2026's biggest airdrops: $809 million claimed, 9 of 11 tokens below first close
On-chain data compiled by Bitquery puts 51 large EVM airdrops this year at $809.4 million and 2.02 million claiming wallets. Most claimers moved their tokens within a day, and CoinGecko prices show only Backpack and Espresso above their first daily close.
Key points
- Bitquery counted 51 airdrops on Ethereum, BNB Chain, Base and Arbitrum from January 1 to September 29, 2026, each paying at least 5,000 wallets and $1 million: $809.4 million in all, to 2,023,879 claiming wallets.
- In the typical (median) drop, 73% of claimers moved tokens within a day, and only 8% still held at least half after 90 days, per Bitquery's on-chain data.
- Of 11 airdropped tokens we checked on CoinGecko, nine trade below their first daily close. Backpack's BP (up about 285%) and Espresso's ESP (up about 8%) are the exceptions.
What DeepSea's data shows
DeepSea's Projects radar, which profiles newly listed tokens, includes Backpack's BP, one of only two tokens in this scorecard trading above their first daily close. DeepSea showed BP with a market cap of $221.43 million, down 9.6% over seven days.
DeepSea's BP page showed a price of $0.8895, up 236.1% over 30 days. DeepSea has no token page yet for BREV or most EVM airdrop tokens here, so the rest of this report uses Bitquery's on-chain data and CoinGecko prices.
Data: DeepSea (desea.io), checked November 2, 2026, 8:48 p.m. ET.
The scorecard
No single public dataset covers every 2026 airdrop. The widest we found is an investigation by Bitquery, a blockchain data provider, covering 51 drops on four EVM chains (networks that run Ethereum-style smart contracts). Solana and other chains are outside it. Values below are Bitquery's, at claim-day prices. Price changes are our own math: each token's first daily close on CoinGecko against its CoinGecko price at 8:39 p.m. ET on November 2.
- CAT (BNB Chain): $351.7 million, about 41% of the total. The token is not listed, and Bitquery valued it from trades on decentralized exchanges (DEXs), so treat the figure with care.
- edgeX, EDGE (Ethereum): $124.0 million. CoinGecko: $0.6561 to $0.3135, down 52.2%.
- USD.AI, CHIP (Arbitrum): $20.8 million. CoinGecko: down 36.4%.
- Sentient, SENT (Ethereum): $14.0 million. CoinGecko: down 35.8%.
- Fabric Protocol, ROBO (Ethereum): $13.8 million. Bitquery found one group of 11,204 linked wallets took 87% of the tokens. CoinGecko: down 87.8%.
- Opinion, OPN (BNB Chain): $12.6 million. CoinGecko: down 88.7%.
- Elsa, ELSA (Base): $8.7 million, pushed to about a quarter-million wallets, per Bitquery. CoinGecko: down 55.4%.
- Brevis, BREV (Ethereum): $4.5 million to 82,671 wallets. Marketed with a points campaign, Kaito social rankings and 15 million BREV through Binance HODLer Airdrops. CoinGecko: down 77.4%. We cover it in a separate report.
- Espresso, ESP (Ethereum): $3.8 million to 52,621 claimers, who took only 15% of the pot; on June 23 the remaining 85% (271 million ESP) returned to the wallet that had funded the claim contract. CoinGecko: up 7.8%.
- OpenGradient, OPG (BNB Chain): $3.1 million. CoinGecko: down 68.7%.
Bitquery's top 10 also includes MCAT, PTH, Beat, sENA (staked ENA) and O, which we could not match to a single CoinGecko listing with confidence.
Largest 2026 EVM airdrops by value at claim
US$ million
Source: on-chain data compiled by Bitquery, January 1 to September 29, 2026, at claim-day prices.
Big drops outside Bitquery's data
Backpack (Solana) gave 250 million BP, 25% of supply, to users on March 23: 240 million to points holders and 10 million to Mad Lads NFT holders, per Backpack. No team or investor tokens unlocked at launch. At CoinGecko's first daily close of $0.2291 that was about $57.3 million. BP has since risen to $0.8812, up 284.6%, per CoinGecko. Backpack has not published how many accounts received tokens.
