The anime industry is booming, and is projected to grow to $60 billion by 2030. Yet, despite its massive popularity, the AnimeCoin Foundation sees a significant opportunity to tap into fans who have remained passive consumers of the art form.

Intending to build an open and decentralized anime universe, the AnimeCoin Foundation is launching ANIME, a token designed better to align incentives between creators and fans of the genre.

Here’s everything you need to know about ANIME before its launch, which is scheduled for later this month.

What is ANIME?

ANIME is described as a “culture coin” dropping on Ethereum and the Arbitrum layer-2 network.

Launched by the AnimeCoin Foundation, ANIME will hold a total supply of 10 billion tokens, more than 50% of which will be given to the Web3 community, headlined by its premier launch partner, Azuki—a prominent NFT collection and crypto-native IP.

Of the 10 billion token supply, nearly 77% will be unlocked immediately for trading upon launch.

When is ANIME dropping?

The ANIME token will launch on January 23, 2025.

Who will get the ANIME airdrop?

The ANIME token supply will be distributed in six distinct buckets, allocating more than 5 billion or 50% of the total supply to the Web3 community.

Azuki community

The largest allocation of ANIME, 37.5%, is set aside for claiming by the Azuki community.

As the premier launch partner of ANIME, it is expected that holders of all three significant NFT collections—Azuki, Azuki Elementals, and BEANZ Official—will be eligible to claim the ANIME token.

Though no specifics were provided about the allocations afforded to each NFT from the Azuki community, the project has long utilized a points system or “Collector’s Status” within its user profiles. This program will play a role in current and future Azuki ecosystem rewards.

Any unclaimed ANIME tokens from this group will be added to the “Community Cultivation” basket.

Domain expansion

The second-largest bucket of ANIME tokens is reserved for the AnimeCoin Foundation and its domain expansion efforts at 24.44%.

This serves to boost the growth of the ANIME ecosystem by funding “grant programs, launch operations, ongoing foundation operations, and initiatives designed to bridge the gap between AnimeCoin and the broader anime industry,” the Foundation said.

The 2.444 billion tokens from this allocation will be fully unlocked at launch.

Team and advisors

The Azuki team, contractors, early advisors, and contributors to the AnimeCoin Foundation will receive 15.62% or 1.562 billion ANIME tokens. This group of tokens is subject to a one-year cliff, meaning they cannot be transferred or sold in the first year.

The tokens will unlock over three years, and unlocked tokens can be sold after the one-year cliff.

Community cultivation

A second community tranche is set aside for the “Community cultivation” bucket, comprised of 1.3 billion ANIME tokens or 13% of the total supply.

Holders of ANIME tokens and participants of the eventual AnimeDAO will control this set of tokens. Those participants can manage this 13% to fund community initiatives.

While the starting allocation is 1.3 billion ANIME tokens, this percentage could grow pending any unclaimed tokens from the Azuki ecosystem bucket.

Company allocation

An additional 7.44% of the supply is set aside for the Azuki company, beholden to a one-year cliff and three-year vesting period.

Partner communities

A final 200 million ANIME tokens, or 2%, will be allocated for other Web3 communities, including Hyperliquid (HYPE) token stakers, users of analytics platform Kaito and its yaps program, Arbitrum communities, as well as as-yet-unrevealed projects that align with the AnimeCoin vision.

Details about specific communities included in this allocation are expected soon.

How to claim ANIME

No formal details have been provided about the ANIME claim, yet the AnimeCoin Foundation included a disclaimer that no new domains outside of anime.xyz will be used for the token generation event (TGE).

Edited by Andrew Hayward

Editor’s note: This story was originally published on January 16, 2025 and last updated with new details on January 17.

Airdrop season is in full swing, with apps, protocols, and other projects seizing upon bear market vibes to finally drop their tokens—and potentially reward millions of crypto users in the process.

What exactly is an airdrop, though? When it comes to crypto tokens, an airdrop is typically a way for a project to reward its early users and contributors by giving them a share of a newly launched token, all while spreading the tokens far and wide for decentralized governance.

