Top 5 Crypto Airdrops Paid $4.5B in 2025 Despite Market Shift

The mechanism of crypto airdrops, where projects distribute free tokens to community members and early users, served as a major stimulus in 2024, granting over $19 billion at peak token prices. The narrative shifted in 2025. Despite a roaring bull market for major assets like Bitcoin and Ethereum, there were fewer landmark token generation events. The cumulative peak value of the year’s top five distributions settled at $4.5 billion, indicating a cooling in both the frequency and magnitude of such ‘free money’ events. This contraction occurred even as the underlying blockchain ecosystem continued to expand with new layer-1 networks and scaling solutions vying for user attention and liquidity.

The leading airdrops were dominated by new foundational networks, or layer-1s, aiming to establish their ecosystems. Story Protocol and Berachain topped the list, showcasing a trend where nascent platforms use generous token distributions to bootstrap communities. They were joined by the Solana-based DEX aggregator Jupiter, which made the list for a second consecutive year, the culture-focused Animecoin on Arbitrum, and the Ethereum layer-2 scaling network Linea. This mix underscores how airdrops remain a critical tool for both launching novel protocols and rewarding users of established DeFi and scaling infrastructures.

Story Protocol, a layer-1 network targeting intellectual property management, launched its IP token in February with an airdrop of roughly 100 million tokens, representing 10% of its supply. At its September peak price of $14.78, this distribution was worth an astonishing $1.4 billion. However, by December 15, the token’s value had plummeted nearly 89% to trade around $1.71. Similarly, the proof-of-liquidity network Berachain distributed approximately 79 million BERA tokens to its community in February. These tokens briefly reached a peak valuation of over $1.17 billion at an all-time high of $14.83 each on launch day, only to crash nearly 96% to $0.67 by mid-December.

The Jupiter aggregator on Solana executed its annual ‘Jupuary’ airdrop in January, distributing 700 million JUP tokens to user groups. At the post-airdrop peak price of $1.13, the distribution was valued at $791 million—a decrease from its 2024 airdrop, which was worth up to $2 billion. The Jupiter DAO has already approved another 700 million JUP airdrop for January 2026, though at current depressed prices, that future distribution is valued at just $133 million. Animecoin (ANIME), launched on Arbitrum by the team behind the Azuki NFT collection, airdropped 3.95 billion tokens to its community. This haul peaked at around $711 million but has since fallen about 97%, with ANIME trading at $0.006 in December.

Completing the top five was Consensys-incubated Linea, an Ethereum layer-2 network. It distributed 9.36 billion LINEA tokens to nearly 750,000 addresses, with the airdrop peaking at a value of approximately $437 million. Like its peers, LINEA has fallen sharply, down around 85% from its all-time high to trade near $0.0067. These dramatic post-airdrop declines were a common theme, revealing the high volatility and speculative nature often surrounding token launches, even for well-funded projects.

Beyond the top five, several other notable airdrops contributed to the year’s distribution totals. The InfoFi platform Kaito granted 120 million KAITO tokens in a February airdrop that peaked at over $345 million in value, though the token later fell 81% from its high. The highly anticipated launch of the Monad layer-1 network in November included a 3.3 billion MON token airdrop worth more than $162 million at its peak, with the token also being offered to Coinbase users. Additionally, the Solana liquidity protocol Meteora allocated 150 million MET tokens through a novel ‘LP Stimulus Plan,’ worth about $103 million at its height.

The data from 2025 presents a nuanced picture. Airdrops continue to be a powerful mechanism for community building, user acquisition, and rewarding early adopters within the crypto ecosystem, as evidenced by the billions distributed. However, the reduced total value compared to 2024 and the severe price retracements across nearly all distributed tokens highlight the risks and changing dynamics. For recipients, the ‘free money’ often proves ephemeral unless managed carefully. For projects, these distributions represent a significant cost of user acquisition, one that must be balanced against long-term network sustainability and token value.