US$ 105 million Airdrop from Monad disappoints speculators but validates price discovery

Source: PortaldoBitcoin Original Title: Monad's US$ 105 million Airdrop Disappoints Crypto Market Original Link: Monad completed its long-awaited MON token airdrop this Monday, giving recipients access to millions of dollars in cryptocurrencies, along with the launch of its blockchain.

At the beginning of this month, the much-anticipated competitor to Ethereum and Solana saw around 76,000 wallets claim MON for free, but people could not access their assets immediately because the network had not yet been launched.

At the time, Monad stated that 3.33 billion MON tokens were claimed by users, developers, and members of the network community, among others. This group included owners of various NFT projects, as well as traders on decentralized trading platforms and meme platforms.

With MON recently trading around $0.0316, the airdrop has been collectively valued at around $105.2 million, according to market data. The size of the airdrop represents about 3% of the total supply of MON and 30% of the circulating supply of the asset.

In the official Discord server of Monad, some observers expressed surprise that MON is being traded at the same selling price as previous token sales, including an offer made on an emerging token platform.

Approximately 85,800 people participated in the offering, which raised $269 million. The tokens, totaling 7.5 billion MON, were offered at $0.025 each and sold for a total of $187 million. They were also distributed to buyers on Monday.

An individual who has consistently contributed to the project community by creating related content for over six months expressed some disappointment with the amount of MON that was assigned to him, saying that he expected a little more. “It may not be a huge amount, but it's honest work,” he stated, while sharing that 32,000 MON were exchanged for almost $950 in stablecoin USDC.

Some people indicated that they sold MON as soon as they had access to the cryptocurrency. Some reports claimed to have sold approximately 71,000 MON for $0.031 each on cryptocurrency exchanges. “Even if the price goes up tomorrow, I won't be upset. I also can't see any real opportunity in the ecosystem,” added one of the sellers.

Cryptocurrency projects often use airdrops as a way to encourage the use of their products, as well as to reward early users and contributors. Earlier this year, the SEC chairman stated that the regulatory body was working on purpose suitability disclosures and exemptions for these airdrops.

Last year, a decentralized perpetual futures exchange distributed tokens that were initially worth $1.6 billion, ranking among the most profitable airdrops in the history of the industry. In both cases, the potential reach of the airdrop was limited by geographic restrictions.

According to market data, Monad raised a total of $431 million in funding. This includes $244 million from various funding rounds and $187 million through public sales.

The Monad airdrop may have been disappointing for speculators, but it was good for the project, according to market analysts. Regarding the token, it is claimed that Monad maximized the value raised while distributing the tokens to the public at a fair price.

“Their ICO was basically perfect in terms of price discovery,” said an expert, referring to the debut of MON as an initial coin offering. “Getting the price of your IPO/ICO right without leaving money on the table is extremely difficult.”