WLFI Buyers Get Surprise $47 Airdrop—Reward or Marketing Ploy?
World Liberty Fi just dropped $47 worth of tokens to WLFI holders—officially labeled as a 'reward,' but skeptics see it as a classic crypto retention tactic.
Free money or frictionless marketing? In DeFi, the line's getting blurrier by the airdrop.
Most WLFI holders received USD1, with an equal distribution of 47 tokens. | Source: Etherscan
Some of the tokens were transferred back to an accumulation address containing $5,875 in USD1 coins. The transfers either suggest WLFI may be bought up by Sybil wallets. Alternatively, the bulk sent transaction may be a deliberate attempt to MOVE USD1 and boost transaction data. Other wallets retained their USD1, adding it to previous holdings from meme or DEX trading.
The airdrop was through the ethereum chain, where USD1 has a smaller supply. The airdrop originated from a series of new wallets, first funded by Coinbase Prime. The transfer of 47 USD1 was hinted at the end of May, when the World Liberty Fi wallet originated a single transaction, sparking speculations of an airdrop.
USD1 has been mentioned as a potential reward for WLFI buyers. The stablecoin may cover the purchase costs of some of the WLFI backers, as the most common bids ranged between $10 and $200.
Most of the WLFI purchases were symbolic, in support of Donald Trump’s election. However, World Liberty Fi still attracted large-scale investors and bulk buyers.
The recent airdrop was equal to all addresses, at least when accounting for double wallets. Some of the buyers may actually earn based on a small WLFI purchase. However, this airdrop was equal, increasing the total number of owners. After the latest distribution, a total of 85,522 wallets on Ethereum hold USD1, slightly lower than the owner count of WLFI. WLFI has 85,868 holders, who are still waiting for a valuation.
USD1 is more active on BNB Smart Chain
The airdrop distribution on Ethereum may aim to boost USD1 supply and usage on a new chain. Currently, 98.4% of all USD1 are minted on the BNB Smart Chain.
Ethereum only carries around $34M in stablecoins, yet to be involved in trading and DeFi. BNB Smart Chain already has a supply of $2.13B.
USD1 has much higher liquidity on BNB Smart Chain. The USDT/USD1 pair has over $16M in available liquidity. The pairs on Ethereum are much smaller, either against other stablecoins, or against meme tokens.
PancakeSwap remains the chief venue of USD1 trading, with BUILDon (B) the most active meme token. USD1 received a boost from the Binance ecosystem, though the token is not listed on the centralized exchange. USD1 reports over $235M in daily volumes, distributed among DEX and smaller centralized markets.
USD1 was, in a way, a transfer of US dollars into the world of crypto. World Liberty Fi raised a reported $550M in total sales, while currently the fund holds around $152M in various coins and tokens. With USD1, Trump’s fund may have an outsized effect on the crypto market, paving the way for other corporate stablecoins. In the meantime, Truth Social also works toward a new Bitcoin ETF, branching into a multi-chain strategy.
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