Every major Ethereum token sold in 2021 is down over 50%

The central theses

• the DeFi-Room seems to be having some sort of airdrop season. However, data shows that the hype may not last.
• The community has seen two more airdrops in the past few days, but both tokens have fueled up since their launch.
• Every other great airdrop on Ethereum in 2021 caused a stir in the market, followed by a sell-off.
• While other coins in the market made new highs this week, all major Ethereum tokens that launched with an airdrop this year are down over 50%.
• Ethereum saw several major token airdrops in 2021. Despite the initial hype about the most anticipated airdrops of the year, most tokens have dropped 50% or more.

Ethereum tokens are suffering from market sell-offs

Ethereum devotees keep receiving symbolic airdrops, but the rewards rarely retain their value.

Some of Ethereum’s most active users of ‘s received two separate token airdrops during the holiday season that caused a stir in the community. On Christmas Eve, OpenDAO handed out its SOS token after taking a snapshot of each Ethereum address that made a trade on OpenSea.

The token recovered throughout Christmas Day when users claimed their tokens and brought the Market capitalization of the project to over $ 300 million for a short time. However, data from CoinGecko shows it is now 63.7% below its highs, with an SOS trading at $ 0.00000397.

This morning, gas DAO for Ethereum users who had spent ETH worth at least $ 1,559 on transaction fees. Gas DAO says it wants to be the heartbeat and voice of the Ethereum active users of the network through on- and off-chain governance. Despite some initial momentum in its rollout, Gas DAO’s token has already fallen 77.1% over the day.

While the sell-offs that OpenDAO and Gas DAO saw are more brutal than most tokens suffer, declines after the Airdrop aren’t strictly limited to newer projects. Any large token launched with an airdrop to Ethereum Users in 2021 are down over 50% today.

DeFi favorites crash after airdrops

The Layer 2 derivatives exchange dYdX launched its token in September at one of the largest token airdrops of the year. DYDX initially traded at around $ 12 and gained momentum in the weeks following its launch.

Euphoria pushed DYDX to a high of $ 27.86 on September 30, while ETH was trading at around $ 2,850. In the 12 weeks since then, DYDX has printed nine weekly lows while ETH has risen to new highs, currently trading at around $ 3,800. DYDX is down 66.8% from its high.

Ethereum Name Service also introduced a token this year, which caused great enthusiasm in the community at the start. After opening trading at around $ 17, ENS rose to $ 83.40 in two days. It then slumped for a few days, and despite a $ 75 recovery, was hit by a sell-off as the market began to collapse in December on fears of the Omicron-Covid strain. It is down 52.9% from its current highs.

ParaSwap, a decentralized exchange aggregator that powers Ethereum,, Binance Smart Chain, and, has also seen its market capitalization drop over 80% since a token was launched, although the main reason behind the dramatic decrease may be the controversial token distribution method.

ParaSwap launched PSP on Nov. 15 after weeks of airdrop hints, but the strict eligibility criteria resulted in many of the protocol’s loyal users being banned. As a result, the airdrop sparked a violent backlash within the DeFi community.

Ribbon Finance’s RBN is also down 63% from its highs; The options-based income generator suffered a memorable wave of bad press following its token launch when it was discovered that one of its funders, Divergence Ventures, had used inside information to “farm” $ 2.5 million worth of tokens on multiple. Ethereum wallets.

One of the tokens that has suffered the hardest in the market is FORTH from Ampleforth. Ampleforth distributed FORTH tokens to AMPL stackers in April and rewarded some with a six-figure payout. It initially traded at just over $ 55 and has since bled to $ 9.60.

Although many Ethereum tokens have plummeted from their highs, the market has seen bullish price movements over the past few weeks. According to data from CoinGecko, it acts CurveIt’s over $ 5, up 50.9% over the past two weeks.

Convex Finance’s CVX is trading at $ 48.82 after closing on Monday All time high of $ 52.16. Alternative Layer 1 coins like and have also posted new record highs in the past week.

The renewed interest in NFTs has also seen the price of blue chip projects such as CryptoPunks and Mutant Ape Yacht Club go up in recent days. A select number of NFT collectors have also received airdrops this year, although the price promotion for many of them differs from DeFi projects like dYdX.

For example, Ape Yacht Club mutated NFTs that were launched after a Bored Ape owner serum-NFT dropped to turn their character into a mutant monkey. Like Mutant Apes, the serums have retained their value.

While dedicated Ethereum users have celebrated the recent wave of airdrop with much more rumors for 2022, price data shows that the market’s interest in a token doesn’t always last beyond the initial euphoria.