The Biggest Crypto Airdrop Events of the Year (2023)

In the dynamic realm of cryptocurrency, 2023 emerged as a year marked by a crypto airdrop events frenzy, generously gifting enthusiasts with a plethora of free assets. In the midst of a challenging bear market, numerous blockchain projects and protocols strategically turned to airdrops, bestowing their loyal users with abundant native tokens. According to the insightful analysis from CoinGecko, the 50 most impactful airdrops of the year collectively showered the crypto and decentralized finance (DeFi) community with an astonishing $4.56 billion worth of tokens.

The Biggest Crypto Airdrop Events of the Year (2023)

Let’s dive into the standout airdrop moments of 2023, spotlighting those tokens that reached their peak values throughout the year. Claiming the coveted top spot was Ethereum scaler Arbitrum, orchestrating a monumental launch of its native governance token, ARB. March witnessed Arbitrum’s strategic ARB airdrops, injecting projects and DAOs on the layer-2 network with a substantial influx of free tokens, totaling hundreds of millions of dollars. Notable beneficiaries, including Treasure DAO, SushiSwap, Dopex, Radiant, Balancer, and Uniswap, collectively reveled in the windfall, accumulating almost $2 billion worth of ARB tokens. The success of this approach became evident as the total value locked (TVL) on the network nearly doubled, reaching an impressive $2.5 billion according to DeFi Llama.

Adding to this triumph, ARB’s recent price surge propelled the token to its current standing at $1.48, a notable increase from its debut at $1.35. While numerous airdrops ignited excitement across the crypto sector, one standout event reshaped the NFT industry virtually overnight. Enter Blur, the emerging Ethereum NFT marketplace, disrupting the ecosystem by introducing gamified benefits and eliminating creator fees. The first airdrop in February witnessed users claiming over $1 million worth of tokens each, and a second airdrop in November generously gifted users up to $8.4 million in BLUR. The project’s remarkable distribution totaled $818 million in tokens for 2023, propelling Blur to surpass even the formidable OpenSea in NFT trades.

Despite a modest start, Celestia’s late October airdrop for its native token TIA experienced an impressive rally in value. Starting at $2.18, TIA doubled to $4.00, surging past $10.00 to its current remarkable price of $12.83. These substantial gains catapulted TIA’s market cap to an impressive $1.88 billion in under two months, delivering a stellar return to Celestia airdrop recipients. Meanwhile, the standout Solana airdrop of the year unfolded earlier this month, courtesy of DeFi platform Jito. The native governance token, JTO, garnered immense attention in the Solana ecosystem, with users claiming a staggering $225 million worth on the first day, eventually reaching a peak value of $312 million.