The Solana Saga smartphone has been given a shot in the arm thanks to airdrop buzz. The rising price of leading Solana meme coin BONK helped juice the value of a token airdrop for holders, prompting a frenzy to snatch up the last units—and now the Saga is sold out.
Solana Labs says it is weighing potential future moves in the Saga ecosystem, but in the meantime, other Solana-based projects are keeping the excitement alive by launching their own token airdrops for Saga owners.
YouTube tech reviewer MKBHD called the Saga the “bust of the year,” but these airdrops have Saga buyers feeling pretty good about their purchases. Saga owners who claimed every airdrop and free perk—and held onto them all—now have $3,000 or more worth of free tokens.
If you managed to grab a Solana Saga before the sellout, here are the current airdrops and perks you can claim right now, upcoming token airdrops that have been teased, and past benefits that early Saga owners were able to claim.
Current airdrops
BONK
Solana’s top meme coin helped spur renewed buzz around the Saga, as traders realized that BONK’s rapidly rising price meant that the airdrop was more valuable than the phone’s price. Saga owners can claim 30 million BONK tokens, which is about $575 worth as of this writing. At BONK’s peak price last week, it would’ve been $1,025 worth.
Access Protocol
Content monetization platform Access Protocol got in on the Saga airdrop frenzy earlier this week, announcing that it was giving out 100,000 ACS tokens to each phone owner. The drop undoubtedly gave Access Protocol significant exposure and led to a significant surge in price for the token, pushing that airdrop to a value of about $370 as of this writing.
Honeyland
Solana-based mobile game Honeyland offers a free perk to all Saga owners in the form of a free claim of 50 HXD tokens and a “Beemium” in-game upgrade, which typically costs $30. Granted, 50 HXD tokens is only worth about $5 as of this writing, but with the upgrade it’s a potentially nice little boost for getting started in the game.
Upcoming airdrops
Samoyedcoin
Another Solana-based dog coin, the long-running Samoyedcoin (SAMO), plans to get in on the Solana Saga buzz. The project tweeted on December 16 that it will do an airdrop to Saga owners, and that details are coming soon. “We hope you got your paws on one before it was too late,” the project tweeted. SAMO is up 50% this week.
Solend
Lending protocol Solend is planning its own airdrop for Saga owners, with pseudonymous founder Rooter tweeting on December 16 that such plans are in the works. No further details have followed yet, but the SLND token has popped 24% over the last week. He also teased a separate airdrop for “past and current Solend users.”
Additional perks
Earning SHDW
ShdwDrive, a decentralized storage platform for Web3 builders, will let Saga owners mine SHDW tokens by running an “Auditor Node.” What does that mean? Apparently, you’ll just be able to open up and run an app that helps support the network, and earn tokens in the process. This feature does not appear to be live yet, as of this writing.
Helium Mobile
Saga owners in the United States can claim a free month-long trial of Helium Mobile, the crypto-powered 5G wireless service built atop the Helium network—which is now running on the Solana blockchain. This perk is valued at $20.
Stake for ELE
Upcoming Solana-based game Elementerra is offering Saga Genesis NFT holders the ability to stake the NFT pass and earn ELE tokens in the process. It’s part of the lead-up process before the game’s official launch in January 2024.
Genopets toy
Move-to-earn Solana game Genopets also offers a free perk for Saga owners: You can claim a free in-game “Saga Phone Toy” and get started with an extra benefit.
Past perks
Claynosaurz: Call of Saga
Early Saga owners were able to claim one of 2,000 free Claynosaurz: Call of Saga NFTs exclusive to Saga Genesis NFT holders. This free benefit is long past claimed, but those Saga owners have been rewarded for being early adopters—if they held, that is. The NFTs now start at a price of 22 SOL on Magic Eden, or about $2,050 worth.
Magic Eden
Prominent Solana NFT marketplace Magic Eden offered Saga users a “Magic Box” containing 25 USDC, or $25 worth of the stablecoin. It was available to the first 5,000 Saga users, so it ought to be fully claimed by the time you read this.
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