Unlock the Airdrop with a Donation LayerZero Token Distribution Mechanism Under Scrutiny for Potentially Imposing Taxes Founder Airdrop Wasnt Initially Part of Our Plan

Title Unlock the Airdrop with a Donation LayerZero Token Distribution Mechanism Under Scrutiny for Potentially Imposing Taxes Founder Airdrop Wasnt Initially Part of Our Plan

Title Unlock the Airdrop with a Donation LayerZero Token Distribution Mechanism Under Scrutiny for Potentially Imposing Taxes Founder Airdrop Wasnt Initially Part of Our Plan

The long-awaited token airdrop of the interoperability protocol LayerZero has been opened for withdrawal today. However, 10 minutes before the token claim was made available, the LayerZero team suddenly announced a new claiming mechanism called “Proof-of-Donation” and planned to donate approximately $18.5 million to the Ethereum developer funding protocol, ProtocolGuild, through this mechanism.

Specifically, when users claim the ZRO tokens, they must simultaneously donate $0.1 USD worth of USDC, USDT, or ETH for each ZRO token. These donations will be directly given to ProtocolGuild.

This mechanism implemented by LayerZero has sparked strong discontent within the community, with many people considering this forced donation approach as a disguised form of taxation.

In response to this, Bryan Pellegrino, co-founder and CEO of LayerZero Labs, stated on X that users are not obligated to make donations. If they do not wish to donate, they can choose not to claim the ZRO tokens, as he stated, “It’s not something that belongs to you in the first place; it’s a gift.”

Due to the overwhelming negative feedback, Bryan Pellegrino subsequently posted a tweet on X, providing a detailed explanation of LayerZero’s Proof of Donation mechanism and the logic behind it.

Bryan Pellegrino expressed that the trend of airdrops has completely failed. When he personally received an airdrop from Uniswap, it came as a complete surprise to him, as he only used the protocol because it was useful. He did not go back and use Uniswap a thousand times just to receive more airdrops, hoping that the protocol would give him more tokens.

Furthermore, Bryan Pellegrino pointed out that LayerZero initially had no plans for an airdrop. It was the market’s overwhelming expectation for an airdrop that led to a frenzy of interactions among users, forcing the team to decide to conduct an airdrop in the first half of 2024. However, the trend of token airdrops has completely changed, and those who participate solely to expect more rewards are unlikely to be long-term stable users. Ultimately, the tokens distributed to active users will only flow to individuals with financial interests.