70,000 on-chain data insights from the Meteora Airdrop: 4 Whale Addresses received 28.5%, while over 60,000 retail investors only received 7%.

Author: Frank, PANews

The important DeFi project Meteora in the Solana ecosystem welcomed its TGE and airdrop event on October 23, which was supposed to be a “redemption” for the protocol after experiencing early scandals. The team marketed it as a revolutionary, community-first “fair distribution.” However, this highly anticipated airdrop quickly turned into a trust storm.

For the airdrop event of Meteora, PANews analyzed over 70,000 on-chain claim activities. This reveals the full picture of the Meteora airdrop.

48% Instant Impact of the “High Circulation” Experiment

The TGE plan of Meteora is characterized by its unique mechanism design, which centers around “high liquidity” and a points-based distribution model.

The total supply of MET tokens is 1 billion. On the day of the TGE, 48% of the total supply (i.e., 480 million tokens) will be fully unlocked and enter circulation at once. The team claims that this move is “intentional” and aims to eliminate “artificial scarcity” to achieve “real market price discovery.”

This airdrop is based on the activity snapshot on June 30, 2025, and the claim will open on October 23. The eligibility criteria are based on a points system, and the reward recipients include liquidity providers (LPs), Jupiter (JUP) stakers, as well as the previously controversial M3M3 Memecoin stakers.

This radical model almost immediately triggered the market's “shock therapy.” A massive supply of 48% caused “overwhelming immediate selling pressure.” After the TGE launch, the MET price quickly fell from an opening price of around $0.90, hitting a low of $0.51 within hours, and the market's “harsh” response unveiled the beginning of this storm.

4 whales received over 28% of the airdrop, while 60,000 retail investors only received 7%.

According to PANews statistics, as of October 24, the number of MET airdrops that have been distributed is approximately 161 million, with around 71,000 transactions claiming the airdrop. The average number of tokens claimed per transaction is 2,277.

In terms of the scale of the airdrop, the current amount received is approximately 83.7 million USD, with an average claim value of about 1,180 USD per address. On average, it seems that the MET airdrop is still a good reward; however, when the data is further examined, it reveals a concentration among whales and a significant “wealth gap.”

Among all the claimed addresses, the address that received the most tokens from a single airdrop received 12.15 million tokens, worth approximately 6.31 million USD. A total of 4 addresses claimed more than 10 million tokens, and the total number of tokens received by these four large holders is about 45.94 million tokens, accounting for 28.5% of the currently claimed airdrop amount.

Among the remaining addresses, there are 12 addresses that have claimed more than 1 million tokens, totaling over 28 million tokens claimed, accounting for 17.32%; the number of addresses claiming between 100,000 and 1 million is 109, claiming 23.99 million tokens, accounting for 14.84%. The number of addresses claiming between 10,000 and 100,000 is 1,195, with a total claim of approximately 31.29 million tokens, accounting for 19.35%; the largest number is the addresses claiming between 100 and 1,000 tokens, totaling 37,000, which claimed 10.12 million tokens, accounting for about 6.26%; there is also a significant number of addresses claiming less than 100 tokens, totaling 24,600, which claimed a total of 1.44 million tokens, accounting for about 0.89%.

This data reveals a harsh reality: the MET airdrop is not a “sunshine” community reward, but a feast for the top holders with extremely uneven distribution.

Four whales are all unusual.

The address that received the most tokens is 3vAauDAR8er3HT8C3Vaj7WRbDoaoebi3KnvCdWuHj6ae, which once received over 12.15 million tokens, currently valued at approximately $6.31 million. From discussions on social media, this address has participated in the airdrop of the MER token (the token of Meteora's predecessor, Mercurial Finance) and holds a large amount of JUP tokens, which have been long-term transferred to exchanges for selling. Some analysts also believe this is an associated address of the Meteora team.

In the past 8 months, the number of JUP tokens sold through this address has exceeded 30 million.

Currently, this selling tactic has once again been used on MET. As of October 25, this address has transferred more than 3 million MET tokens to the Bybit exchange.

The addresses ranked second and third in the amount received appear to be highly correlated. From a simple behavioral perspective, both of these addresses are large holders of JUP and are frequently active in adding to the Jupiter liquidity pool. Coincidentally, the amount of JUP transferred between these two addresses has repeatedly remained the same, at 2,622,632.41, and the activity often occurs on the same day.

Based on various activity trails, these two addresses should belong to the same group control.

In addition, the address ranked fourth, DKpWmjTTJCgHsRCznxp8UmRq6hCUK75pFw9kd1uCMUaK, is also unusual. The amount of airdrop received by this address is a total of 10 million tokens, which does not seem like a normal points collection. Moreover, this address was created a month ago, so it should have missed the snapshot time for Meteora. Additionally, this address has never engaged in any liquidity addition or JUP staking or other activities related to airdrop qualifications. As of now, the tokens of this address have not been transferred. The qualification for the airdrop and the ownership of this address remain unknown.

“Rats” receive millions in airdrops, team caught in a collective lawsuit crisis.

Apart from a few exceptionally large holders, there are many controversial aspects regarding the MET airdrop.

For example, Arkm pointed out that three insider addresses associated with the TRUMP token received a total of $4.2 million worth of MET airdrop. After receiving the airdrop, these addresses immediately deposited all MET into the OKX exchange.

In addition, Hayden Davis, the key figure in the LIBRA scandal, also received tokens worth approximately $1.5 million in the MET airdrop.

These airdrop actions have also sparked strong criticism from the community, with users on social media stating: “Why does Hayden Davis get the MET airdrop? You must be joking… Thanks to Meteora for giving Hayden Davis another $1.5 million.”

In fact, this is not the first time Meteora has found itself in a trust crisis. In December last year, Meteora launched the M3M3 platform and its namesake token, claiming to aim at changing the dynamics of Meme coins. However, the project quickly collapsed, with the token's value plummeting 98% from its peak, leading to subsequent class-action lawsuits. After the LIBRA scandal in February this year, the Meteora team was once again embroiled in allegations of insider trading.

In summary, the grand TGE and airdrop event of Meteora not only failed to become the “community salvation” it claimed to be, but instead evolved into a disaster that exacerbated the trust gap. From the price crash triggered by the aggressive 48% high circulation model, to the millions of dollars airdropped to the key figures involved in the “mouse warehouse” related to the TRUMP token and the LIBRA scandal, every move made by Meteora seems to be questioned as straying far from its original intention of “community first.”

This event, which should have been a “redemption” activity, ultimately only added new wounds to the old scars left by the M3M3 and LIBRA scandals, plunging the team into a new round of trust turmoil and a collective lawsuit crisis. For Meteora, the road to regaining community trust is clearly much more difficult than they had envisioned.