- Scroll’s SCR token launches tomorrow.
- Since Scroll ended its airdrop campaign, transactions on the blockchain have plummeted.
Ethereum Layer 2 Scroll is preparing to airdrop tens of millions of valuable tokens to users who participated in its Scroll Sessions points campaign.
But in response, many of these users suddenly stopped using blockchain.
On October 18, transactions on Scroll reached a record high of 962,000. But 24 hours later, that figure had dropped 70% to just 289,000, according to L2Beat data.
The reason? Transactions no longer count towards Scroll’s points campaign, meaning users no longer have a financial incentive to use the blockchain.
During the same period, the number of transactions in rival layer 2 blockchains like Base and Coinbase’s Arbitrum remained largely unchanged.
Airdrops are a risky game for new crypto projects. On the one hand, they bring a lot of attention and users to a project that they might not have gotten otherwise.
But on the other hand, if those same users don’t stick around after the airdrop, the millions of dollars in tokens distributed might be for nothing.
And if users leave a project in droves, it usually hurts the value of that project’s token – even more so if it launches at a high valuation.
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Scroll is not the first project to hemorrhage users after its release campaign ended.
Transactions on Scroll’s competitor, ZKsync, fell by around 80% in the months following its June release.
However, there are exceptions.
Deposits to Sanctum, a liquid staking protocol on Solana, have increased by around 20% since it airdropped tokens to early adopters in July.
SCR release
On Monday, Scroll published details of its airdrop in a blog post.
Users who collected 200 points through the Scroll Sessions campaign will share 4% of the blockchain’s billion SCR token offerings.
The SCR token will allow holders to propose and vote on changes to the Scroll blockchain.
Those who meet certain criteria, such as holding an Ethereum Name Service, donating to Gitcoin grants or Juicebox campaigns, or using a smart contract wallet on Scroll will also receive bonus tokens.
Scroll’s investors, which include venture capital firms Sequoia Capital, Polychain Capital, and Bain Capital Ventures, among others, will receive 17% of the offering, while another 23% will go to Scroll’s development team.
Scroll’s SCR trades on Hyperliquid’s pre-market market for $1.36, implying a valuation of $1.36 billion.
Those eligible for the airdrop can start claiming their tokens at 6am on Tuesday UK time.
Tim Craig is DL News’ DeFi correspondent based in Edinburgh. Contact us with advice at tim@dlnews.com.
