Jupiter considers ending Jupuary airdrops, to be decided through community vote

Jupiter (JUP) may reconsider its tokenomics, after a discussion with its main developer, @weremeow. It’s possible the DEX aggregator will cancel its Jupuary airdrop event and instead find another way to distribute JUP tokens. 

JUP token holders may not be eligible for a new Jupuary. The event may be canceled altogether, and replaced by another mechanism for JUP distribution. In a talk with lead developer @weremeow, the question about the Jupuary airdrop did not get a clear answer. 

According to the lead developer, airdrops and big token unlocks remained controversial, and a new approach was up to the community to decide. In 2024, Jupuary was the event that created the biggest hype for JUP, though the token saw some selling pressure from the airdrop. 

As the airdrop approach also loses its appeal, Jupiter aims to find a more engaging way of distributing tokens. The Jupuary airdrop did not even distribute all intended assets, leaving 235M JUP to be distributed as active staking rewards (ASR) for the 12 months ahead. 

If the entire Jupuary is canceled, the project may have a longer ASR program, encouraging better engagement levels from the community. Currently, there is not an official vote on the issue, but there are discussions Jupiter may be overfarmed and the airdrop has lost its novelty. Last time, JUP appeared for the first time and faced price discovery, while in early 2025, the airdrop will dilute the supply. 

On the other hand, some users believe that next Jupuary will be a long-awaited event, and canceling it may make current users give up. For some users, a smaller airdrop of 100M tokens may be reasonable, instead of a bigger intended unlock. 

JUP currently trades at $0.89 after a recent breakout, though still far from its all-time peak in March above $1.80. Since Jupiter positioned itself as the most widely used Solana aggregator, the current price levels under $1 suggest the token may be undervalued. The most optimistic predictions for JUP are that the token will be at $5 in a bull market scenario.

Around 66.78% of all JUP tokens are unlocked, with 1B of the supply set aside for linear airdrops. However, the project’s team and community may decide to alter the schedule to drive more voting engagement and active staking. This will also keep tokens away from the market. 

Jupiter DEX aggregator gets a boost from new meme craze

The importance of Jupiter continues to shift, as the project is key to the renewed Solana meme craze. Jupiter is one of the most user-friendly tools to join Solana trading and explore meme tokens. The lead developer @weremeow also believes Solana and not Ethereum or another chain will be the driver of mainstream adoption. 

Solana will be the main chain for driving mainstream adoption in the next few years, and likely more than that.

There’s simply no competition in this regard, the ecosystem is miles ahead of everyone else, 99.9999% of activity happens on one single state machine so ux is vastly… https://t.co/xWUoyCrUDB

— meow 喵 (@weremeow) October 15, 2024

Jupiter reached more than 20M weekly swaps as of October 7, getting close to its most successful week in June. Jupiter remains the biggest aggregator, even surpassing multi-chain apps. The project is also actively developed with intuitive features and mobile access, offering easy onboarding for new meme token buyers. 

Jupiter carries $269.57M in daily volumes, 10 times higher than the second-biggest aggregator by OKX. Overall, Jupiter carries 90.05% of all aggregator traffic and is the go-to app for Solana. More than $43B in cumulative volume has gone through the aggregator. Jupiter even surpasses Ethereum-based aggregators like CoWSwap and 1inch, as meme tokens on Ethereum remain constrained by gas fees. 

Aggregator volumes on Solana peaked above $7M on a daily basis after the launch of a new wave of memes. Solana also increased its total value locked above $6B, though this time with a totally different DeFi structure focused on its main DEX and aggregators. 

Another indicator for meme token activity is the Pump.fun fee trend. After a slump in September, fees picked up again, reaching $1.81M as of October 15. At this rate, Pump.fun may reach more than $260M in estimated annualized fees. 

SOL also returned to $154.51, so far only recovering from lows. SOL is key for basic liquidity on Raydium, as well as a utility token for fees. Derivative activity is also adding to the meme token craze, based on high liquidity pairs on Aerodrome.