Following a reduction in the initial airdrop allocation, the Polkadot-based memecoin DOT is $DED (DED) has generated widespread community disapproval.
To provide the memecoin with an extended financial runway, the initial airdrop allocation was reduced from 100% of the token supply to 5% of the supply, according to a March 24 X Spaces: discussion by one of the memecoin’s pseudonymous developers, Giotto De Filippi.
“Once you distribute 100%, you run out of ammunition… Because the voters were not willing to fund the project, it makes more sense to distribute less and the rest of the tokens can be used to finance the project.”
The Polkadot community launched the memecoin DED on March 23 to bring more attention to the Polkadot ecosystem and leverage the memecoin frenzy. As a result, DED began to trend on X on that date. Polkadot holders were qualified to receive 36 DED tokens for each 1 DOT they retained.
Retail sentiment deteriorated after the team reduced the initial airdrop allocation. Orlando, a fictitious cryptocurrency investor, expressed his concerns on X on March 23.
“Like everyone else, I’m disappointed with how the DED situation unfolded. The treasury spent money, and many people recently bought and held DOT, driven by the excitement around this experimental DED memecoin. I hope the team will find ways to compensate holders for these mistakes in the long term.”
According to data from Dune, 1.3 million eligible addresses have already claimed more than 85 percent of the DED airdrop supply. To alleviate sell pressure, DED’s airdropped supply is frozen until future exchange listings, unlike that of other prominent memecoins.
Memecoin Fever
The Polkadot-based token’s launch coincides with heightened retail interest in memecoins. Book of Meme (BOME), a meme token, surged more than 1,100% on the weekly chart last week, momentarily ascending to the 130th position in market capitalization.
BOME is among a group of novel memecoins that utilized a contentious presale model to generate funds for unreleased coins. In the three days preceding March 18, presales for these memecoins based on Solana sold for more than $100 million worth of SOL.
Additionally, other blockchain networks are attempting to profit from the commotion. The Avalanche Foundation introduced a liquidity mining incentive program worth $1 million on March 21 for community-owned tokens and Avalanche-native memecoins.