- Between 2020 and 2024, at least 11 major airdrops distributed $7.16 billion to around 1.9 million claimants worldwide.
- The US government lost between $525 million and $1.38 billion in tax revenue between 2020 and 2024.
Since the start of 2020, U.S. crypto users have been kept away from a major source of gaining free coins—airdrops. Strict regulations have made project creators block American users, leading to massive losses in possible gains. A recent study from Dragonfly lays out the jaw-dropping financial hit from that situation.
Airdrops, which are often used to reward those who support blockchain projects, have been a strong reason for user engagement. But with growing pressure from US financial watchdogs, many projects have decided to exclude American users. When Gary Gensler took charge of the SEC in 2021, the pressure increased, making projects stop blocking giveaways to US-based wallets.
According to the report, these restrictions affected between 920,000 and 5.2 million active US crypto users in 2024 alone. That figure represents between 5% and 10% of the country’s estimated 18.4 to 52.3 million crypto holders. As a result, countless investors have been locked out of what has become a major avenue for wealth generation in the industry.
US Investors Locked Out of $7.16B in Airdrop Revenue
Between 2020 and 2024, at least 11 major airdrops distributed $7.16 billion to around 1.9 million claimants worldwide. Some of the biggest projects behind these distributions include Uniswap, EigenLayer, and 1inch. The average payout per eligible address was approximately $4,562.
US citizens were deprived of the chance to earn between $1.84 billion and $2.64 billion through potential earnings. With the 21 airdrops considered by CoinGecko, the lost revenue would be between $3.49 billion and $5.02 billion. It is a vast economic opportunity that was simply not available for American investors due to regulatory concerns.
Source: Dragonfly
Even as airdrops evolved to counter farming exploits—where users create artificial interactions to maximize rewards—their importance has not diminished. They remain a crucial mechanism for project growth, fostering strong user engagement and community participation. However, for US residents, these benefits have been largely out of reach.
The US Government Missed Out on Over $1.3 Billion in Taxes
The geoblocking restrictions not only impacted small investors but also caused significant tax revenue loss for federal and state governments. The government could have collected millions on these airdropped earnings. Dragonfly estimates suggest tax losses for the federal range between $418 million and $1.1 billion. Meanwhile, state tax losses stand between $107 million and $284 million.
In total, the US government lost anywhere from $525 million to $1.38 billion in tax revenue between 2020 and 2024. The figures don’t account for additional capital gains tax received when the receivers eventually sold their tokens. The actual losses are probably higher.
David Sacks, the White House’s AI and crypto czar, highlighted a wider issue with US crypto policy. The country’s already lost over $17 billion from mismanaged Bitcoin sales alone, he says, reflecting a pattern of missed economic opportunities.
Over the past decade, the federal government sold approximately 195,000 bitcoin for proceeds of $366 million. If the government had held the bitcoin, it would be worth over $17 billion today. That’s how much it has cost American taxpayers not to have a long-term strategy.
— David Sacks (@davidsacks47) March 6, 2025
