Taiko Announces a ‘Genesis Airdrop’ Pre-Mainnet Launch

Taiko, an Ethereum Layer-2 rollup project, has announced its “genesis airdrop,” which will distribute 5% of its 1 billion token supply before the mainnet launch. This airdrop aims to reward early supporters and contributors.

The airdrop aims to reward early supporters and contributors.

Eligibility and Distribution

The genesis airdrop targets community members, including those who interacted with the testnet, block proposers and provers, contributors to specific GitHub repositories, and Ethereum ICO participants. Once the mainnet launches, users can claim TKO within a one-month window.

The total token supply is carefully allocated. Key stakeholders receive 48.5%, with 20% going to Taiko Labs and the core team, 16.88% to Taiko Foundation reserves, and 11.62% to investors. The DAO Treasury holds 20% of the tokens. The team also allocated 5% for grants and RetroPGF, another 5% for liquidity and market making, and 10% for the Trailblazer airdrop, distinct from the genesis airdrop.

Unclaimed tokens will revert to the DAO Treasury, reinforcing Taiko’s decentralized governance model and ensuring community control over a significant portion of the token supply.

Read more: Best Upcoming Airdrops in 2024

Taiko Token Allocation Breakdown. Source: Taiko

Daniel Wang, co-founder and CEO of Taiko Labs, highlighted the project’s commitment to fairness.

“Our goal is fairness, but we can’t satisfy everyone. Congratulations to those who received TKO, and apologies to those who did not,” he stated.

What is Taiko?

Taiko is developing a decentralized, Ethereum-compatible Zero Knowledge Execution Environment (Type 1 ZK-EVM). This technology uses zero-knowledge proofs to enable secure and private transactions. It enhances the scalability and privacy of the Ethereum network, allowing decentralized applications to run more efficiently and securely, and achieving high transaction throughput without sacrificing security.

Recently, the project introduced its most advanced testnet, Alpha-3, or Grímsvötn. This marks a huge step towards a decentralized ZK-EVM akin to Ethereum.

Taiko has successfully raised $22 million to support its initiatives. This significant capital was secured through two funding rounds. The first round, a $10 million seed round in 2022, was led by Sequoia China. Generative Ventures spearheaded the subsequent pre-Series A round in 2023, garnering $12 million.

Read more: ZkEVMs explained: Enhancing Ethereum Scalability

With this substantial funding, Taiko’s genesis airdrop is a strategic move to reward early supporters and drive community engagement. The mainnet launch follows extensive development across six testnets, promising full compatibility with the Ethereum mainnet.

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