{"id":19032,"date":"2026-01-01T16:11:52","date_gmt":"2026-01-01T16:11:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bitunikey.com\/news\/airdrop-season-is-ending-and-crypto-is-getting-real-capital-markets-opinion\/"},"modified":"2026-01-01T16:11:59","modified_gmt":"2026-01-01T16:11:59","slug":"airdrop-season-is-ending-and-crypto-is-getting-real-capital-markets-opinion","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bitunikey.com\/news\/airdrop-season-is-ending-and-crypto-is-getting-real-capital-markets-opinion\/","title":{"rendered":"Airdrop season is ending, and crypto is getting real capital markets | Opinion"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"post-detail__content blocks\">\n<div class=\"cn-block-disclaimer\">\n<div class=\"cn-block-disclaimer__icon\">\n            <svg class=\"icon icon-info\" aria-hidden=\"true\"><use xlink:href=\"#icon-info\"><\/use> <\/svg>        <\/div>\n<p class=\"cn-block-disclaimer__content\">\n            Disclosure: The views and opinions expressed here belong solely to the author and do not represent the views and opinions of crypto.news\u2019 editorial.        <\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p><!-- .cn-block-disclaimer --><\/p>\n<p>For the past several years, airdrops and point systems have been the lifeblood of crypto user acquisition. Crypto projects simply had no alternative. After the initial coin offering boom caused severe regulatory pushback, projects faced a difficult question: how do you get tokens into the hands of users without selling anything that might be construed as an unregistered security? Airdrops emerged as the answer.<\/p>\n<div id=\"cn-block-summary-block_df95c6d63c790ab01e0fffe47f901b07\" class=\"cn-block-summary\">\n<div class=\"cn-block-summary__nav tabs\">\n        <span class=\"tabs__item is-selected\">Summary<\/span>\n    <\/div>\n<div class=\"cn-block-summary__content\">\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Airdrops were a regulatory workaround, not a healthy market: They emerged after ICOs became legally toxic, but distorted incentives, rewarded extractive behavior, and undermined real product-market fit.<\/li>\n<li>Regulated ICOs are returning, and resetting incentives: With clearer U.S. rules and platforms like Coinbase enabling compliant sales, projects can raise directly from users, restore price discovery, and reduce VC-driven distortions.<\/li>\n<li>Crypto capital markets are maturing: Airdrops will shift to loyalty and governance rewards, while transparent fundraising and real investor skin-in-the-game replace the era of \u201cfree money.\u201d<\/li>\n<\/ul><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><!-- .cn-block-summary --><\/p>\n<p>That era is ending. The shift in U.S. regulation has opened the door for compliant, transparent ICOs to return. We shouldn\u2019t expect the same craze as in 2017 (the industry has matured enormously since then); on the contrary, the crypto sector will likely correct some of its distortions and develop more disciplined capital markets.<\/p>\n<p>    <!-- .cn-block-related-link --><\/p>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">The return of ICOs<\/h2>\n<p>Coinbase\u2019s announcement of a regulated ICO platform for U.S. investors was the clearest signal yet that the U.S. regulators are ready to re-engage with public token sales \u2014 that is, under structured, compliant conditions. Far from a nostalgic revival of the 2017 free-for-all, it\u2019s a sign that ICOs, done properly, are no longer taboo.<\/p>\n<p>The market responded immediately. MegaETH\u2019s ICO was a blockbuster success, demonstrating that retail appetite for well-structured token offerings is still enormous. Plasma also drew huge demand back in June. Monad\u2019s ICO took longer than expected to fill as Coinbase\u2019s first ICO, but it still received a lot of attention from the industry. The ability to conduct public token sales again changes everything for crypto fundraising.<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Why airdrops existed in the first place<\/h2>\n<p>After 2017, the ICO landscape became radioactive. Almost overnight, selling tokens to the public became legally risky, major exchanges refused to list tokens launched through public sales, and U.S. investors were effectively excluded from early-stage participation.<\/p>\n<p>Yet developers still wanted to grow their networks, and users still wanted tokens. So crypto firms improvised a workaround in the form of airdrops. If tokens were given away rather than sold, perhaps they wouldn\u2019t be treated as securities. It certainly seemed safer than the ICO model.<\/p>\n<p>A new wrinkle was added to the scheme later on: points systems. Projects didn\u2019t even need to really airdrop a token \u2014 instead, they could reward users with abstract \u201cpoints\u201d that hinted at future financial gains. These systems allowed projects to build hype and usage without crossing legal lines. It worked for a time, but it created distortions in the market.<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">The incentive problem<\/h2>\n<p>Since firms couldn\u2019t raise from the public, they leaned heavily on venture capital. VCs obviously wanted liquidity events, so crypto projects were pressured into elaborate cycles of launching unfinished products, using points to attract \u201cusers,\u201d and airdropping a token months later to satisfy investors.<\/p>\n<p>The incentives were utterly broken: airdrop recipients (often times called \u201cfarmers\u201d) had zero loyalty to the project they\u2019d received tokens from; VCs didn\u2019t care about product-market fit so much as token unlocks; protocol teams optimized for fake KPIs to justify valuations, and obtain exchange listings for day 1 selling liquidity; and real users were drowned out by extractive behavior.