Community outrage trails DED memecoin over airdrop allocation

The DED memecoin community was outraged by the reduction in the airdrop allocation, causing dissatisfaction among its members. In just a few days, the Telegram channel for the new Polkadot-based memecoin attracted over 20,000 airdrop hunters.

Criticism poured in from the community regarding the changes to the DED memecoin’s airdrop, with many expressing disappointment over the reduced allocation compared to the initial proposal.

During a March 24 X Spaces event, Giotto De Filippi, one of the pseudonymous developers, clarified that the initial airdrop allocation had been decreased from 100% of the token supply to only 5%. This adjustment was made to prolong the financial runway for the memecoin.

“Once you distribute 100%, you run out of ammunition… Because the voters were not willing to fund the project, it makes more sense to distribute less, and the rest of the tokens can be used to finance the project.”

After members of the Polkadot community launched DED on March 23, the memecoin gained rapid traction on X, leveraging the memecoin frenzy to raise awareness for the Polkadot ecosystem.

Polkadot token holders were eligible to claim 36 DED tokens for each DOT they possessed. However, following the reduction in the initial airdrop allocation, retail sentiment turned negative.

In a post on X dated March 23, Orlando, a pseudonymous crypto investor, voiced frustration over the decreased airdrop allocation.

“Like everyone else, I’m disappointed with how the DED situation unfolded. The treasury spent money, and many people recently bought and held DOT, driven by the excitement around this experimental DED memecoin. I hope the team will find ways to compensate holders for these mistakes in the long term.”

According to data from Dune, over 1.3 million eligible addresses claimed more than 85% of the airdrop’s total supply.

In contrast to other popular memecoins, DED chose to freeze its airdrop supply until the coin was listed on exchanges to alleviate selling pressure. The launch of DED coincided with a surge in retail interest in memecoins.

Recently, Book of Meme (BOME) experienced a substantial price surge, increasing by over 1,100% on the weekly chart and briefly ranking as the 130th-largest token by market capitalization.

BOME was among the new memecoins that raised funds for unreleased tokens through a presale model, drawing criticism from some members of the crypto community.

Leading up to March 18, presales of Solana-based memecoins collectively raised over $100 million worth of Solana’s tokens.

Memecoins have also gained traction on various blockchain networks. On March 21, the Avalanche Foundation revealed a $1 million liquidity mining incentive program for memecoins and community-owned tokens built on Avalanche.

In the past 24 hours, the prices of Pepecoin (PEPE), Shiba Inu (SHIB), and Dogecoin (DOGE) surged by up to 26%, propelled partly by the uptick in Bitcoin and Ethereum prices.

PEPE witnessed a 26% surge driven by renewed optimism, while DOGE and SHIB rebounded from Thursday’s losses to climb by 10%. This growth coincided with Ethereum (ETH) edging closer to $4,000, a level it last touched in December 2021.

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