DeFi’s Game-Inspired Airdrop Approach Propels USD1 Utility to $3 Billion

World Liberty Financial (WLFI), a decentralized finance (DeFi) initiative associated with U.S. President Donald Trump, has introduced an airdrop of 8.4 million

tokens to reward early supporters of its stablecoin. Announced on October 29, this campaign follows a two-month USD1 Points Program that saw trading volumes exceed $500 million, helping USD1 rise to the sixth spot among stablecoins by market cap, now valued at $2.986 billion, . The airdrop will be distributed through six centralized exchanges—Gate.io, KuCoin, LBank, HTX Global, Flipster, and MEXC—each setting its own requirements and schedule, .

This airdrop highlights WLFI’s approach of using gamification to boost stablecoin adoption and expand USD1’s use cases. Participants earned points by trading USD1 pairs or holding balances on partner exchanges, and the rewards are intended to encourage further participation,

. The project also intends to expand its points program with new DeFi partnerships, tokenization of real-world assets, and more ways to earn, .

At the same time, USD1’s cross-chain functionality has been enhanced through a collaboration with

, a platform specializing in blockchain automation. Enso’s Blockchain Shortcut solution allows for smooth trading, lending, and transferring of USD1 across several blockchains, including , , and Chain, . This partnership enables USD1 to interact with over 250 DeFi protocols, such as margin trading platforms like , boosting its liquidity and making it more attractive to institutional investors, . Connor Howe, Enso’s founder, stated that this integration will make DeFi “appealing to major institutions,” leveraging USD1’s $3 billion market capitalization, .

USD1’s rapid expansion has been aided by favorable regulatory changes, such as the U.S. passing the Genius Act in July, which officially recognizes stablecoins, as reported by Yahoo Finance. Currently, 70% of USD1’s liquidity is on BNB Chain, with Ethereum holding about 25% and smaller shares on Solana,

, and , according to the same Yahoo Finance report. Experts forecast that stablecoins could account for 12% of worldwide payments by 2030, fueled by their use in cross-border payments and DeFi, as Yahoo Finance notes.

WLFI’s token airdrop reflects a wider movement among DeFi projects to incentivize community involvement. The company’s CEO described the program as a “user-centric reward system” aimed at strengthening USD1’s liquidity and real-world usage, according to Crypto.news. Upcoming initiatives include launching a debit card backed by USD1 that works with Apple Pay and tokenizing assets like real estate and commodities, as outlined in the company’s roadmap reported by Crypto.news.

Although WLFI’s price has seen recent fluctuations, trading at $0.151 after a 24.6% drop since September,

, the airdrop has renewed optimism. Crypto experts have observed accumulation trends and key support near $0.15, indicating a possible recovery if the token surpasses $0.19, .