The 5 biggest crypto tokens of 2024

This year, Cryptopto was flooded with free money thanks to projects that airdrop big sums of tokens to dedicated users and dedicated communities.

Some freebies were more impressive than those that turned heads in 2023 as animal spirits were resurrected in the crypto industry along with Bitcoin’s record-setting rise. Users and communities walked away with more than$ 9 billion worth of free net moolah after counting up only the top five tokens for this year.

According to the maximum value of the related token, these are some examples of airdrops that made a significant burst in 2024. They range from fledgling Decentralized Finance ( DeFi ) companies to well-established NFT companies, along with everything else that fell in between.

Hyperliquid:$ 10.84 billion

The Hyper Foundation’s supply of HYPE easily rewarded users of the Hyperliquid Network in November, cruising into the top position by a state hour.

People of the layer-1 system, which has been optimized for great speed DeFi purchases, received a total of 31 million HYPE that was originally worthwhile$ 1.6 billion. That placed the resupply among history’s most important items. What’s more, the value of those currencies has since swelled above a hefty$ 10.8 billion in a matter of days.

When it comes to the network, Hyperliquid’s decentralized exchange ( DEX ) is billed as its flagship application, offering perpetual futures trading and up to 50x leverage. Since release, the DEX has seen over 312, 000 people, according to the Hyper Foundation’s site.

Starknet:$ 3.09 billion

Starknet second launched its main website in 2021. But the Ethereum layer-2 weighting system waited three times for its much-anticipated STRK resupply.

With 700 million STRK currencies first distributed, including those to Ethereum stakers, the action resulted in token rewards for crypto customers far beyond the expanding optimizer edges. And those STRK currencies play a vital role in Starknet’s leadership.

In June, the show’s designer, StarkWare, signaled that it would try to bring its scaling software, utilizing zero-knowledge rollups, to Bitcoin.

Last month, Starknet launched “phase 1” of a holding program, saying it had become the primary layer-2 to let people earn returns by participating in the process of validating purchases.

Pudgy Penguins:$ 3.064 billion

With a market cap of over$ 500 million, Pudgy Penguins ‘ flagship NFT collection has solidified its presence on Ethereum. With the program’s toys appearing on shelves at Walmart and Target, its corporate initiatives have stood out in a chilly NFT marketplace.

Pudgy Penguins expanded to Solana earlier this month with the release of PENGU, which is intended as a way for Pudgy Penguin fans to better interact with its product. A visual released alongside the token’s statement indicated that around half of PENGU‘s 88.88 billion offer went to people of Pudgy Penguin’s area, various communities, and FTT holders. &nbsp,

FTT was FTX’s default bitcoin change when it collapsed. However, when it came to other initiatives that Pudgy Penguins took up, the program allowed NFT buyers from the Board Ape Yacht Club and Doodles to say currencies, among other notable jobs.

Notcoin:$ 2.274 billion

The coin-tapping game, Notcoin, poured gasoline on The Open Network ( TON ) this year, compelling legions of players to tap, tap away within the Telegram-based mini app.

Although the widely anticipated airdrop experienced some delays, it ultimately became the biggest gaming token launch of 2024 in terms of peak value. Around 80.2 billion NOT were up for grabs when Notcoin’s token was released in May, with exchanges like Binance already backing the token.

Since then, players have been treated to a slew of tap-to-earn games, with Hamster Kombat rising over the summertime and drawing 300 million players in advance of its own airdrop. While some members of the TON gaming community believe that tap-to-earn games serve as a “viral mechanic” for introducing new products, others in the crypto gaming industry believe players need more-entertainment experiences to stay engaged.

Jupiter:$ 2 billion

The Solana-based DEX aggregator Jupiter, which round out the top five airdrops of 2024, awarded users with 1 billion JUP tokens during an initial wave of allocations early this year.

Jupiter initially agreed to release 3 billion more JUP tokens, with a second round set to be approved earlier this month and still on the horizon, but the initial distribution’s size was large enough to put it on this list. While a date has not yet been announced, the proposal passed alluded to” Jupuary”.

In Istanbul, Jupiter’s community will hold its first conference next month dubbed Catstanbul. The” cat” is a shout to its pseudonymous founder, Meow. &nbsp,

According to a Dune dashboard created by Jupiter, the DEX aggregator has facilitated over$ 2 trillion in total trading volume as one of the largest DeFi projects on Solana. &nbsp,

Honorable mentions

Beyond the top five airdrops of 2024, numerous other initiatives and protocols distributed batches of free tokens. And there were at least four handouts that were valued at more than$ 1 billion at peak token value, including those from Movement, ZKsync, Eigenlayer, and Wormhole.

The Movement Network Foundation launched MOVE, a utility token for the Ethereum layer-2 scaling solution Movement. With 1 billion MOVE awarded to communities and early network participants, the airdrop’s value clocked in at$ 1.5 billion.

Community wallets for ZKsync, another Ethereum layer-2 scaling solution, received 3.7 billion ZK tokens in June worth$ 1.2 billion at their peak price.

The Eigen Foundation distributed nearly 200 million EIGEN to Ethereum staking platform users this year through two airdrops. When combined, the airdrops were valued at$ 1.1 billion.

Wormhole’s W governance token, a cross-chain protocol, was released in April. Additionally, a 617 million W stash was estimated to be worth$ 1 billion for its initial community and ecosystem.