Linea worth has plunged over 90% after a chaotic airdrop rollout.
Neighborhood backlash grew after Binance customers claimed tokens first.
Ecosystem exhibits Linea has hit a $2.5B TVL regardless of tokenomics and governance considerations.
Linea’s much-hyped token launch has turned chaotic, with the LINEA worth collapsing greater than 90% inside hours of its debut regardless of high-profile listings on Binance, Bybit, and OKX.
The token, a part of ConsenSys’ zkEVM Layer 2 community, surged briefly on September 9 from $0.030 to as excessive as $0.046 after its alternate listings.
Nonetheless, heavy profit-taking and a chaotic token airdrop course of triggered a wave of promoting that erased many of the early good points.
Linea’s token airdrop
Linea’s token went dwell on September 9 by means of what the mission described as one in every of Ethereum’s largest neighborhood airdrops in years.
Roughly 9.36 billion tokens had been distributed throughout about 749,000 eligible wallets, a part of a wider allocation that positioned 22% of the full provide in circulation at launch.
In an uncommon strategy, the distribution excluded enterprise capital corporations, staff members, and advisors, positioning itself as a community-first experiment.
The launch, nevertheless, didn’t unfold easily. Community congestion created lengthy waits and better charges for customers claiming tokens.
To complicate issues additional, Linea’s mainnet sequencer briefly halted block manufacturing simply earlier than the token era occasion, stoking frustration.
Though the difficulty was resolved inside an hour, the delay has already fueled perceptions of a bungled rollout at a important second.
Binance listing-driven spike pale quick
The mission loved speedy publicity on Binance, Bybit, OKX, Bitget, and different high platforms, serving to the LINEA token worth rally from its launch worth of $0.030 to an all-time excessive of $0.046.
Nonetheless, the good points evaporated inside hours, and by the night of September 10, LINEA had collapsed to $0.023, wiping out practically half its worth.
Some knowledge factors present the drop was much more extreme on sure exchanges.
On OKX, for instance, the auction-based launch initially steadied worth discovery round $0.03, just for a flood of promote orders to overwhelm liquidity and drive the token as little as $0.024, a large fall from a reported peak close to $0.32.
The controversy surrounding the Linea airdrop
Past profit-taking, the airdrop course of itself drew sharp criticism.
Neighborhood members reported delays in claiming their allocations, whereas Binance customers appeared to obtain tokens immediately.
Blockchain analysts later confirmed that the contract funding the neighborhood airdrop was deployed roughly 50 minutes late, giving exchange-linked recipients a bonus.
The $LINEA tokens had been despatched to the declare contract 50 minutes late for airdrop customers, whereas Binance customers had been already claiming and dumping immediately.
Tx: https://t.co/N52Vpyxk5M@DeclanFox14 @Alain_Ncls
Why was the neighborhood airdrop delayed 50 minutes with none announcement? pic.twitter.com/nXmQHqtDgA
— Zack (@0xZackHQ) September 10, 2025
As well as, critics labelled the occasion as favouring centralised gamers in what was meant to be a decentralised distribution.
At present $Linea dropped an airdrop for the neighborhood…However at TGE — nobody might even declare their tokens.
In the meantime, Binance customers received theirs immediately.
This isn’t only a glitch — it’s how tasks farm hype, extract consideration, after which sideline the actual neighborhood.
🚨 Time to… pic.twitter.com/Do04C3yF32
— rowdy.eth🇮🇳 (@rcboyxeth) September 10, 2025
The notion of unfairness coincided with speedy promoting strain from those that secured allocations early.
With greater than 15 billion tokens unlocked on day one, Linea’s circulating provide represented over 21% of its complete issuance, a ratio thought of unusually excessive for a brand new token.
This solely intensified fears of inflation and short-term dumping.
Linea’s tokenomics gas debate
Linea has tried to tell apart itself by means of what it calls deflationary tokenomics.
A dual-burn mannequin sends 20% of web Layer 2 charges to be destroyed as ETH, whereas the remaining 80% is used to purchase LINEA from the open market and burn it.
The system is designed to create constant purchase strain, setting it other than rivals corresponding to Arbitrum and Optimism.
Nonetheless, Linea lacks a decentralised governance construction.
Whereas 85% of the full provide has been earmarked for ecosystem progress, decision-making stays concentrated, leaving unanswered questions on transparency and long-term management.
LINEA worth outlook
Regardless of the worth collapse, Linea’s ecosystem metrics stay sturdy.
Its complete worth locked has surged to $2.984 billion in accordance with knowledge from DeFiLlama, with Aave alone holding greater than $776 million on the community.
Every day lively addresses common practically 50,000, whereas decentralised alternate volumes lately surpassed $215 million in a single day.
However whether or not these fundamentals can assist a worth rebound stays unclear.
Eyes are on the $0.024 assist stage, with speculations that the selloff could have flushed out short-term holders, paving the best way for a extra secure market, though the scheduled token distributions, together with the upcoming Linea Ignition program, might set off one other wave of declines.
