ZRO Trades At $1.1B Market Cap After LayerZero Launches Claims

LayerZero’s highly-anticipated ZRO token is trading at a ten-figure market cap 30 minutes after launching.

On June 20, LayerZero launched claims for its long-awaited token. Less than one hour later, ZRO is changing hands for $4.40, equating to a $1.1 billion market cap and a fully-diluted valuation of $4.3 billion, according to CoinGecko.

The token is yet to suffer the wholesale dumping typically associated with freshly airdropped coins, having shed just 4% from its initial trading price so far.

ZRO allocations became claimable from 7 am, Eastern Standard Time, with 23.8% of ZRO’s supply earmarked for the drop.

"ZRO Claim Is Live,” LayerZero tweeted. “Supported Chains: Ethereum, Arbitrum, Optimism, Base, Polygon, BNB Chain, and Avalanche."

Widespread distribution

Claims went live one day after Bryan Pellegrino, CEO of the LayerZero Foundation, revealed that 1.28 million of LayerZero’s 6 million lifetime users would be eligible for the ZRO airdrop, making it among the most widely distributed token generation events in crypto.

Roughly one million addresses suspected of sybil activity were also excluded.

Users and developers can claim 8.5% of ZRO’s supply now, with 5% going to core contributors, 3% to ecosystem projects that have submitted requests for proposals (RFP) requesting an allocation, and 0.5% to its community pool.

The remaining tokens are set for gradual distribution over three years, along with retroactive distributions every 12 months.

Proof of Donation

The LayerZero Foundation introduced a novel claiming mechanism called 'Proof-of-Donation' for airdrop recipients. To claim the airdrop, users need to donate $0.1 in USDC, USDT, or ETH per ZRO token to the Protocol Guild — a collective funding mechanism for Ethereum developers.

This initiative is expected to raise approximately $18.5 million to support the development of Ethereum.

"Protocol Guild and Ethereum's core developers have been fundamental to LayerZero's growth, driving the proliferation of the EVM, Ethereum's L2-centric roadmap, and the broader crypto ecosystem,” LayerZero Foundation said. “By donating to Protocol Guild, eligible recipients show long-term alignment with the LayerZero protocol and a commitment to the future of crypto.”

The move comes as an increasing number of companies and protocols are pledging donations to support the Protocol Guild. In January, EtherFi pledged 1% of its supply to support Ethereum development, and VanEck had also committed 10% of profits generated from its pending spot Ether exchange-traded fund.

ZRO tokenholders will also receive voting privileges regarding the LayerZero protocol’s fee switch.

“An immutable voting contract enforces a public on-chain referendum every six months, allowing ZRO holders to vote on activating or deactivating the protocol’s fee switch,” the foundation said in a blog post.