What's The Biggest Crypto Airdrop in History? (2025 Updated)

In cryptocurrency, few events generate as much excitement as airdrops – those magical moments when tokens worth millions (or even billions) of dollars are distributed for free to eager community members.

But What Is the Biggest Crypto Airdrop in History?

The crown for the biggest crypto airdrop in history goes to Hyperliquid's HYPE token distribution, which reached an astonishing value of over $7.5 billion by January 2025. This monumental giveaway broke several records. It distributed 31% of its 1 billion HYPE tokens to users of the Hyperliquid Network in a groundbreaking fully decentralized launch.

What makes this airdrop particularly remarkable is both its revolutionary distribution method and extraordinary price appreciation. Launching at $2 on November 29, 2024, HYPE tokens soared over 600% to $22.67 by mid-January.

But Hyperliquid isn't alone in the billion-dollar airdrop club. The crypto ecosystem has witnessed several massive token distributions throughout the years.

Let's explore these record-breaking giveaways and see what made them special.

The Billion-Dollar Airdrop Club: Crypto's Most Generous Giveaways

1. Starknet (STRK) - $3.09 Billion

Coming in second place is Starknet, an Ethereum layer-2 scaling network that waited three years after its 2021 mainnet launch before conducting its much-anticipated STRK airdrop in February 2024.

With 700 million STRK tokens initially distributed, approximately 1.3 million wallets had the opportunity to claim the $STRK token.

What made this distribution unique was its broad reach – tokens were handed out not just to direct Starknet users but also to Ethereum stakers, bringing rewards to crypto users far beyond the scaling solution's immediate community.

The STRK token plays a crucial role in Starknet's governance, and in late 2024, the network launched "phase 1" of a staking initiative, becoming the first layer-2 solution to let users earn rewards by participating in transaction validation.

2. Pudgy Penguins (PENGU) - $3.064 Billion

In third place, we find an unexpected contender from the NFT world. Pudgy Penguins (with a market cap exceeding $2.3 billion) has established itself as one of Ethereum's premier NFT collections. The project gained mainstream recognition when its toys hit shelves in major retailers like Walmart and Target.

In early 2024, Pudgy Penguins expanded to Solana with the launch of PENGU, a token designed to strengthen connections between fans and the brand. Around half of PENGU's 88.88 billion supply was distributed to members of the Pudgy Penguin community, other NFT communities, and even FTT token holders (FTT was the native token of the collapsed crypto exchange FTX).

What made this airdrop particularly inclusive was its reach across multiple prominent NFT projects. Holders from collections like Bored Ape Yacht Club and Doodles were able to claim tokens, creating a broad base of support for the new token.

3. Notcoin (NOT) - $2.274 Billion

The fourth largest airdrop came from another unexpected source – a simple coin-tapping game called Notcoin that took The Open Network (TON) by storm in 2024. This addictive mini-app on Telegram had users tapping away furiously to earn potential rewards.

When Notcoin finally released its token in May after some delays, around 80.2 billion NOT tokens went up for grabs. Major exchanges like Binance supported the token immediately upon launch.

The success of Notcoin sparked a wave of similar tap-to-earn games across the crypto ecosystem, with titles like Hamster Kombat drawing in hundreds of millions of players ahead of their own airdrops. While some critics question the long-term staying power of such simple games, they've proven incredibly effective at introducing new users to blockchain networks.

4. Jupiter (JUP) - $2 Billion

Rounding out the top five is Jupiter, a Solana-based decentralized exchange (DEX) aggregator that rewarded users with 1 billion JUP tokens during its initial distribution wave in early 2024. This airdrop reached a peak value of $2 billion.

Jupiter committed to releasing an additional 3 billion JUP tokens in future waves, with a second round approved in December 2024. The project's community is incredibly active, planning its first conference dubbed "Catstanbul" (a nod to its pseudonymous founder, Meow) in Istanbul for early 2025.

As one of the largest DeFi projects on Solana, Jupiter has facilitated over $2 trillion in total trading volume, demonstrating the massive scale and adoption potential of successful airdrop projects.