- Scroll's SCR token launches tomorrow.
- Since Scroll ended its airdrop campaign, transactions on the blockchain have plummeted.
Ethereum layer 2 Scroll is preparing to airdrop tens of millions of valuable tokens to users who participated in its Scroll Sessions points campaign.
But in response, many of those users have suddenly stopped using the blockchain.
On October 18, transactions on Scroll hit an all-time high of 962,000. But 24 hours later that had dropped 70% to just 289,000, according to data from L2Beat.
The reason? Transactions no longer count towards Scroll’s points campaign, meaning users have no longer a financial incentive to use the blockchain.
In the same period, transaction counts at rival layer 2 blockchains like Coinbase’s Base and Arbitrum remained largely unchanged.
Airdrops are a risky game for upstart crypto projects. On the one hand, they bring lots of attention and users to a project it might not otherwise get.
But on the other hand, if those same users don’t stick around after the airdrop, the millions of dollars worth of tokens it dished out could be all for nought.
And if users leave a project en masse, it usually hurts the value of that project’s token — more so if it launches at a high valuation.
Scroll isn’t the first project to haemorrhage users after ending its airdrop campaign.
Transactions on Scroll competitor ZKsync fell some 80% in the months following its June airdrop.
There are exceptions, though.
Deposits to Sanctum, a liquid staking protocol on Solana, have increased around 20% since it airdropped tokens to early users in July.
The SCR airdrop
On Monday, Scroll published details for its airdrop in a blog post.
Users who collected 200 marks through the Scroll Sessions campaign will split 4% of the 1 billion supply of the blockchain’s SCR token.
The SCR token will allow holders to propose and vote on changes to the Scroll blockchain.
Those who met certain criteria, such as holding an Ethereum Name Service name, donating to Gitcoin grants or Juicebox campaigns, or using a smart contract wallet on Scroll will also receive bonus tokens.
Scroll’s investors, which include venture capital firms Sequoia Capital, Polychain Capital, and Bain Capital Ventures, among others, will receive 17% of the supply, while a further 23% will go to the Scroll development team.
Scroll’s SCR trades hands on Hyperliquid’s premarket for $1.36, implying a $1.36 billion valuation.
Those eligible for the airdrop can start claiming their tokens at 6 am Tuesday UK time.
Tim Craig is DL News’ Edinburgh-based DeFi Correspondent. Reach out with tips at tim@dlnews.com.