When it comes to blockchain networks and tokens primed specifically for gaming, there are some pretty compelling airdrops on the horizon in the months ahead. Here’s a look at what’s coming for gamers—there may still be time to get involved and score some tokens ahead.

Off the Grid

Avalanche-based Off the Grid burst onto the scene after early access opened to the public in October, jumping to the top of the Epic Games Store’s top free titles chart in short order. Since that time, publisher Gunzilla Games partnered with Delphi Ventures to advise on the launch of a GUNZ Foundation, which will oversee the rollout of the GUN token.

The GUN token and GUNZ mainnet are expected to launch in Q1 2025, though no official details of the token eligibility and launch date have been finalized.

Farm Frens

The developer of Telegram game Farm Frens announced it will launch its unnamed token in January. The token will launch on the Ethereum layer-2 network Base and maintain a connection to Farm Frens and Evereseed, an upcoming tower defense game built by the developers on Base.

Token specifics have not yet been shared, but allocations for Farm Frens players will be provided based on the number of Nuts, Dirt, and Dung accrued in-game. The Everseed allotment will be based on the amount of Everseed Ranger, Sprout, and Diddit NFTs held. No official airdrop date has been set.

Wanderers

Sci-fi dungeon crawler Wanderers will launch its WANDER token on January 8. Arriving in partnership with Treasure DAO, WANDER will debut on Base and power the entire Wanderers ecosystem, beyond its existing game.

Any users that engaged with Wanderers in the past may be eligible for the upcoming drop or future WANDER airdrops. WanderCorp, the entity launching the WANDER token, recently released a rank checker to those seeking clarity on their eligibility.

Zoo

Telegram game Zoo—sort of a streamlined take on Microsoft’s classic Zoo Tycoon—will launch its upcoming ZOO token after its mining period ends on January 31. Until then, users can acquire in-game ZOO which will eventually turn into tokens at a 1:1 ratio. Players can boost their Zoo earnings by buying and feeding animals, upgrading enclosures, and completing quests daily.

Onchain Heroes

Onchain Heroes, a fully on-chain idle RPG, told its followers that “REDACTED” would come with the launch of Abstract mainnet, the layer-2 network from the Pudgy Penguins parent company that is expected to go live in January 2025.

Though no name is set for the token, it’s expected to be distributed to holders of the Onchain Heroes Genesis Rings NFT, which previously launched on the Ethereum blockchain.

Cat Gold Miner

Cat Gold Miner will launch its CATGOLD token on January 9. The token will be provided to those collecting NFT vouchers during an exclusive event running from January 2-6. Operating in a first-come, first-served manner, those collecting NFT vouchers via Cat Gold Miner will split a pool of 300 million CATGOLD tokens.

The CATGOLD token will launch on The Open Network (TON).

TapSwap

Tap-to-earn game TapSwap will launch its TAPS token sometime in the second half of January. The developers claim that the TAPS token will become critical to the TapSwap ecosystem moving forward, which is pivoting focus to prioritize skill-based gaming.

Airdrop eligibility will be determined based on a player’s overall engagement and frequency with TapSwap and its city-builder game mode. The upcoming token airdrop will take place on the Open Network (TON).

Captain Tsubasa: Rivals

Soccer-themed tap-to-earn game Captain Tsubasa: Rivals racked up millions of players after its launch on Telegram, and soon it will airdrop its JOHN token to some of them.

Users are expected to earn allotments of the JOHN token, which will likely launch on TON, based on criteria like the total accumulated soccer balls in game, unlocked players and levels, and how many tasks they’ve completed. No official date for the airdrop has been provided but announcements indicate it is “coming soon.”

Seed

Seed, a Telegram game in which you plant trees, earn seeds, and care for birds, is set to launch its SEED token on January 15. Unlike many other popular Telegram games, Seed is choosing to launch its upcoming NFTs and token on Sui’s layer-1 blockchain.

