2021 To 2026
🕯 COMPLETE HISTORY OF PERP DEX AIRDROPS (2021 → 2026)
This sector evolved from simple retroactive rewards → complex points economies → sustainable real yield models.
🧠 1. EARLY ERA (2021–2022)
🔹 The Foundation Phase
🔸 dYdX — The Blueprint
Airdrop: 75M DYDX % of Supply: 7.5% (1B
total)
Total Community Allocation: ~50%
Users: ~64k wallets
Eligibility:
👉Trading volume
👉Open interest
👉Fees paid
Impact:
Some users received $10K–$1M+
Created the “trade-to-earn” narrative
😏 This is the origin of all perp airdrop
farming strategies
🔸 GMX — Real Yield Model (Not Airdrop-Based)
Launch: 2021 (from Gambit / XVIX)
Max Supply: ~13.25M GMX
Distribution:
~45% → XVIX/Gambit migration
Remaining → liquidity incentives + ecosystem
Rewards Model:
70% fees → LPs (GLP → GM pools now)
30% fees → GMX stakers
Key Stats:
$134M+ real yield distributed (by 2026)
Rewards in ETH / AVAX (real revenue)
👉 No retro airdrop — instead:
✔️Sustainable passive income
✔️One of the most profitable DeFi models
🔸 PERP
No major retroactive drop
Focus:
👉Liquidity mining
👉Staking rewards
👉 Early experiment but less impactful vs dYdX/GMX
⚙️ 2. MID ERA (2023–EARLY 2024)
🔹 Controlled Incentives & Experiments
🔸 Vela Exchange
Chain: Arb
Total Supply: ~22M–50M (varies by source)
Marketing Allocation: ~10%
🎁 Beta Airdrop:
Eligibility:
👉$3,000+ trading volume
👉Position open ≥ 1 min
Unique Mechanism:
🔴 Red Pill → up to 8x rewards (locked / long-term)
🥶 Blue Pill → instant but lower rewards
Stats:
👉~50k+ participants
👉72-day beta campaign
Allocation:
👉Exact tokens undisclosed
👉Estimated: low-single-digit % of supply
Outcome:
👉controversy over fairness
👉Airdrops paused later
👉 Shifted to:
✔️Staking (VELA / eVELA)
✔️Revenue sharing
🔸 Aevo
Airdrop:
👉30M AEVO
👉% Supply: ~3%+
Users:
👉~40K–60K
Eligibility
👉Pre-launch trading
👉Deposits
👉Launchpad participation
👉 Marked revival of perp airdrops post-2022 bear
