TL;DR
- Due to confusion, Ethereum’s JUP surged 430%, reaching $0.026, and later dropped to $0.007 during the $700 million JUP airdrop on Solana.
- The airdrop was successfully completed, with 41% of wallets claiming 566 million JUP, 57% of the total allocation.
- The Solana network handled 2.5 million transactions in 2.5 hours; only temporary issues occurred with third-party applications.
During the $700 million Jupiter airdrop, a peculiar phenomenon occurred in the crypto market. An inactive Ethereum-based protocol named Jupiter (JUP), dormant for seven years, experienced a surge of over 430% in its price. This increase happened just hours before the launch of Jupiter’s airdrop on Solana, an alternative blockchain platform. The cause of this price fluctuation lies in the similarity of tickers between the Ethereum and Solana tokens.
Launched in 2017, the Ethereum-based Jupiter protocol was designed for creating and hosting decentralized applications (DApps). However, its official website states that the protocol is no longer active. On the other hand, the Solana-based Jupiter is a decentralized exchange aggregator facilitating swapping, placing limit orders, and implementing dollar-cost average buying strategies for tokens on the Solana network.
The surge in the price of Ethereum’s JUP token was significant, rising from $0.005 on January 30 to $0.026 on January 31, only to fall back to its current price of $0.007. The similarity in token names led to confusion in the market, coinciding with a crucial moment, the JUP airdrop on Solana.
Solana’s JUP Airdrop Was a Total Success, Distributing 57% of the Total Allocation
Despite speculation and confusion about the wrong token. Jupiter’s airdrop on Solana, one of the largest in the network’s history, was successfully completed. It is estimated that at least 41% of eligible wallets have claimed their JUP tokens so far, totaling 566 million JUP, representing 57% of the total airdrop allocation.
Regarding the performance of the SOL network during the event. Austin Federa, Head of Strategy at the Solana Foundation, highlighted the efficiency of the network. The network processed 2.5 million non-vote transactions in the first two and a half hours of the airdrop. Although users complained about issues with third-party applications during the first hour of the event. Federa clarified that these problems were primarily related to remote procedure call (RPC) nodes and not the base layer of Solana.
Moreover, amid this airdrop, a 17-year-old pseudonymous investor. Known as “X handle notshort,” claims to have obtained over $1 million in JUP tokens during the event. Demonstrating the diversity of participants and opportunities that can arise in such events.
