Meteora's airdrop saw four whale addresses take home 28.5% of the market, while over 60,000 retail investors received only 7%.

Meteora, a key DeFi project in the Solana ecosystem, held its TGE and airdrop on October 23rd, supposedly a redemption for the protocol after an early scandal. The team touted it as a revolutionary, community-first "fair distribution." However, this highly anticipated airdrop quickly devolved into a trust crisis. PANews analyzed over 70,000 on-chain claims for Meteora's airdrop, revealing the full story. The immediate impact of the 48% "high liquidity" experiment. Meteora's TGE plan features a unique mechanism design, centered on 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 token supply (or 480 million tokens) were fully unlocked and released into circulation at once. The team claimed this move was "intentional" to eliminate "artificial scarcity" and enable "true market price discovery." The airdrop was based on a snapshot of activity from June 30, 2025, and claims opened on October 23. Eligibility was based on a points-based system, with rewards available to liquidity providers (LPs), Jupiter (JUP) stakers, and the previously controversial M3M3 Memecoin stakers. This radical model almost immediately triggered a market "shock therapy." The massive 48% supply created "overwhelming immediate selling pressure." Following the launch of the TGE, the price of MET rapidly plummeted from its opening price of approximately $0.90, reaching a low of $0.51 within hours. The market's harsh reaction marked the beginning of this storm. Four whales claimed over 28% of the airdrop, while 60,000 retail investors received only 7%. According to PANews statistics, as of October 24th, approximately 161 million MET tokens had been distributed through the airdrop, with approximately 71,000 transactions claiming them. The average claim amounted to 2,277 tokens per transaction. Regarding the size of the airdrop, approximately $83.7 million has been claimed, with an average claim value of approximately $1,180 per address. Judging by the average, the MET airdrop appears to be a significant reward. However, a closer look at the data reveals a significant concentration of whales and a significant wealth gap. Among all recipients, the address with the largest single claim received 12.15 million tokens, valued at approximately $6.31 million. A total of four addresses claimed over 10 million tokens. These four major holders received approximately 45.94 million tokens, accounting for 28.5% of the total airdrop received so far. Of the remaining addresses, 12 received over 1 million tokens, totaling over 28 million tokens, or 17.32%. There were 109 addresses that received between 100,000 and 1 million tokens, receiving 23.99 million tokens, or 14.84%. There were 1,195 addresses that received between 10,000 and 100,000 tokens, representing approximately 31.29 million tokens, or 19.35% of the total. The largest number of addresses received between 100 and 1,000 tokens, totaling 37,000, representing 10.12 million tokens, or 6.26%. There was also a significant number of addresses that received fewer than 100 tokens, totaling 24,600, representing 1.44 million tokens, or 0.89%. These data reveal a harsh reality: the MET airdrop was not a "sunshine" community reward, but rather a feast for the top with extremely unequal distribution. The four whales were all unusual. The address that received the most was 3vAauDAR8er3HT8C3Vaj7WRbDoaoebi3KnvCdWuHj6ae, which received over 12.15 million tokens in one go, currently valued at approximately $6.31 million. Social media discussions indicate that this address participated in the MER token airdrop (the token of Meteora's predecessor, Mercurial Finance) and held a large number of JUP tokens, which it subsequently transferred to exchanges for sale over a long period of time. Some analysts also believe this address is associated with the Meteora team. Over the past eight months, over 30 million JUP tokens have been sold through this address. This sell-off has now been used again with MET. As of October 25th, this address had transferred over 3 million MET tokens to the Bybit exchange. The second and third largest recipients appear to be strongly correlated. Judging by their behavior, both addresses are significant holders of JUP, frequently actively adding to the Jupiter liquidity pool. Coincidentally, the amount of JUP transferred to these two addresses has consistently remained consistent, at 2,622,632.41, and these activities often occur on the same day. Judging from various activity trajectories, these two addresses should be controlled by the same group. Furthermore, the fourth-ranked address, DKpWmjTTJCgHsRCznxp8UmRq6hCUK75pFw9kd1uCMUaK, is also unusual. The address received an airdrop of 10 million tokens, which doesn't seem like a normal points claim. Furthermore, the address was created a month ago, likely missing Meteora's snapshot. Furthermore, the address has never participated in any activities related to airdrop eligibility, such as adding liquidity or staking JUP. To date, no tokens have been transferred from this address. The address's airdrop eligibility and ownership remain unknown.

"Insider Trading" Claims Millions in Airdrops, Leaving the Team Faced with a Class-Action Lawsuit Crisis

Besides the unusual behavior of a few large investors, the MET airdrop also presents numerous controversial aspects.

For example, Arkm noted that three insider addresses associated with the Trump token received a total of $4.2 million in MET airdrops. Upon receiving the airdrops, these addresses immediately deposited all of the MET on the OKX exchange.

Furthermore, Hayden Davis, a central figure in the LIBRA scandal, also received approximately $1.5 million worth of tokens from the MET airdrop. These airdrops also sparked strong community backlash, with one user commenting on social media: "Why did Hayden Davis get the MET airdrop? You've got to be kidding... Thanks to Meteora for giving Hayden Davis the additional $1.5 million." This isn't the first time Meteora has faced a trust crisis. Last December, Meteora launched the M3M3 platform and its eponymous token, claiming to change the dynamics of meme coins. However, the project quickly collapsed, with the token's value plummeting 98% from its peak, leading to a subsequent class-action lawsuit. Following the LIBRA scandal in February of this year, the Meteora team was again embroiled in allegations of insider trading. In short, Meteora's highly anticipated TGE and airdrop, far from achieving the community's promised salvation, turned into a disaster that exacerbated the trust gap. From the price flash crash triggered by its aggressive 48% high circulation model to the insider trading associated with the Trump token and the multi-million dollar airdrops amassed by those at the center of the LIBRA scandal, Meteora's every move has been questioned as a departure from its original "community-first" philosophy. This supposed "redemption" campaign ultimately only added to the wounds left by the M3M3 and LIBRA scandals, plunging the team into a new round of trust crisis and class-action lawsuits. For Meteora, the road to regaining community trust is clearly much more difficult than it had anticipated.