Wormhole Explains Why Some Users Are Getting More Airdrop Tokens Than Others

The crypto world is abuzz over the upcoming W governance token airdrop from cross-chain protocol Wormhole, with the eligible wallets spanning Solana, Ethereum, and beyond. But not everyone is happy about the wallet selection process, or how many tokens are being allocated to certain users or communities.

In any effort to clear up confusion around the airdrop, Wormhole published an extensive post Monday about the upcoming event, detailing the process behind it all.

“Wormhole contributors set out to plan an egalitarian airdrop that would maximize the chance of rewarding the protocol’s legitimate users,” the post reads, noting that the team provided the breakdown “in the spirit of transparency and in the hope of setting a new standard for how projects communicate airdrops to users.”

According to the team, Wormhole sought “most importantly” to reward users of the cross-chain protocol itself and then secondarily bring in “key multi-chain community groups.”

According to updated details for the project, more than 400,000 unique wallets are now eligible. the tally was just below that mark last week. Wormhole says it worked with blockchain data, with help from data platform Allium, to “ensure that authentic Wormhole users were properly rewarded.”

Wormhole launched in 2020, and the team said that the airdrop is “heavily skewed” towards rewarding early and active users over the long haul. The team also provided bonuses to users who transacted during the bear market—which it puts between June 2022 and November 2023—along with users who used Wormhole consistently for three or more months.

As for community groups, the amount of W tokens allocated varies widely. For example, holders of DeGods and y00ts NFTs will each receive 2,000 W tokens per NFT, up to five NFTs in total, if they were verified via the Wormhole Discord server when the February 6 snapshot was taken. All of those tokens will be available on day one of the upcoming airdrop.

But holders of Mad Lads NFTs on Solana will each receive 16,000 W tokens, albeit with a catch: Just 3,200 tokens will be available to each user on day one, with the rest vesting on a daily basis over the course of the following year. Why do Mad Lads holders ultimately get so many more tokens than DeGods and y00ts holders?

“The team behind Backpack and the Mad Lads NFT collection has worked closely with Wormhole Contributors to build multichain products and to help grow the protocol,” the post reads. “Backpack offers in-wallet cross-chain transfers via Wormhole and Mad Lads holders make up one of the most vibrant Solana NFT communities.”

At least DeGods and y00ts holders should now be able to confirm that they’re getting tokens. Last week, many holders complained that they did not appear to be eligible, but the Wormhole post notes that the expanded tally of wallets includes DeGods/y00ts owners, among other additional eligible token recipients.

The W token is going for $1.58 in pre-market trading via Whales Market, down from $2.49 just one week ago. No timeframe has been announced for the actual token launch.

Edited by Ryan Ozawa.