Dragonfly report: U.S. misses over $5 billion in airdrop earnings due to regulatory issues

According to the "2025 Airdrop Status Report" released by Dragonfly Research, airdrops, as an important growth engine of the crypto industry, have distributed tokens worth more than US$26.6 billion in cumulatively. However, due to regulatory uncertainty, U.S. users and businesses were excluded, resulting in huge losses. Data shows that about 5.2 million crypto users in the United States are unable to participate in airdrops due to geographical restrictions. Only 12 major projects resulted in revenue losses of $1.84 billion to $2.64 billion, expanding to more projects, with the figure reaching $3.49 billion to $5.02 billion.

In addition, the U.S. government also lost $418 million to $1.1 billion in federal tax revenue due to airdrop restrictions, and $107 million to $284 million in state tax revenue. Tether, for example, made a profit of $6.2 billion in 2024, but the United States missed $1.6 billion in corporate tax revenue due to its offshore operations. The report notes that if the United States fails to provide regulatory clarity as soon as possible, innovation will continue to shift overseas, and U.S. users and businesses may continue to lag in the global market.