<\/p>\n<p>Put differently, the project\u2019s long-term success was irrelevant to VCs and airdrop recipients. It was all free money. Once you\u2019d unlocked your liquidity \u2014 or received your airdrop \u2014 the best move was to sell your tokens and to move on to the next project. You couldn\u2019t build anything of lasting value.<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">What this new ICO era unlocks<\/h2>\n<p>Regulated ICOs will give crypto a chance to fix those distortions and realign the sector\u2019s economic foundation. This new wave will look nothing like 2017. Back then, ICOs only needed a whitepaper to get investors pouring in. Today, crypto market participants are far more educated, and regulators are setting clear boundaries.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>With the return of ICOs, crypto firms will no longer be forced to over-optimize for VC interests; they can raise directly from the people who believe in the product. Token holders will also become real stakeholders. Because they\u2019ll have invested in the project, they will truly have skin in the game.<\/p>\n<p>Markets will finally gain genuine price discovery. What the market is willing to pay for this or that new token becomes a real signal. Nor will crypto projects waste resources on convoluted airdrop campaigns anymore. That attention can be redirected towards product design and revenue.<\/p>\n<p>Even so, as we\u2019ve seen with Monad, ICOs don\u2019t necessarily spell the end of token unlock schedules (which were a common feature in airdrops). Some projects will still experience significant selling pressure on their tokens over long time horizons.<\/p>\n<p>In short, compliant public fundraising mechanics will abate some (but not all) of the major distortions that crypto capital markets have been suffering from. The ecosystem\u2019s health is bound to improve.<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Airdrops will have different functions<\/h2>\n<p>Airdrops and point systems were innovative in their own way, and they won\u2019t fade away entirely. We should expect them to be used as part of loyalty programs \u2014 to reward investors who, for example, have participated in the protocol\u2019s governance, or have already been holding the project\u2019s token for a significant amount of time.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>The end of the airdrop season is a sign of maturation for crypto. The sector is finally building the infrastructure of real capital markets: regulated fundraising, transparent pricing, investor protections, and aligned incentives. Investors won\u2019t get free money anymore, but they\u2019ll be able to invest in crypto projects without having to worry as much about broken incentives.<\/p>\n<p>    <!-- .cn-block-related-link --><\/p>\n<div class=\"cn-block-author author-card\">\n<div class=\"author-card__photo\"><\/div>\n<p><!-- .author-card__photo --><\/p>\n<div class=\"author-card__content\">\n<div class=\"author-card__name\">\n                Annabelle Huang            <\/div>\n<p><!-- .author-card__name --><\/p>\n<div class=\"author-card__bio\">\n<p><b>Annabelle Huang <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">is the co-founder and chief executive officer of Altius Labs, a blockchain infrastructure company (backed by Founders Fund and Pantera) that focuses on solving execution performance bottlenecks.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p><!-- .author-card__bio --><\/p>\n<div class=\"author-card__social\">\n<p><a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/annabelle-huang\/\" class=\"community-link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\" aria-label=\"LinkedIn\"><\/p>\n<p>    <svg class=\"community-link__icon\" aria-hidden=\"true\">\n        <use xlink:href=\"#icon-social-linkedin\"><\/use>\n    <\/svg><\/p>\n<p><\/a><\/p>\n<p><a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/_annabellehuang\" class=\"community-link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\" aria-label=\"Twitter\"><\/p>\n<p>    <svg class=\"community-link__icon\" aria-hidden=\"true\">\n        <use xlink:href=\"#icon-social-twitter\"><\/use>\n    <\/svg><\/p>\n<p><\/a><\/p><\/div>\n<p><!-- .author-card__social --><\/p><\/div>\n<p><!-- .author-card__content --><\/p><\/div>\n<p><!-- author-card --><\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Disclosure: The views and opinions expressed here belong solely to the author and do not represent the views and opinions of crypto.news\u2019 editorial. For the past several years, airdrops and&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":4343,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-19032","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-cryptocurrency"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bitunikey.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19032","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bitunikey.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bitunikey.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bitunikey.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bitunikey.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=19032"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/bitunikey.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19032\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":19033,"href":"https:\/\/bitunikey.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19032\/revisions\/19033"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bitunikey.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4343"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bitunikey.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=19032"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bitunikey.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=19032"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bitunikey.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=19032"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}