The community will receive 70% of the total SEED supply, rewarding current players and future activations in the Seed Ecosystem.

InfiniGods

Mobile gaming studio InfiniGods is preparing for the launch of its GOD token on the Ethereum mainnet. While no launch date has been provided, a total supply of 777.77 million tokens has been announced alongside token utility like crafting, in-app purchases, and more.

Users can prepare for the GOD token by owning InfiniGods NFTs or completing quests hosted by the Valhalla Foundation, the organization overseeing the launch of the token.

In December, InfiniGods made headlines when it paid $1 million in an auction to acquire the GOD ticker on Hyperliquid, allowing it to eventually utilize the ticker on the Hyperliquid Exchange upon launch.

Rumble Kong League

With its iOS and Android basketball game soft-launched in mobile app stores, Rumble Kong League is gearing up for a January or February launch for its FAME token.

The token will be made available to those earning in-game, utilizing the now-popular “play-to-airdrop” mechanics which will reward those playing the RKL basketball game in-app with the eventual FAME token.

FAME will have a supply of 7 billion total tokens, with 30% earmarked for the community airdrop, staking, and other rewards. Rumble Kong League is being built on Avalanche, so we currently expect FAME to launch on AVAX.

Editor’s note: This story was originally published on December 27, 2023 and was last updated with new info on January 4, 2025.

The Elon Musk effect goes both ways.

Ethereum meme coin Kekius Maximus (KEKIUS) soared over 3,000% from a $12.7 million market cap to nearly $400 million, in the 30 hours following Tesla CEO Elon Musk changing his Twitter name to Kekius Maximus. But what comes up must come down. Once Musk changed his profile back to normal, it caused the token to plummet 67% in an hour to $95 million.

Kekius Maximus, according to the meme coin’s website, is also known as “Pepe the Frog Emperor.” The art depicts the popular internet frog meme as the ruler of a mythical empire. It appears that the meme was originally created using Grok, Twitter’s native AI tool, with Musk, who owns Twitter, endorsing it on December 10.

Over the coming days the Pepe-inspired meme gained more popularity with the likes of citizen journalist Autism Capital, the official Pepe meme coin account, and, of course, Musk posting about the Grok-generated meme. This resulted in KEKIUS launching on Ethereum and climbing to a $1.7 million market cap by December 27.

This is when Musk announced that his Path of Exile character would be named Kekius Maximus, resulting in a near 1,300% jump to a $20 million market cap. Keep in mind, that was before Musk changed his profile picture and name to the Grok-spawned meme on New Years Eve, causing the meme coin to go parabolic, nearly touching a $400 million market cap.

However, as the new year dawned concerning news circulated of a Tesla Cybertruck exploding outside of the Trump Hotel in Las Vegas, causing the driver to die in the blast. This prompted Musk to return to his original Twitter handle and profile picture to address the unfolding incident.

“The whole Tesla senior team is investigating this matter right now,” Musk posted. “We have now confirmed that the explosion was caused by very large fireworks and/or a bomb carried in the bed of the rented Cybertruck and is unrelated to the vehicle itself,” he later added.

This change of name and profile picture to address the still developing incident—that is now suspected as an act of terror by law enforcement—caused KEKIUS to crash 83% from its all-time high over just 10 hours.

Since the explosion, Musk has not posted about Kekius Maximus. Instead, he has shifted his attention to British politics.

Musk is currently pleading for far-right activist Tommy Robinson to be released from prison after being jailed for contempt of court in October—due to repeatedly claiming that a Syrian teenage refugee had violently attacked “young English girls,” to justify the refugee being waterboarded by fellow school pupils on camera, Robinson’s claim was disproven in court and he was ordered to never make the claims again, but he did—as well as endorsing the sixth largest political party in the country, Reform UK.

As you can expect, tons of meme coins have been created as a result including a Free Tommy Robinson (TOMMY) token that hit a $4.8 million market cap.

Edited by Stacy Elliott.