After a year of anticipation, the launch of Scroll’s governance token, SCR, has encountered significant challenges due to issues with the distribution of the tokens, leading to a sharp decline in its value.
The layer-2 network, once touted as the “turtle that won the Ethereum scaling race,” is now grappling with a 32% drop in the price of its token just one day after its launch.
Launched at $1.40, SCR is currently trading at $0.89, with its market cap falling below $180 million. This drastic drop has pushed the token out of the top 250 cryptocurrencies on CoinMarketCap, raising questions about Scroll’s token launch strategy and long-term prospects.
The decline in SCR’s value coincides with a 23% drop in the network’s Total Value Locked (TVL), which hit $1 billion earlier this month, according to DeFiLlama data. While underperforming token launches are not uncommon, Scroll’s struggles appear to be linked to its token allocation decisions.
Ahead of the tokens’ launch, users voiced concerns over Scroll’s choice to allocate 5.5% of the total supply to Binance Launchpool while only allocating 7% for the initial airdrop. Frustration grew after it was revealed that there was no airdrop cap, allowing a small number of whales to capture a disproportionate share of the tokens.
According to Andrew10Gwei, a crypto analyst at X, the top 10 wallets received 11.7% of the total airdrop, while the top 100 wallets received 34.4%. The concentration of tokens in the hands of a few whales has fueled fears of price volatility as heavy selling from large holders could outpace buying demand from new investors.
Scroll’s airdrop campaign relied on rewarding early adopters and users with “points” that can be converted into SCR tokens. Popular in the crypto world, this “point farming” strategy typically incentivizes users to meet a project’s airdrop criteria, but often results in a short-term infusion of capital without a long-term commitment.
The lack of fixed allocation groups or a maximum cap has left the SCR supply unbalanced. With whales holding a significant portion of the tokens, Scroll faces an uphill battle to stabilize its market cap. Convincing large holders to refrain from selling and attracting new investors who believe in the project’s future upside will be critical.
*This is not investment advice.
