DED memecoin sparks community outrage after airdrop allocation is reduced
The airdrop of the new Polkadot-based memecoin, DOT $ DED (DED), has drawn widespread community criticism after the initial allocation was reduced.
The initial climate allocation was reduced from 100% of the token supply to only 5% of the supply, to create a longer financial runway for memecoin, Giotto De Filippi, one of the anonymous developers of memecoin, revealed on March 24 X Spaces.
“Once you distribute 100%, you run out of ammunition… because voters are unwilling to support the project, it makes more sense to distribute less and the rest of the tokens can be used to fund the project.”
DED began appearing on X on March 23rd after members of the Polkadot community spun off memecoin in an effort to capitalize on the frenzy of memecoin and bring more attention to the Polkadot ecosystem. Investors holding Polkadot (DOT) were eligible for 36 DED tokens for every 1 point.
Retail sentiment soured after the team cut its first airdrop allocation. Anonymous crypto investor Orlando took to X to express his concerns in a March 23 post:
“Like everyone else, I'm saddened by how the DED situation turned out. The Treasury released money, and many people recently bought and held DOT, due to the excitement of this experimental DED memecoin. I hope the team finds ways to compensate owners for these mistakes in the long run.
More than 85% of DED's airdrop delivery was claimed by more than 1.3 million eligible addresses, according to Dunn's data. Like other popular memecoins, DED's airdrop offering is frozen until future exchange listings to reduce selling pressure.
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The Memecoin frenzy continues.
The launch of the Polkadot-based token comes at a time of increased retail interest in memecoins. Last week, meme token Book of Memes (BOME) surged more than 1,100% on the weekly chart, becoming the 130th largest token by market capitalization in a short period of time.
BOME is part of a series of new memecoins that have raised funds for unreleased coins through a controversial presale model. The sale of these Solana-based memecoins raised more than $100 million in value in the three days until March 18.
Other blockchain networks are also trying to capitalize on the frustration. On March 21, the Avalanche Foundation announced a $1 million liquid mining incentive program for Avalanche-native memecoins and community-owned tokens.
Related: Solana to further surpass Ethereum in consumer applications – former development leader
