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Last year, I predicted that the airdrop “dots” trend would increase in 2024. DeFi projects, fearing that the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission would label their tokens, instead chose to issue points to avoid violating regulations.
As we’ve seen with airdrops over the past 12 months, points have become more ubiquitous than ever.
With Donald Trump’s return to the White House in January expected to usher in an era of looser crypto regulation and SEC Chairman Gary Gensler’s impending resignation, the legal need to issue points at place of tokens could soon disappear.
Despite this, dots will likely continue to play a major role in crypto airdrops in 2025, perhaps to an even greater extent than this year. Here’s why.
The Hyperliquid effect
Issuing points instead of tokens kept regulators at bay. But this has other benefits for DeFi protocols.
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Done well, points campaigns are also an effective marketing tool. They can build loyalty and give users a sense of progression where it wouldn’t normally exist.
Perpetual futures exchange Hyperliquid showed the power of points with its token launch in November, which was arguably the most successful airdrop of the year.
Its points campaign and airdrop have been praised for their generous allocation of tokens and for rewarding users solely based on their usage of the exchange.
Any DeFi protocol planning to launch a token in 2025 would be crazy not to attempt to replicate the success of Hyperliquid.
Of course, the points campaign and the Hyperliquid airdrop are only part of the picture. The exchange itself is very popular, and the 623% rally of its HYPE token since its launch is largely due to investors wanting exposure because they believe in the project.
Multiple points campaigns and airdrops will likely attempt to replicate Hyperliquid’s success next year.
But investors should be careful. Whenever there is a popular idea in crypto, those looking to make a quick buck copy it in an attempt to build on the association.
More flexible regulations
My second prediction is that crypto projects that previously delayed token launches will take the plunge.
The reason? A friendlier regulatory environment.
Paul Atkins, Trump’s pick for SEC chairman, is widely considered pro-crypto. There is no doubt within the industry that his appointment will bring an end to the SEC’s crypto crackdown.
Trump himself has a horse in the race. Its associated DeFi project, World Liberty Financial, sold WLFI governance tokens to investors, but kept them non-tradable and clarifies that the tokens are not securities.
We do not yet know if the World Liberty team wants to make the WLFI token tradable, like almost all other governance tokens.
Many crypto projects will likely anticipate token-friendly legislation from the Trump administration and prepare accordingly.
Candidates for the 2025 airdrop
Several projects have already confirmed new inbound drops, possibly in 2025.
Solana-based exchange aggregator Jupiter will conduct its second token airdrop in January, offering $860 million in JUP.
Then there is the memecoin platform pump.fun. Its creators announced a future token in X Spaces in October.
“We definitely plan to launch a token at some point in the future,” said Sapijiju, pseudonymous co-founder of Pump.fun.
Other projects that have hinted at launching tokens – possibly via airdrops – include betting platform Polymarket and NFT marketplace OpenSea.
Of course, this list is by no means exhaustive. There will almost certainly be some surprise airdrops over the coming months. It is crypto after all.
Do you have a tip on DeFi? Contact us at tim@dlnews.com.
