"Binance Alpha Airdrop: Users Celebrate While Projects Struggle"

# Binance Alpha Projects Struggle to Sustain Long-Term Value Despite Initial Traffic Surge Projects listed through Binance Alpha often experience a short-term surge in traffic but fail to achieve long-term value appreciation. While users who receive token airdrops can realize modest profits immediately post-listing, most tokens witness sharp declines, creating a scenario where "profits go to users while risks remain with projects." Out of the nine major tokens listed in May 2025, only one delivered a positive return by May 20, with an average yield of -42.9%. Projects launched directly with token airdrops performed worse, indicating that most Alpha participants focus only on short-term price movements, exiting quickly with little interest in the project’s long-term growth potential. # Airdrop Users Average $134 Profits Per Listing Day, Peaking at $170 Binance Alpha airdrops data indicates that users who received tokens in May averaged $134 in gains based on closing prices on listing days, with peaks averaging $170. Among these, Nexspace(NXPC) offered the highest rewards. On May 15, users allocated NXPC tokens received 198 tokens, equating to $520 at opening prices and as much as $788 at the peak on listing day. Similarly, Polyhedera(ZKJ) generated listing-day rewards of $106 at closing prices and $110 at its peak, with per-token values exceeding $2. Conversely, projects like OBOL and RDAC saw prices collapse immediately after listing, limiting user rewards to $30–$40 if they did not sell on day one. # ZKJ Dominates Traffic Metrics, Surpasses $790 Million in Transaction Volume As of May 19, 2025, ZKJ distinguished itself with 657,985 trades, totaling $797.39 million in transaction volume, making it the leader among Binance Alpha-listed tokens. The average transaction size for ZKJ was $1,211.87. B2 ranked second with 267,656 trades totaling $315.74 million, averaging $1,179 per transaction, while AIOT placed third with 99,967 trades and $83.51 million in volume, averaging $835 per transaction. ZKJ’s impressive transaction size resulted from strategic repeat swap tactics optimized for Alpha’s point system, which allocates points based on transaction values. Transactions of $1,024 yield 10 points, while $2,048 transactions earn 11 points. Users reduced slippage to 0.01 and used routes via 1inch(1INCH) or PancakeSwap(CAKE) to minimize swap losses, keeping losses below $10 on $10,000 round-trip trades, explaining ZKJ’s high average transaction volume. # Dominance of Binance Smart Chain Transactions Driven by Alpha Incentives Data shows that 98.4% of Alpha’s transaction volume as of May 19 came from Binance Smart Chain (BSC)-based tokens, while Ethereum, Sonic, Base, and Solana collectively accounted for less than 1%. This imbalance is due to Binance Alpha offering double points and reduced transaction fees for BSC trades. As points directly impact airdrop token allocations, users prefer BSC for its efficiency in accumulating points, establishing BSC-based projects as top contenders for user engagement while projects on other chains struggle to gain attention. # Projects Struggle to Maintain Prices; Marketing Costs Take a Toll For users, Binance Alpha airdrops are lucrative opportunities for profit through trading. However, from a project team’s perspective, the outcome is less favorable. After large-scale token airdrops, providing liquidity, and covering marketing expenses, many projects face immediate price drops post-listing, yielding no return on investment. Tokens like OBOL (-56.3%), RDAC (-63.6%), and DOOD (-55.9%) illustrate this pattern, with prices halving or worse after listing. Consistent post-listing price declines have damaged project credibility, with community engagement on platforms like Discord and Twitter diminishing drastically post-listing. Intended as a marketing tool, airdrops have devolved into loss-making events for projects. # “Alpha Benefits Users While Projects Become Sacrificial Lambs” Binance’s current model benefits users by offering short-term profit opportunities, yet it demands that projects sacrifice their tokens and absorb financial strain. For projects seeking short-term trading volume spikes without supporting liquidity, the likelihood of price management failures and community attrition increases significantly. The competition for Alpha points and volume-based incentives has also raised entry barriers for the average user. Point thresholds continue to rise, with accumulating 200 points now requiring daily transactions amounting to several thousand dollars. This dynamic is moving the ecosystem towards more strategic, volume-driven trading rather than organic demand. Project teams find themselves burdened with airdrop allocations, liquidity provisioning, and marketing expenditures, while sustainable community or user base formation remains elusive.