosystem Tokens Surge Collectively

As of December 1, HYPE's market capitalization exceeded $3.3 billion at its peak, ranking around 44th among all tokens, comparable to OKB. The market capitalization of ARB is currently about $4 billion, and if HYPE's price continues to rise, it may directly surpass ARB.

For those who received the airdrop, the significant increase in HYPE is undoubtedly the best booster. On social media, many KOLs have stated that Hyperliquid's airdrop is a breath of fresh air compared to those that have raised a lot of money but have complex rules and user games. Some users also mentioned that HYPE is currently just a standalone token that can only be traded on Hyperliquid.

With the popularity of HYPE, Hyperliquid seems to have become a new gold mine. Besides HYPE, other tokens on Hyperliquid also surged rapidly during this wave. From November 29 to December 1, native trading tokens like PURR, JEFF, and HFUN saw significant increases. In particular, JEFF (a meme coin themed after Hyperliquid's founder, Jeff) experienced a peak increase of nearly tenfold within three days. OMNIX has also seen exponential growth in recent days.

However, how long this strong upward trend can be sustained remains uncertain.

So far, Hyperliquid's on-chain deposits and withdrawals still need to be bridged through Arbitrum. Over 60% of USDC tokens on the Arbitrum chain are held by Hyperliquid addresses. This seems to be a mutually beneficial process, where Hyperliquid brings ample active addresses and funds to Arbitrum, while Arbitrum provides stable and inexpensive infrastructure for Hyperliquid before its mainnet launch.

As of now, Hyperliquid has not accepted any investments. The Hyperliquid Foundation stated in the announcement of the genesis event that in the token distribution: "There is no allocation for private investors, centralized exchanges, or market makers." Previously, PANews conducted in-depth research on Hyperliquid's development philosophy and other aspects.

According to Hyperliquid's official information, the Hyperliquid EVM is currently online on the testnet, but integration with other L1 states has not yet been completed. In the short term, it seems that it cannot use cross-chain bridges for asset transfers like other L1s. Additionally, as an L1, Hyperliquid's ecosystem is not yet well-developed, with everything from the browser to the DEX being operated in-house. This approach has its pros and cons; the advantage is that all technological innovations and development focuses on enhancing the performance of the decentralized derivatives exchange, aiming to create a decentralized Binance. The downside is that it may be challenging to expand brand influence through ecosystem development.

From Hyperliquid's official social media management perspective, aside from announcements, there is hardly any other content being released. This is a form of persistent simplicity, but in the crypto space, which is keen on hype and promotion, it is indeed quite unique.

However, the recent popularity of Hyperliquid once again confirms the principle that any marketing gimmick pales in comparison to price increases.