LayerZero Labs Sets Stage for Airdrop With Snapshot

LayerZero Labs, a cross-chain interoperability protocol, has completed the first snapshot ahead of its much-anticipated airdrop.

The snapshot was taken at 11:59:59 PM UTC on May 1, 2024, according to an announcement on X. LayerZero did not share what criteria will determine eligibility for its upcoming airdrop, or any specific details about the airdrop.

However, the project did state note this was snapshot "#1," hinting that additional snapshots to determine eligibility may be taken in the future.

“More information coming soon,” the LayerZero teased.

Airdrop hunters have long speculated that LayerZero may drop a token to users in the future.

Airdrops serve as a means for web3 projects to distribute governance tokens to early users. This incentivizes adoption, with many users hoping to score free tokens flocking to early-stage projects. Recipients must meet specific criteria set by the project to be eligible for the airdrop.

Following Aribtrum’s high-profile airdrop in March 2023, LayerZero’s cumulative transaction volume tripled over the course of a single month, with nearly 5 million transactions executed via LayerZero in roughly 30 days.

In December 2023, LayerZero finally put the rampant speculation to bed by confirming that distributing a token to users was included as part of its roadmap.

“We’ll state now in no uncertain terms that there will be a LayerZero token,” LayerZero Labs tweeted on Dec. 8, 2023. “Its distribution is something we’re committed to getting right and expect it to happen within the first half of 2024.”

LayerZero adoption surges

In the first quarter of 2024, LayerZero protocol hosted more than $6.7 billion worth of cross-chain asset transfers, marking a 91% increase from the quarter before, data from Messari shows.

Message traffic surged, with 29.6 million messages sent via LayerZero for a 60% quarterly increase. This period also saw a 93% rise in smart contract deployments on LayerZero, indicating growing developer adoption of the protocol.

In April 2023, LayerZero raised $120 million in a Series B funding round at a valuation of $3 billion.