Pyth Token Debuts Near $500M Valuation as 90,000 Wallets Receive Airdrop

The network has $1.5 billion in total value secured across 120 protocols.

AccessTimeIconNov 20, 2023 at 3:34 p.m. UTC
Updated Mar 8, 2024 at 5:23 p.m. UTC

Pricing oracle network Pyth's token debuted at a market cap of $468 million on Monday after issuing an airdrop for 90,000 wallets.

The token is trading around $0.32 after rising as high as $0.51, according to CoinMarketCap.

  • What Do EigenLayer's Outflows of $2.3B Signal?
    00:57
    What Do EigenLayer's Outflows of $2.3B Signal?
  • What Do TradFi Crypto Moves Mean for Decentralization?
    04:20
    What Do TradFi Crypto Moves Mean for Decentralization?
  • Marathon Digital Buys $100M BTC; India's Special Task Force for Crypto-Related Drug Trafficking
    02:02
    Marathon Digital Buys $100M BTC; India's Special Task Force for Crypto-Related Drug Trafficking
  • Ether Slides as Grayscale's ETHE Outflows Ramp Up
    00:53
    Ether Slides as Grayscale's ETHE Outflows Ramp Up
  • Those eligible for the airdrop have 90 days to claim their PYTH tokens, which will be used for on-chain governance votes.

    The token initially has a circulating supply of 1.5 billion, with the remaining 85% of the total supply being locked for between six and 42 months. Two hundred fifty-five million tokens were allocated for the airdrop.

    The Pyth Network currently has $1.5 billion in total value secured (TVS) across 120 protocols, making it the fourth-largest pricing oracle. Competitor Chainlink (LINK), in comparison, has $14.7 billion in TVS, according to DeFiLlama. Pyth gathers first-party pricing data from exchanges and institutional traders before sending that data to smart contracts.

    "Today marks the launch of the Pyth Network’s permissionless mainnet, ushering in a new era of token-led governance for the protocol," Pyth developers wrote on the company's social media platform X's (formerly Twitter) page.

    "Ecosystem participants can actively engage in Pyth Governance by locking their PYTH Tokens in the Pyth staking program to cast votes on community governance proposals."

    PYTH is one of the anticipated airdrops of the year, it follows Celestia (TIA) which has increased in value by 230% since its release last month.

    Edited by Aoyon Ashraf.

    Disclosure

    Please note that our privacy policy, terms of use, cookies, and do not sell my personal information has been updated.

    CoinDesk is an award-winning media outlet that covers the cryptocurrency industry. Its journalists abide by a strict set of editorial policies. In November 2023, CoinDesk was acquired by the Bullish group, owner of Bullish, a regulated, digital assets exchange. The Bullish group is majority-owned by Block.one; both companies have interests in a variety of blockchain and digital asset businesses and significant holdings of digital assets, including bitcoin. CoinDesk operates as an independent subsidiary with an editorial committee to protect journalistic independence. CoinDesk employees, including journalists, may receive options in the Bullish group as part of their compensation.

    Oliver Knight

    Oliver Knight is a CoinDesk reporter based between London and Lisbon. He does not own any crypto.