Hyperliquid’s $7.5B airdrop marks shift from centralized token listings
2025-01-15
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The decentralized launch of the Hyperliquid (HYPE) token may usher in a “new era” for onchain fair launch cryptocurrencies following some disappointing token launch events on centralized exchanges.
After staging the most valuable airdrop in crypto history, the Hyperliquid token came into the spotlight for its decentralized distribution, which excluded venture capital (VC) firms and early investors.
The launch of the Hyper token marks the beginning of a “new era” for fair launch tokens, according to Vitali Dervoed, co-founder and CEO of Composability Labs.
During an exclusive interview with Cointelegraph at the Emergence Prague 2024 event, he said: 
The token “didn’t deploy on any centralized venue” but was launched and fairly priced by the crypto community, added Dervoed.
Composability Labs’ Vitali Dervoed, interview with Cointelegraph’s Zoltan Vardai
In contrast with the Hyperliquid token launch, other cryptocurrencies are launched on centralized exchanges with an allocation to VC firms and early investors.
As of May 2024, over 80% of tokens launched on Binance have decreased in value during the first six months after their listing.
However, most Binance-listed memecoins had a lucrative year in 2024. 12 out of the 15 memecoins launched on Binance saw significant price increases after going live, Cointelegraph reported on Nov. 11.
Hyperliquid token soars 600% since launch as airdrop surpasses $7.5 billion
The Hyperliquid token airdrop became the most valuable airdrop in crypto history following the token’s price appreciation.
The HYPE token was trading at $22.67 as of 2:02 pm UTC on Jan. 15. The token rose over 600% since it was launched on Nov. 29, CoinMarketCap data shows.
Following the 600% price appreciation, the Hyperliquid airdrop’s total value grew to over $7.5 billion as of Jan. 8, Cointelegraph reported.
According to the protocol, it has distributed 31% of its $1 billion HYPE tokens on the genesis event, with 38.8% of the remaining supply allocated for future emissions and community rewards, 6% to the Hyper Foundation treasury and 0.3% to grants. 
Hyperliquid is a layer-1 blockchain based on a proof-of-stake consensus mechanism that can process up to 200,000 transactions per second. The HYPE token is central to the ecosystem, serving both as the staking asset for consensus and as the gas token for Hyperliquid’s Ethereum Virtual Machine compatible layer, HyperEVM. 