Monad Launches MON Airdrop Amid Phishing Warnings and Pre-Market Trading Surge

Monad, an upcoming layer-1 blockchain, has opened claims for its highly anticipated MON token airdrop, scheduled ahead of the mainnet launch. The airdrop targets over 230,000 eligible users, including 5,500 Monad community members and nearly 225,000 individuals from broader crypto communities, with a snapshot taken as of September 30 and activity tracked over multiple months to ensure organic engagement.

Eligible participants span high-profile platforms such as Hyperliquid, Phantom Wallet, Pump.fun trenches traders, Virtuals Protocol users, and memecoin holders. Additionally, users of DeFi protocols like Aave, Euler, Morpho, Pendle, Lighter, Curve, PancakeSwap, and Uniswap, as well as Ethereum DAO participants, Backpack perpetual futures DEX users, and NFT collections including CryptoPunks and Pudgy Penguins, are set to receive allocations. Monad employs Trusta AI to filter out Sybil addresses and focuses on rewarding power users and contributors like ZachXBT and SEAL 911 members.

However, the airdrop has been marred by phishing attacks, with Monad co-founder Keone Hon warning users about malicious Telegram ads mimicking the official claim portal. Hon emphasized that the portal will remain open for three weeks, urging caution and verification to avoid scams. Meanwhile, MON tokens are in pre-market trading on MEXC, hovering around $0.94 with occasional spikes to $39, and on Hyperliquid's perpetual futures market at approximately $0.07, implying a fully diluted value of around $7 billion. Notably, whales on Hyperliquid have taken short positions with unrealized gains exceeding $2 million, reflecting bearish expectations similar to underperforming airdrops like Plasma and ASTER.

Monad, which raised $244 million from VC backers including OKX Ventures in 2024, aims to achieve up to 10,000 transactions per second through parallel execution and EVM compatibility. The project's long-term strategy prioritizes genuine user engagement over point farming, but market dynamics suggest potential volatility post-launch.