The recent changes made to the airdrop of the new memecoin DOT, which is based on the Polkadot network, have received widespread criticism from the community. The initial allocation for the airdrop was significantly reduced from 100% of the token supply to just 5%. This decision was made in order to ensure a longer financial runway for the memecoin, according to one of its developers, Giotto De Filippi.
The memecoin, known as DED, gained popularity on March 23 within the Polkadot community as a result of efforts to capitalize on the memecoin frenzy and attract more attention to the Polkadot ecosystem. Investors who held Polkadot (DOT) were eligible to receive 36 DED tokens for every 1 DOT they held.
However, sentiment among retail investors turned sour after the team behind DED reduced the initial airdrop allocation. Orlando, a pseudonymous crypto investor, expressed his concerns about this change in a post on X on March 23.
According to data from Dune, over 85% of the DED airdrop supply has already been claimed by over 1.3 million eligible addresses. Unlike other popular memecoins, the supply of DED that was airdropped is currently frozen and will only be available for trading once it is listed on exchanges. This measure has been taken in order to reduce sell pressure.
The launch of the Polkadot-based memecoin comes at a time when there is increased retail interest in memecoins. Last week, the token called Book of Meme (BOME) experienced a significant increase of over 1,100% on the weekly chart, briefly making it the 130th-largest token by market capitalization.
BOME is just one example of a series of new memecoins that have raised funds for unreleased coins through a controversial presale model. In the days leading up to March 18, presales for these memecoins based on the Solana network raised over $100 million worth of Solana’s (SOL) token.
Other blockchain networks are also taking advantage of the memecoin frenzy. On March 21, the Avalanche Foundation announced a $1 million liquidity mining incentive program for memecoins and community-owned tokens native to the Avalanche network.
It is clear that the memecoin trend is continuing to grow, and different blockchain networks are actively participating in this space in order to gain traction and attract investors.