Solana exchange Drift confirms 100m token airdrop

Solana-powered decentralized exchange Drift shared plans to roll out its governance token alongside a 100 million token airdrop. 

The governance token will allow holders to vote on future protocol decisions coordinated by the Drift Foundation and proposed by community contributors. An April 16 announcement said 180,000 users would receive 10% of DRIFT’s 1 billion total supply based on interactions with the Solana (SOL) platform since its launch in 2021.

Proponents pondered over more airdrop details due to an X post from the Solana perpetual futures platform, teasing a reveal on April 17. However, the team has not disclosed a definite distribution date but said the eligibility criteria would be released soon. 

The protocol is one of many projects giving free tokens to early supporters in a so-called ‘airdrop season’. Jupiter, a fast-rising SOL DEX, also launched its JUP coin for users in January after launching three years ago.

Three-tier Drift DAO

In addition to an airdrop and governance token launch, the DEX confirmed is a multi-branch decentralized autonomous organization (DAO) system aimed at democratizing operations. 

The Realms DAO will be tasked with protocol development, security council elections, proposing key changes, and ensuring the platform is safe for users’ assets. According to DefiLlama, the exchange has amassed over $20 billion in volume and $248 million in total value locked. 

Secondly, experts elected by the Realms DAO will work within a Security Council DAO focused on finetuning on-chain parameters needed for smooth execution. The group will also handle protocol upgrades.

A Futarchy DAO will allocate developer grants and distribution funds to ecosystem projects as the Solana DEX looks to bootstrap innovation across its community.