Solana Token Pyth Pumps Following $77 Million Airdrop for DeFi Users

The native token of DeFi oracle network Pyth has surged in price and is one of today’s leaders in the altcoin rally.

The Solana-based Pyth (PYTH) token is up more than 10% in the past day and 35% over the week. It’s currently trading hands for $0.42, according to CoinGecko.

The anticipated Pyth airdrop happened last week, offering up about 250 million of its Solana-based tokens to early users. The airdrop was valued at roughly $77 million at the time. The same amount would be worth $105 million today.

If you aren’t sure if you qualify for the airdrop, you can follow the instructions provided by the Pyth team, as Decrypt previously reported. Sorry U.S. users, you’re out of luck—the United States was among the jurisdictions excluded from the airdrop, presumably over regulatory concerns.

Meanwhile, another airdropped token, Celestia’s TIA, is up nearly 13% today, trading at a price of $6.18—making it the best-performing cryptocurrency right now.

Elsewhere, Solana (SOL), the seventh biggest digital asset by market cap, is up nearly 4%, trading hands for $56 per coin. The asset exploded in price throughout November as big investors showed interest in the asset; over the past month, it’s up over 70%.

And of the other top 20 biggest coins and tokens, Dogecoin (DOGE) is also up significantly: over the past 24 hours it’s up nearly 4%—trading hands for $0.08.

Bitcoin, the biggest digital asset by market cap, is up nearly 3% over the past day and is trading for just over
$38,000. Interest in the crypto space from institutional investors continues to bring with it cash—with a focus on Bitcoin.

This is because there is optimism that the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission will soon approve a spot Bitcoin ETF product after the best part of a decade, allowing traditional investors to gain exposure to the digital coin without buying or holding BTC directly.