- Bitcoin and memecoins have dominated the latest crypto wave.
- Hyperliquid’s $1 billion airdrop will bring attention to DeFi.
- Experts say this is similar to other announced airdrops, like Uniswap in 2020.
Goodbye memes, hello DeFi.
Hyperliquid, a decentralized perpetual exchange, just distributed over $1 billion in HYPE tokens to the project’s early adopters.
Thanks to the airdrop, data collected from a project dashboard now includes dozens of crypto addresses with seven-figure sums.
The HYPE token distribution hasn’t just made punters rich overnight: it’s expected to reinvigorate a segment of the crypto market that has until now been lagging: decentralized finance.
“For now, it’s time to say goodbye to memes as we get back to basics with DeFi at the heart of this resurgence,” said Edward Wilson, head of marketing at OneBalance. DL News.
Honestly, a perfect airdrop
One of the best executed I’ve seen to date, teams take note– Not greedy in allocations
– 31% to users, it enhances your community (no bullshit 5% airdrops and call it “decentralizing”)
– Tokens were deposited directly into the wallet, no complaints… https://t.co/KiBNEQEDZL– Wazz (@WazzCrypto) November 29, 2024
Joke plays go higher
The industry’s stunning rise has been, for the most part, the result of two: Bitcoin and memecoins.
A week after Donald Trump won the US election on lofty pro-crypto promises, Bitcoin soared more than 33%. The $1.9 trillion cryptocurrency has since moved closer to $100,000, surpassing its 2021 high.
Similarly, joke coins soared 130% after Trump’s victory and are now collectively worth $127 billion, according to CoinGecko.
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Meanwhile, Ethereum, a core technology for the decentralized finance sector, has yet to reach its three-year high of $4,878.
DeFi’s total value locked, which measures the amount of money flowing between different protocols, is still about $50 billion off its 2021 peak. Ethereum hosts nearly 60% of all DeFi activity.
With $1 billion in liquidity newly injected into DeFi via Hyperliquid, some say this could kick off a new DeFi summer.
Resurgence of DeFi
Hyperliquid is a unique beast.
It is both a layer 1, like Ethereum and Solana, and a decentralized exchange, like Uniswap or Raydium. The goal is to create a decentralized trading experience comparable to centralized heavyweights like Binance and Coinbase.
“Hyperliquide is an L1 blockchain like Ethereum, Bitcoin or Solana. It should be able to scale the same or better,” said Xulian, a pseudonymous contributor to Hyperliquid. DL News when asked how this would evolve.
Its airdrop is also very different from the multitude of free tokens issued this year.
Hyperliquid’s large allocation to users, while excluding allocations to venture capitalists, market makers and crypto exchanges, drew comparison with other announced airdrops.
“Your biggest comparisons are the airdrops of Uniswap, dYdX and Arbitrum which created a lot of wealth,” said Daryl Lau, a crypto investor. DL News. He said the common thread between each DeFi project is the high valuations and wide distribution to their users.
-linear to points
– sybils removed
– no acquisition
– Huge % of supply and no surplus
– no downtime
– no claim fees or psyops games
– eth ecosystem
– bidders did the bridge work twice (out of eth, to arb, then to HL)
– perfect market timingjust a token, no bullshit
it’s fucking…
– DCF GOD (@dcfgod) November 29, 2024
Ashwath Balakrishnan, head of consulting at Delphi Creative, also highlighted the Uniswap airdrop. Uniswap distributed 150 million UNI tokens to over 250,000 users in 2020.
“It’s not a wrong prediction,” he said. DL News when asked if hyperliquid airdrops could spark a DeFi resurgence.
“It will be much easier to see this coming as we will see profits on HYPE and flows to other chains with DeFi.”
As more than $210 million in funds rushed into Hyperliquid on Thursday, net flows now show money slowly leaving the decentralized exchange, according to data compiled by user degenbrachio on Dune Analytics.
Looking at where exactly this money is flowing will provide investors with a little more insight into the future of DeFi.
Liam Kelly is based in Berlin DL News corresponding. Do you have any advice? Email to liam@dlnews.com.
