SENT airdrop surges over 30% on the first day of opening, why has this open-source AI project become a market focus?

Sentient’s SENT token airdrop is officially open for claiming, marking a key milestone in the project’s TGE process. On the same day, major exchanges such as Binance, Bybit, and Coinbase listed SENT trading, driving the token price up by 31.78% within 24 hours. From a niche open-source AI project to a market focus, Sentient’s rapid rise warrants in-depth observation.

Airdrop Opening and Exchange Ecosystem

Claiming Time and User Coverage

According to official information, users who meet the criteria and complete the airdrop registration can now claim their SENT token allocation. This airdrop covers users participating in Binance Wallet Prime Sale, who can view their balances directly in Binance Alpha accounts after the token goes live. Additionally, Bybit launched a Token Splash pool of 30,000,000 SENT, expanding the airdrop’s coverage.

Market Significance of Exchange Listings

Starting from 6:00 PM on January 22nd, TGE, SENT rapidly listed on multiple exchanges including Binance, Bybit, and Coinbase within just a few hours. Notably, Binance transitioned from contract pre-trading to the standard version at 9:00 PM on the same day, with an expected transition period possibly lasting up to 3 hours. This intensive exchange deployment typically reflects the project’s market enthusiasm and the exchanges’ confidence in its liquidity.

Token Performance and Market Response

Price Trends

Currently, SENT is priced at $0.025342, with a market cap of $183.42 million, ranking 163rd in the cryptocurrency market cap list. The 24-hour trading volume is $63.93 million, indicating relatively sufficient market liquidity.

Rapid Market Positioning

SENT was listed for trading on January 22, 2026, and reached a market cap of $180 million very quickly. Its fully diluted market cap is $870.75 million, suggesting that even considering subsequent token releases, the project’s valuation remains relatively healthy.

Project Background and Competitiveness

Differentiation of Open-Source AI

Sentient positions itself as the world’s first open and community-built Artificial General Intelligence (AGI) platform, directly competing with closed-source AGI systems developed by OpenAI, Anthropic, Google, and others. This differentiation has attracted attention in the AI field, as open-source models have potential advantages in cost, transparency, and community engagement.

Founders’ Background

The project was founded by Sandeep Nailwal, who is also the CEO of Polygon. This background provides industry recognition and resource support for the project.

Technical Highlights

According to relevant information, Sentient has demonstrated outstanding performance in AI model benchmarks, with models like ROMA and SERA showing capabilities in complex reasoning and competing with closed-source large models. The project is also exploring mechanisms such as Fingerprinting (OML) to create commercial value for open-source models.

Subsequent Impact of Airdrop Release

Liquidity Release Phase

The opening of the airdrop marks the transition of tokens from a lock-up period into the liquidity release phase. The large-scale release of airdropped tokens may increase market supply in the short term, which can put downward pressure on prices. However, considering current market enthusiasm and active exchange support, this pressure might be offset by market demand.

Future Focus

Future attention should be paid to the token unlock schedule, changes in circulating supply relative to total supply, and the market’s capacity to absorb the large token releases. Additionally, the project’s technological progress and performance in competing with traditional AI giants will directly influence the long-term token value.

Summary

The simultaneous airdrop opening and multiple exchange listings for SENT reflect high market interest in this open-source AI project. The 24-hour increase of 31.78% is impressive, but more importantly, the project’s core logic—using open-source to counter closed-source AI giants—is an interesting differentiation. However, from the airdrop release to the realization of long-term token value, ongoing performance in technology development and ecosystem building is crucial. Currently, the hype is largely driven by market sentiment; whether it can be sustained depends on the project’s actual progress.