Event Timeline
About Solayer
Solayer is a restaking protocol on Solana. Depositing SOL returns sSOL, which can then be delegated to actively validated services, and there is a dollar denominated equivalent in sUSD. The idea is the one EigenLayer popularised on Ethereum, applied to a chain where staking was already close to universal, so the protocol had to give stakers a reason to move capital that was already earning.
The genesis drop was 12% of a one billion supply, 120 million LAYER, and it went to over 250,000 unique holders. Eligibility ran across five routes, all of them deposit based: holding sSOL or sUSD, delegating sSOL to AVS partners, putting either asset into partnered DeFi protocols, depositing whitelisted liquid staking tokens, and coming in through partner or wallet campaigns.
The terms are what put this in the upper tier of 2025 distributions. The genesis drop was fully unlocked at launch, with no cliff and no vesting schedule on the airdrop itself, at a point when most projects were locking three quarters of every allocation. Team tokens by contrast sat behind a one year cliff followed by three years of linear vesting, and investors behind a year and then two. Recipients were paid before insiders, which is the right way round and not how it usually goes.
Airdrop Stats
How it worked to get the Solayer airdrop
Deposit into Solayer for sSOL or sUSD
The base route. Depositing SOL returned sSOL and the stablecoin equivalent returned sUSD. Simply holding either counted toward the genesis drop.
Delegate sSOL to an AVS partner
Restaking sSOL to actively validated services was scored as its own qualifying action, rewarding people who used the protocol as designed rather than parking the receipt token.
Put the assets to work in DeFi
Depositing sSOL or sUSD into partnered DeFi protocols qualified separately, so capital that was doing two jobs was credited for both.
Or deposit a whitelisted LST
A range of whitelisted liquid staking tokens were accepted on Solayer, and partner and wallet campaigns offered a further route in for people arriving through an integration.
Claim from 11 February
The eligibility checker opened on 7 February 2025 and allocations on the 10th, with the claim live at 20:00 on 11 February. The genesis portion was liquid straight away, and further LAYER unlocked by epoch across the following six months.
Was the Solayer airdrop worth it?
- No vesting on the genesis drop. The full 12% was unlocked at launch. In a year defined by 270 day cliffs and burn penalties, Solayer simply handed over the tokens.
- Recipients were paid ahead of insiders. Team and advisors faced a one year cliff then three years linear, investors a year then two. The airdrop cleared before either. That ordering is uncommon and worth crediting.
- 12% is a large community share. Spread across more than 250,000 holders it thins out per wallet, but the genesis drop sat inside a Community and Ecosystem allocation of over half the supply.
- Every route required capital. All five paths were deposit based. There was no activity, social or quest route, so this rewarded people with SOL to commit and nobody else.
- It kept paying after launch. Further LAYER unlocked by epoch over six months, so the genesis claim was the start of the distribution rather than all of it.
Solayer Official Links
Official channels, documentation and community for this airdrop:
This airdrop has concluded. It is kept for research rather than participation.
