Ether.fi, the leading liquid restaking protocol on Ethereum, has unveiled plans for its upcoming governance token airdrop amid adjustments prompted by community feedback.
The token, dubbed ETHFI, will boast a total supply of 1 billion tokens, with an initial circulating supply of 115.2 million tokens. The airdrop will be divided into two stages: Season 1, releasing 6% of the total token supply and covering behavior up to March 15, and Season 2, releasing 5% of the remaining tokens and encompassing behavior from March 15 onwards to an unspecified future date. The remaining tokens will be allocated among investors, partnerships, core contributors, and the protocol’s treasury, as outlined in the protocol’s tokenomics distribution.
Ether.fi outlined various eligibility criteria for the airdrop, including holding eETH, referring a friend to the protocol, or participating in the Early Adopter Program. Notably, “whale wallets” will be subject to a 3-month waiting period to claim their tokens, while smaller wallets will have instant access, according to Ether.fi’s announcement.
However, following the announcement, community members raised concerns after noticing that Justin Sun, the controversial founder of TRON, would apparently receive nearly 3.5 million tokens from the initial 60 million token allocation following a 20,000 ETH deposit made two days ago, as indicated by blockchain data.
In response to widespread community complaints, Ether.Fi founder Mike Silagadze took to Discord to announce that additional tokens would be airdropped to community members, with further details forthcoming. Silagadze also defended Sun’s allocation, stating, “Just because someone came in with a huge deposit doesn’t mean we are going to change the rules on them and screw them over. We appreciate Justin’s support and will honor the rules of the campaign we set out.”
Powered by the restaking protocol EigenLayer, Ether.fi boasts over $3 billion in total value locked, according to crypto data platform DeFi Llama, significantly surpassing its nearest competitor. Ether.Fi recently disclosed raising $27 million in venture funding, divided between a SAFE and a Series A, as previously reported by The Block.