Zeta Markets is a decentralized exchange (DEX) headquartered in Solana, with the aim of establishing the first layer 2 scaling solution for the chain. The exchange launched an airdrop for users on Thursday, which has exceeded initial expectations.
The ZEX airdrop consists of 100 million tokens, accounting for 10% of the total token supply, aimed at rewarding long-term Zeta users, contributing to the trading of permanent on-chain tokens. Perpetual contracts are derivative contracts that allow traders to speculate on the future price of crypto assets, but crucially, with no expiration date.
This morning, ZEX opened at $0.13, slightly higher than pre-trading predictions. Its value then quickly doubled, soaring to over $30, reaching a value of around $30.78 million for the Zeta airdrop.
At the time of writing, ZEX has stabilized at around $0.25.
The Zeta airdrop will be distributed in two phases. Currently, 80% of the airdrop is available for early platform users and will be distributed based on users’ “Z score,” a point system that tracks individual trading volume and other criteria. Later, the remaining 20% of the airdrop will be distributed to ZEX holders, who hold tokens alongside Zeta.
Equity is a core component of ZEX, serving as the governance token for Zeta Markets. To incentivize commitment to the token, the longer ZEX holders hold the token, the greater influence they will have on Zeta’s direction, and they will receive more economic incentives.
ZEX will ultimately also serve as the native token for Zeta X, a Solana-based DeFi blockchain that the Zeta team plans to launch early next year.
Currently, Zeta is one of the largest decentralized exchanges on Solana. According to DeFi Llama, the platform’s trading volume reached approximately $3.24 billion in May alone.
It’s been a grand summer for cryptocurrency airdrops. Just yesterday, Ethereum layer 2 network Blast launched a massive airdrop worth $354 million for users. However, despite the large scale of the free token giveaway, many Blast users were dissatisfied with the results—partly due to extremely high predictions for the airdrop’s value—despite a later price increase.
Another sign that in cryptocurrency, expectations often outweigh scale.
Andrew Hayward, Editor
