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The BONK Airdrop (December 2022)
A community token that revived Solana.
Launch at the bottom
BONK launched on December 25, 2022, when SOL traded near $10 after the FTX collapse. Its total supply was about 100 trillion tokens, and roughly 50 percent was airdropped to the Solana community.
Who received it
Allocations went to NFT holders from about 297,000 collections, artists, developers, and DeFi users, along with contributors to the launch. Saga phone owners later received a 30 million BONK allocation that briefly became worth more than the phone.
Price action
BONK rose more than tenfold in the first week of January 2023 and briefly lifted on-chain activity on Solana. After a long decline, it rallied again in late 2023 and was listed on Coinbase and Binance.
Unit bias
A price below $0.00005 makes holders feel they own millions of tokens. Valuation still depends on market cap: at 70 trillion circulating, a $0.00002 price is a $1.4 billion market cap.
Ecosystem effects
BONK integrations appeared in wallets, DEXs and games, and BonkBot became a popular Telegram trading bot. The token is often cited as the start of Solana's 2023–2024 memecoin cycle.
By the numbers
For The BONK Airdrop, the reference figures are date of December 25, 2022, airdropped of 50% of supply, recipients of Solana devs, NFT holders, total supply of ~100 trillion. The comparison table below lines up item, value — Launch date: Dec 25, 2022; Total supply: ~100T; Airdrop share: ~50%; SOL price at launch: ~$10.
Modeling The BONK Airdrop with the Historical Airdrop ATH Vs Current Calculator
The Historical Airdrop ATH Vs Current Calculator takes three inputs — Tokens received, ATH price ($), Current price ($). Missed value = tokens × (ATH − current). With its default inputs (Tokens received = 1000; ATH price ($) = 15; Current price ($) = 3) it returns 12,000 $; swap in the figures from The BONK Airdrop above to reproduce the scenario yourself.
Modeling The BONK Airdrop with the Multi Token Valuation Matrix
The Multi Token Valuation Matrix takes three inputs — Token A cap ($B), Token B cap ($B), Token B supply (M). Price of B at A’s cap = cap A ÷ supply B. With its default inputs (Token A cap ($B) = 50; Token B cap ($B) = 10; Token B supply (M) = 1000) it returns 50 $; swap in the figures from The BONK Airdrop above to reproduce the scenario yourself.
Data Table
| Item | Value |
|---|---|
| Launch date | Dec 25, 2022 |
| Total supply | ~100T |
| Airdrop share | ~50% |
| SOL price at launch | ~$10 |
Frequently Asked Questions
Was BONK a VC-backed launch?
No; it was a community airdrop with no venture round.
Why did Saga phone owners profit?
Their 30M BONK allocation exceeded the phone's price at the token's peak.
How do you value a low-priced token?
Multiply price by circulating supply to get market cap.
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For educational and informational purposes only. Not financial, investment, tax or legal advice. Figures are approximate and historical; crypto assets are volatile and you may lose capital. Do your own research.