Why did KERNEL crypto crash over 40% today?

Binance-backed KernelDAO faced a sharp sell-off right after its token KERNEL started trading on Binance following its token generation event.

KERNEL’s debut on Binance was met with a swift sell-off as Airdrop recipients offloaded their holdings. The token fell by nearly 44% to a session low of $0.262, bringing its market cap down to $48.6 million.

The launch triggered a frenzy of activity, with 24-hour trading volume surging to nearly $380 million. At the time, around 149.8 million KERNEL tokens were in circulation.

KERNEL began trading on April 14 with multiple pairs, including KERNEL/USDT and KERNEL/BNB. Beyond spot trading, Binance also rolled out KERNEL across other key services, like Simple Earn, Buy Crypto, Convert, Margin, and Futures with up to 75x leverage.

This listing followed Binance’s announcement that KERNEL was the fourth project on its Megadrop platform, which ran from April 9 to April 13. 

Users who locked BNB in Simple Earn and completed Web3 quests got a share from the 40 million KERNEL airdrop, 4% of the total supply of 1 billion.

Looking at the tokenomics, 55% of the total supply is set for community rewards and airdrops and 5% for ecosystem growth and partnerships. Meanwhile, 20% of the supply is split between private sales and team/advisors with a 6-month lock-up and 24-month vesting.

At launch, about 162.3 million KERNEL or 16.23% of the total supply, went into circulation.

KernelDAO had initially planned to launch the token in February 2025 but later pushed the launch to April 14. 

The TGE coincided with a major coordinated listing across top exchanges, including Coinbase, Kraken, KuCoin, MEXC, Gate.io, CoinEx, and Bitvavo, all of which began trading KERNEL on the same day.

It’s common for new tokens to face early dumps, especially after airdrops. For instance, Tutorial (TUT) pumped over 235% after its Binance listing on March 28, only to lose more than half its value a week later as early investors cashed out.

What is KernelDAO?

Launched in 2023, KernelDAO is a restaking protocol with over $2 billion in total value locked and supports more than 10 blockchains, including Ethereum, BNB Chain, Arbitrum, and Optimism.

Its core products include Kernel, a restaking infrastructure on BNB Chain; Kelp LRT,  a top liquid restaking platform on Ethereum; and Gain, a tokenized rewards program that helps users earn high-yield rewards and airdrops.

The KERNEL token acts as the governance and utility token. Holders can restake it to help secure the network and unlock more airdrop opportunities. KernelDAO also uses some of its protocol revenue to buy back KERNEL tokens.

Since its launch, KernelDAO has secured significant funding, including a $10 million private sale round in 2024 led by Binance Labs (now YZi Labs), SCB Limited, and Laser Digital. In addition, the project has established a $40 million ecosystem fund to expand and develop the restaking infrastructure on the BNB Chain.