Was Hyperliquid The Last Of The Golden Airdrops?

Airdrops have been in crypto for a long time, but just like anything in life, a big part of the problem was differentiating the gold from the sludge. Social media sites have become inundated with advertising proclaiming to be the next big airdrop, promising five-figure sums for very little work.

As with most things in life, this promise is often not the case. However, in the case of Hyperliquid, this was the exception to the rule. In fact, it’s likely to be the most profitable airdrop of all time for those who were early enough to use the platform, especially if the price can get into the $50+ region and another airdrop happens within that period.

Jumping On A Narrative

It’s unfair just to say Hyperliquid was an airdrop. Some of the other totally overfarmed projects over the last 12 months, such as Starknet, Layerzero, and ZKSync, fell into the unfortunate category of not having significant overheads.

Hyperliquid isn’t the first DEX to emerge on the scene, nor will it be the last, but the project's value stems from many of the innovations that it has yet to launch, such as its EVM, staking, and a comprehensive detail about its staking rewards program, which has admittedly got off to a pretty slow start.

There are narratives in the crypto space, many of which could spearhead the market top, which many believe will happen at some point this year. Crypto casino gaming, specifically crypto slots, has emerged alongside AI as a key narrative that could encourage further mass adoption.

While cryptocurrency isn’t a niche investment like it was in 2013 or 2017, crypto slots at Thunderpick highlight the potential for millions more people to onboard themselves into cryptocurrency trading and investing and realise that they can use their assets for more “everyday” transactions, so to speak.

Hyperliquid Season 2, Or 3?

When Hyperliquid announced its mammoth airdrop in Q4 of last year, early adopters were thrilled that the multi-billion dollar platform was rewarding those who had been consistent users of the DEX, racking up fees and increasing the brand's volume and visibility.

The specifics of the announcement delved further into future airdrops, with a further 23% set aside for future core contributors - as with all things airdrop-related, it’s an ambiguous term that has been interpreted in several different ways.

The common consensus seems to be that staking, continuous use of the trading platform, and those who build their projects within the Hyperliquid ecosystem will be rewarded with the next batch of the airdrop at some point in 2025.

Why Was It So Lucrative?

Other airdrops have gone well in the space, but other factors may have stopped them from achieving their full potential or marketcap. Uniswap had a huge airdrop back in 2020, but it was the height of the bear market. However, Hyperliquid launched as BTC neared $100,000 just a few months after the halving, which has traditionally brought bullish fortunes.

It has already been mooted as one of the top altcoin growers in the space, with many enthusiasts and bull-posters proclaiming it can catch Solana’s marketcap, and the more ambitious Hyperliquid bulls think it might even catch up to Ethereum. Personally, I think this is probably too high of a goal, especially in the short term, but anything is possible in cryptocurrency.

Within six weeks, HYPE, the native token, went from $2 to an all-time high of over $32. It was initially airdropped to thousands of users, with some receiving millions of dollars, and for those who held, their airdrops entered seven-figure territory. Although some negative press took a bit of the sting out of this exponential rise, with the token now trading at around $21 - the growth has been absolutely staggering.

The top users are also set to receive a HYPE NFT, and although there’s been no talk of when this will happen, some users are selling them on-chain for upwards of $40,000—according to social media, anyway. So, if Hyperliquid can generate the same hype we witnessed with Bored Ape NFTs in 2022, this could be another catalyst that sends the price flying toward $100 per token at some point within the next 12 months.

Conclusion

So, is Hyperliquid the last of the golden airdrops? No, I wouldn’t say so. I think they’re just more challenging to find now, with the emphasis switching to liquid-staking projects, gaming tokens, and those who use their capital to finance liquidity pools.

Some projects might look great on paper, but their airdrop might be woeful; there might be decent ones like LayerZero, another project set to airdrop again, but nobody seems to be paying closer attention to it.

We might not get another project like the Hyperliquid airdrop, something so perfectly planned and executed; only time will tell. However, with many traders and analysts believing that the best is yet to come, another golden airdrop could be just around the corner.

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