MegaETH launched MEGA on April 30. Its 15% community allocation mixes token sales (Echo, the Sonar auction) with the Fluffle NFT and a Mainnet Campaign, per MegaETH, and it has not said how much was free. MEGA is down 73.5% from its first daily close, per CoinGecko.
We left Polymarket, MetaMask and Jupiter out of the scorecard because we could not confirm amounts and recipients from their own channels or on-chain for this report.
How 2026 airdrops were marketed
- Points seasons: Backpack converted trading points into 24% of supply; Brevis ran a Sparks campaign that paid 50 Sparks for using an invite code.
- NFT tie-ins: Mad Lads holders got 1% of BP; MegaETH included its Fluffle NFT.
- Social and Kaito-style campaigns: Brevis let ranked Kaito posters and Discord members qualify, but made them bind a wallet to claim, per its registration post.
- Binance programs: Binance HODLer Airdrops paid BNB savers in BREV. Bitquery found four drops paid through a Binance Wallet reward contract, where 50% to 70% of claimers routed tokens into the Binance Wallet swap router within a day.
How fast recipients sold
Bitquery tracked what claimers did with tokens. In the typical drop, 73% of claimers moved them inside 24 hours. Moving is not always selling, but the holding numbers point one way: the share of claimers still holding at least half fell to 33% after seven days, 23% after 30 days and 8% after 90 days, per Bitquery.
Ethereum claimers tended to send tokens to exchanges; on BNB Chain and Base they sold more into DEXs. For ZK Coin, Sentient and ROBO, more than half of all claimers made an exchange deposit inside 24 hours.
Prices followed. For 46 listed drops, the median token is down 48% from its first-week price, and 35 of 46 trade below it. Rewards were also concentrated: the top 10% of claimers took a median 73% of the tokens.
Claimers still holding at least half (median drop)
%
Source: on-chain data compiled by Bitquery, 51 EVM airdrops, January 1 to September 29, 2026.
Unclaimed tokens and fake tokens
Projects do not always pay out the whole pot. Across 35 simple claim contracts, the median project paid 87% to claimers, and nine still held 10% or more at the end of September, per Bitquery. Brevis was one, with 45% left, a figure we confirmed on-chain.
Scammers follow every drop. Bitquery found fake same-name or same-symbol tokens pushed to wallets for 25 of the 51 airdrops. Claim only through a project's official domain, and never connect a wallet from a link in a DM or a reply.
LC Insight analysis
This section is our reading of the facts above, not a statement of fact.
- We think 2026 confirms that most airdrops work as distribution events, not loyalty programs. When the median claimer moves tokens within a day and fewer than one in ten still holds half after three months, a drop mostly hands supply to people who sell.
- The two tokens above their first close, BP and ESP, share a feature: little new supply hit the market at launch. Backpack unlocked no team or investor tokens, and Espresso's claimers collected only 15% of their pot. That is a pattern worth watching, not a rule.
- Value at claim flatters the headline. One unlisted token valued from DEX trades makes up about 41% of the $809.4 million total, and many large drops were concentrated in a small group of linked wallets.
What's next
- Bitquery or other on-chain updates covering October and later drops
- Team and investor unlocks for 2026 airdrop tokens, starting with BREV around January 2027
- Disclosures from Backpack and MegaETH on recipient counts
Disclaimer. This article is based on public information and the sources listed below as of the update time shown. It is for information only and is not investment, legal or tax advice. Figures may change as companies and authorities publish new data.
Sources
- Bitquery, 2026 airdrop investigation (on-chain data)
- Bitquery, Where airdrop tokens go (September 30, 2026)
- Backpack Learn, Backpack TGE
- MegaETH, MEGA token page
- Binance, Introducing Brevis (BREV) on Binance HODLer Airdrops (January 5, 2026)
- CoinGecko price pages: EDGE, CHIP, SENT, ROBO, OPN, ELSA, BREV, ESP, OPG, BP, MEGA
- DeepSea, Projects radar
