Morning Minute: MetaMask Confirms Token, Airdrop SZN Incoming

Morning Minute is a daily newsletter written by Tyler Warner. The analysis and opinions expressed are his own and do not necessarily reflect those of Decrypt. Subscribe to the Morning Minute on Substack.

GM!

Today’s top news:

• Crypto majors retreat after post-FOMC rally; BTC -1% at $116,300
• Joe Lubin confirms MetaMask token coming “very soon”
• Plasma sets mainnet debut & XPL token TGE for Sept 25
• Pump Fun crosses $100M in PUMP buybacks (tho PUMP falls 7%)
• Kevin Durant regains access to Coinbase wallet lost in 2016 when BTC was $600

🪂 Airdrop Season Incoming

Everyone loves yelling “wen token?”

Well the answer for several major protocols is now “soon.”

📌 What Happened

Yesterday, co-founder of Consensys Joe Lubin confirmed that a MetaMask token is coming “very soon.”

We don’t know any other details beyond that, and betting markets have the MASK token coming in September at just 3%.

So, it’s probably not next week.

But up until now, there was no formal confirmation a token would ever come. Now that has changed.

And add it to the growing list of major protocols dropping tokens sometime soon:

• OpenSea just moved into the “final phase” of its pre-TGE rewards program and told users to expect token details in early October.
• On the L2 front, Base finally said the quiet part out loud: Jesse Pollak told reporters the network is exploring a native token, with plans still early.
• Pump Fun is slightly different from the rest with its PUMP token live for trading, but no airdrop…yet. The PUMP airdrop is expected in Q4 2024 (47% by end of 2025).
• Meteora materials point to an October TGE for MET.
• Finally, Polymarket token chatter is back in force alongside reports of a financing round that could value the company as high as $10B.

Airdrop SZN is truly coming.

🗣️ What They’re Saying

“One thing to think about with the MetaMask and Opensea token is that there are a lot of graveyard wallets that have not been onchain in a long time. Depending on how they structure the airdrop, you potentially see a lot of dead wallets forced onchain to claim.” – Threadguy

🧠 Why It Matters

This one is pretty easy to explain – we like free money.

Free money is good for the crypto ecosystem.

Airdrops from protocols like MetaMask and OpenSea have long been written off by most users. Now they’re actually incoming, likely in the next 3-6 months.

Not to mention big money coming in the Solana eco in the very near future, courtesy of Meteora and Pump Fun. (And Polymarket is just a fun surprise).

So what does it mean?

Airdrop money typically stays in the casino.

Expect booms in activity on Solana (thanks to MET & PUMP), NFTs (thanks to SEA) and maybe even the broader crypto eco (MASK, POLY).

Plus the timing is great with crypto majors within 10% of ATH, a rate cut cycle just beginning, ETFs about to explode and the DAT trade showing signs of life again.

As the kids say, Q4 is going to be a movie…

🌎 Macro Crypto and Memes

A few Crypto and Web3 headlines that caught my eye:

• Crypto majors are red and retreating after the post-FOMC rally; BTC -1% at $116,300, ETH +-1% at $4,510, XRP -3% at $3.02, SOL -2% at $240
• ASTER (+32%), IMX (+10%) and NEAR (+8%) led top movers
• MSTR stock jumped 7% on Thursday, outperforming Bitcoin’s 2% rally
• The Bitcoin ETFs saw $163M in net inflows, while the ETH ETFs led with $213M
• Google Cloud and EigenLayer partnered to make EigenCloud the verifiable backbone for AP2 agentic payments across cards, bank rails, and stablecoins
• Coinbase introduced USDC lending within its app, allowing users to earn yields up to 10.8% via Morpho
• The White House is looking at other CFTC chairs after Brian Quintenz’s confirmation has stalled, at least partially due to criticism from the Winklevoss brothers
• Kraken partnered with Legion to debut “Kraken Launch,” a token-sale platform that brings IPO-style, reputation-scored allocations and early token access to millions of users with its first sale “coming soon.”
• Kevin Durant regained access to Bitcoin he “lost” access to on Coinbase back in 2016, which he purchased when Bitcoin was ~$600

In Corporate Treasuries / ETFs

• Brera Holdings rebranded to ‘Solmate,’ and announced a $300M private raise to build a Solana treasury (BREA stock briefly +500%)
• The DOGE ETF $DOJE did $17M volume in its debut yesterday, enough to notch a top 5 debut for any ETF this year
• The first Crypto Index ETF launches today from Grayscale, including BTC, ETH, XRP, SOL and ADA

In Memes

• Memecoin leaders are very red along with majors; DOGE -3%, Shiba -3%, PEPE -3%, PENGU -3%, BONK -3%, TRUMP -2%, SPX -8%, and FARTCOIN -2%
• 1 led top movers again, up 100% to $12M; MESA +2500% to $2.6M was another notable mover

💰 Token, Airdrop & Protocol Tracker

Here’s a rundown of major token, protocol and airdrop news from the day:

🤖 AI x Crypto

Section dedicated to headlines in the AI sector of crypto:

• Overall market cap -4% at $13.6B, leaders were red
• FARTCOIN (-1%), VIRTUAL (-4%), TIBBIR (-5%), aixbt (+1) & ai16z (-4%)
• HYPER (+41%) and TETSUO (+14%) led top movers
• Talus Labs debuted its testnet along with $125,000 in cash prizes for a new AI Agent game

🚚 What is happening in NFTs?

Here is the list of other notable headlines from the day in NFTs:

• ETH NFT leaders were mostly flat; Punks -1% at 47.9 ETH, Pudgy even at 10.5, BAYC even at 9.3 ETH
• Cryptodickbutts (+13%) and Meebits (+10%) were top movers
• Abstract NFTs saw a lot of green led by Roach Racing and Bearish
• Gondi rolled out its Gondi Purchase Bundler, allowing users to buy NFTs across marketplaces without needing the full purchase amount (using existing loan offers for the difference)