Zora Launches Airdrop Token ZORA During Calo NFT

Dedicated layer-2 blockchain Zora Network has announced that its native ZORA token will be available via an airdrop on 23 April 2025.

Since its founding in 2020, Zora has raised $60 million through the backing of major investors such as Coinbase Ventures and Haun Ventures. The launch of the ZORA token airdrop comes at a time of declining activity in the NFT market, while debates over the so-called "content coin" continue.

Details about the ZORA token airdrop

Zora's official announcement revealed that the retroactive airdrop will reward users who have been active on the platform. The eligibility period for the airdrop is divided into two phases: the first runs from 1 January 2020 to 3 March 2025, the second from 3 March 2025 to 20 April 2025.

Zora plans to allocate 1 billion ZORA tokens, or 10% of the total supply of 10 billion, for distribution via airdrop. Zora's team will retain control of 18.9 per cent of the total supply, while strategic advisors and development backers will collectively hold over 26 per cent.

"ZORA will be launched with a total supply of 10,000,000 on Base," Zora said on X.

Leading cryptocurrency exchange Binance will begin listing ZORA on its Binance Alpha platform from 23 April. Binance will distribute 4,276 ZORA tokens via an airdrop to eligible users.

"Get ready! Zora (ZORA) will be available for trading on Binance Alpha starting at 13:00 on 23 April 2025 (UTC). To celebrate, all eligible* Binance Exchange users with a purchase history on Alpha will receive an airdrop of 4,276 ZORA tokens into their Alpha account by 13:10 on 23/04/2025 (UTC). Exclusively for users who purchased at least $50 on Alpha using Spot or Funding accounts between 00:00:00 on 22 March 2025 (UTC) and 23:59:59 on 20 April 2025 (UTC)," said Binance on X (formerly Twitter).

Currently, ZORA tokens have a pre-market price of about $0.03. The market value of the announced airdrop amounts to $30 million, bringing Zora Network's total capitalisation to about $300 million.

Ecosystem of Zora and recent polemics

Zora functions as a marketplace NFT and as a protocol that allows third parties to create and manage NFT sales. The platform has made great progress through integration with Base, Coinbase's layer-2 solution. Base used Zora to turn a post on X (formerly Twitter) entitled 'Base is for everyone' into an ERC-20 token. That tokenized post reached over $30 million in trading volume in just 12 hours, generating a profit of $70,000.

The event sparked controversy: some users accused Base of running a "pump and dump" scheme, as the value of the token plummeted 99% in just four hours. Uniswap spiked $13 million in volume before the drop. Base has dismissed the allegations, but the situation has raised questions about transparency in Zora-related projects.

Network activity and current market trends

According to Dune Analytics, Zora Network has handled more than 87 million transactions to date and currently has around 37,000 active addresses per day. The platform has suffered a sharp decline in activity, with over 80 per cent fewer active users in the past year.

The broader NFT market has suffered a sharp decline, as confirmed by a recent report by Binance, which contributes to the cautious mood. Buyer interest in the NFT market has declined, with a 12.4 per cent drop in the total sales volume of the top 10 blockchains.