BNB Chain unveils $45M airdrop reward for traders who ‘experienced losses’ by memecoin crash

$BNB Chain is rolling out a $45 million “reload airdrop” to recognize users who were active during last week’s memecoin chaos, though the team stresses it’s about appreciation. But the program follows a brutal market swing where dozens of memecoins on $BNB Chain lost most of their value.

After a wild week where traders made and lost fortunes in minutes, $BNB Chain is trying to calm the chaos with what it calls an airdrop for users who might’ve gotten burned in the latest memecoin crash.

In a Monday post on X, Oct. 13, the blockchain announced what it called a $45 million “reload airdrop,” saying “market conditions have created turbulence across the broader crypto landscape, yet the $BNB community continues to build, create and stay engaged through it all.”

The initiative, organized with Four.Meme, a memecoin launchpad and supported by decentralized exchange platform PancakeSwap, Binance Wallet, and Trust Wallet, will distribute $45 million worth of Binance Coin ($BNB) to more than 160,000 users who traded memecoins in recent days, the X post reads. The airdrops will start rolling out this week and finish by early November.

$BNB Chain said the move was designed to “show appreciation for our users and builders, especially the memecoin community.” However, in a follow-up post, the team clarified what the project is really about:

“This initiative focuses on supporting users who experienced losses while trading memecoins during the recent market volatility.” $BNB Chain

In commentary to crypto.news, a spokesperson for $BNB Chain said the airdrop is an action to show “community appreciation, not compensation,” adding that the initiative is “not a reimbursement program.”

“It is not an incentive for risky behavior, but a way to recognise and assist users who remained active despite recent market volatility. In regards to wallet selection, the teams will publish more details soon.” $BNB Chain spokesperson

Moment of craze

The initiative comes after a spectacular run — and equally sharp collapse — in the $BNB Chain’s memecoin space. Over the past week, traders piled into new tokens like “4,” a memecoin that exploded after Binance co-founder Changpeng Zhao retweeted a meme about it.

Some wallets turned a few thousand dollars into millions within days. One trader reportedly flipped $3,500 into $7.9 million. As crypto.news reported, Four.Meme in a moment even generated $1.4 million in daily revenue, surpassing Pump.fun’s $885,442.

But the frenzy didn’t last long. On Oct. 13, Zhao posted a disclaimer saying his tweets “are not endorsements,” adding, that now he tweets “normally, any overlap to memes is coincidental, not endorsement.”

That single clarification seemingly triggered a sell-off across PancakeSwap, where most of these tokens trade.

Dozens of memecoins plunged between 60% and 95% within hours and many memecoins lost nearly all their gains. Data from Bubblemaps shows that more than 100,000 on-chain traders joined the meme boom, with about 70% in profit at its peak. At least one address made over $10 million, while hundreds more made six-figure gains before the crash.

However, it’s still unclear how many ended up losing money, and $BNB Chain didn’t say how it plans to figure out who actually took losses.