Cross-chain bridging platform Wormhole has recently launched a $850 million airdrop of its newly issued governance token, W.
The event quickly attracted the attention of not only investors and crypto enthusiasts, but also scammers and memecoin creators.
Did you know?
Want to get smarter & wealthier with crypto?
Subscribe - We publish new crypto explainer videos every week!
What is Chainlink? LINK Explained Simply (ANIMATED)
On April 3, the W token made its debut on the Solana-based decentralized exchangeOpenBook, initially boasting a market cap of $3 billion. At the time of writing, its value has decreased by 28.5%, trading at $1.18. The airdrop has delivered 674 million tokens,6.75% of its total supply.
The launch was immediately followed by attempts from scammers and hackers to exploit the airdrop event. Crypto sleuth ZachXBT highlighted the issue, pointing out thatscammers set up fake Wormhole accounts,some even obtained verification marks, to post malicious links.
Furthermore, the event saw the rise of a parody token, "warmhole," which experienced an astronomical surge in value. Initially valued at around $100,000, it catapulted to a market cap of $8.3 million in under six hours.
Among the more controversial aspects of the airdrop was the eligibility of the hacker responsible for the 2022 Wormhole bridge exploit, which resulted in a loss of $321 million. The Wormhole team has since fixed this issue, as the wallet addresses are no longer eligible.
Wormhole's airdrop event has not only showcased the immense interest in new crypto tokens but also underscored the risks and challenges associated with managing large-scale token distributions.
In other news, the Solana-based decentralized finance (DeFi) platform Kamino has also announced an airdrop of its KMNO token.
Aaron S. , Editor-In-Chief
Having completed a Master’s degree in Economics, Politics, and Cultures of the East Asia region, Aaron has written scientific papers analyzing the differences between Western and Collective forms of capitalism in the post-World War II era.
With close to a decade of experience in the FinTech industry, Aaron understands all of the biggest issues and struggles that crypto enthusiasts face. He’s a passionate analyst who is concerned with data-driven and fact-based content, as well as that which speaks to both Web3 natives and industry newcomers.
Aaron is the go-to person for everything and anything related to digital currencies. With a huge passion for blockchain & Web3 education, Aaron strives to transform the space as we know it, and make it more approachable to complete beginners.
Aaron has been quoted by multiple established outlets, and is a published author himself. Even during his free time, he enjoys researching the market trends, and looking for the next supernova.
