ONUS x CoinMarketCap Airdrop: How It Worked and What Happened After

ONUS x CoinMarketCap Airdrop: How It Worked and What Happened After

Dec, 6 2025

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Calculate your chances of winning a crypto airdrop similar to the ONUS x CoinMarketCap campaign that ran in March 2022. The original campaign had 6.2 million participants and 5,000 winners.

Back in March 2022, over 6.2 million people signed up for a single crypto airdrop. Not because it promised free money, but because it was tied to ONUS and CoinMarketCap - two names that meant something in the crypto world. The prize? 75,000 ONUS tokens, worth about $50,000 at the time. Only 5,000 winners would get a share. That’s less than a 1 in 1,250 chance. And yet, people still showed up. Why? Because this wasn’t just another airdrop. It was a carefully planned move that changed how ONUS grew its community - and it still echoes today.

What Was the ONUS x CoinMarketCap Airdrop?

The ONUS x CoinMarketCap airdrop wasn’t a random giveaway. It was a partnership between ONUS, a blockchain token built for DeFi and cross-chain use, and CoinMarketCap, the most trusted crypto price tracker on the planet. At the time, CoinMarketCap had over 100 million monthly users. ONUS had barely any name recognition. The goal? Use CoinMarketCap’s reach to introduce ONUS to real users - not bots, not spam accounts, but people actively tracking crypto prices.

The campaign ran for exactly 20 days, from March 1 to March 20, 2022. To enter, you had to complete a few simple steps: add ONUS to your CoinMarketCap watchlist, verify your account, and follow ONUS on social media. That’s it. No complex tasks. No KYC. No deposits. Just basic engagement.

What made it stand out? The scale. Most airdrops get tens of thousands of participants. This one got over 6.2 million. That’s more than the entire population of New Zealand. And only 5,000 would win. The odds were brutal - but that’s what made it feel real. People knew they were competing against millions. That drove urgency.

How Did Winners Get Their Tokens?

Winners didn’t get their tokens sent to their Binance or MetaMask wallets. They had to use RICE Wallet - ONUS’s own mobile app. That was the whole point.

RICE Wallet wasn’t just a wallet. It was ONUS’s gateway to its ecosystem. By forcing winners to download and register on RICE Wallet, ONUS turned a one-time airdrop into a long-term user acquisition tool. Thousands of new users had to create accounts, set up security, and start using the app - all because they won a few hundred ONUS tokens.

Winners had to confirm their RICE Wallet address by April 1, 2022. After that, tokens were distributed within seven working days. No delays. No excuses. The process was clean, fast, and transparent. That’s rare in crypto. Most airdrops vanish after the drop. ONUS followed through.

Why Did People Care About ONUS?

At the time of the airdrop, ONUS was a new token. But it wasn’t just another meme coin. It was built on a hybrid blockchain designed for speed, low fees, and cross-chain swaps. Think of it as a Swiss Army knife for DeFi - you could trade, stake, and move assets between chains without jumping through hoops.

The airdrop wasn’t just about giving away tokens. It was about proving ONUS could deliver real utility. After the campaign, ONUS started rolling out features: lower trading fees, VIP tiers, and later, even automatic token conversions. For example, in September 2025, when Binance delisted three tokens (BakeryToken, Hifi Finance, Self Chain), ONUS automatically converted any user holding over 100 USDT worth of those tokens into ONUS. That’s not luck. That’s strategy.

By then, ONUS had already completed its two-year token vesting schedule on July 17, 2025. That meant all locked tokens were released, boosting liquidity and making the token more tradable. The price? Around $0.6956 USD as of September 2025, with daily trading volume hitting over $1.2 million. Not a moonshot, but steady growth - built on real demand, not hype.

A lone winner before a glowing RICE Wallet door, surrounded by fading crowds, in detailed charcoal shading.

What Happened to CoinMarketCap After This?

CoinMarketCap didn’t just host the airdrop and walk away. The ONUS campaign became a case study. In the months after, CoinMarketCap launched CMC Launchpad - a new platform for vetted token launches and airdrops. And guess what? It included smarter filters to block bots and fake accounts.

Before ONUS, airdrops were messy. Thousands of fake wallets. Millions of spam entries. CoinMarketCap’s system couldn’t handle it. The ONUS campaign showed them exactly how much noise there was - and how much real interest existed. That’s why CMC Launchpad now uses wallet behavior analysis to detect real users. The ONUS airdrop didn’t just help ONUS. It helped improve the entire airdrop ecosystem.

Was It Worth It?

Let’s break it down. $50,000 in tokens. 6.2 million participants. 5,000 winners. 1,255 new users per day. That’s $0.008 per participant. For less than a penny, ONUS got millions of eyes on its brand. And thousands of actual users who downloaded RICE Wallet and stayed.

Compare that to a $1 million ad campaign on Twitter or YouTube. You’d get clicks. Maybe some followers. But not a wallet address. Not a verified user. Not a long-term holder.

The ONUS airdrop worked because it was simple, fair, and tied to a real product. It didn’t promise riches. It offered a chance - and a tool to use it. People didn’t join because they thought they’d get rich. They joined because they wanted to be part of something real.

A Swiss Army knife made of blockchain chains, with ONUS token being inserted into a wallet, rendered in monochrome charcoal.

What’s ONUS Doing Now?

Fast forward to 2025, and ONUS is still evolving. In August 2025, it halved the VIP 3 requirement for trading fee discounts - from 5,000 ONUS tokens down to 2,500. That made it easier for average users to access lower fees. Makers now pay as low as 0.01%, takers at 0.025%. That’s competitive with top-tier exchanges.

The token’s utility keeps growing. The automatic conversion of delisted tokens into ONUS isn’t just a convenience - it’s a demand engine. Every time a token gets pulled from Binance, ONUS gains new buyers. That’s not luck. That’s design.

RICE Wallet is still the core. It’s where users earn, trade, and hold. It’s where the airdrop winners first stepped in - and where many still are today.

Could This Happen Again?

It’s unlikely. The crypto landscape changed. Airdrops are no longer a growth hack. They’re a compliance nightmare. Regulators are watching. Platforms are tightening rules. CoinMarketCap won’t run another campaign like this one - not without layers of verification.

But the lesson remains: if you want to grow a token, don’t just give it away. Give people a reason to stick around. ONUS didn’t just hand out tokens. It handed out access - to a wallet, to a platform, to a future. That’s what made the difference.

The ONUS x CoinMarketCap airdrop wasn’t about free money. It was about building a community. And that’s still working today.

Was the ONUS x CoinMarketCap airdrop real?

Yes, it was real. It ran from March 1 to March 20, 2022, with 6.2 million participants and 5,000 verified winners. Tokens were distributed through RICE Wallet, and winners had to confirm their addresses by April 1, 2022. The campaign was officially hosted on CoinMarketCap’s platform, and participation records were publicly tracked.

How many ONUS tokens did winners receive?

Winners received an equal share of the 75,000 ONUS token prize pool. That means each winner got 15 ONUS tokens (75,000 ÷ 5,000). At the time of distribution in March 2022, that was worth about $10-$12 USD, depending on price fluctuations.

Do I still need RICE Wallet to claim ONUS tokens today?

No - the airdrop ended in 2022. However, RICE Wallet remains ONUS’s official wallet and is still the best place to hold, trade, or earn ONUS tokens. Any new airdrops or platform rewards from ONUS will likely require RICE Wallet for participation.

Is ONUS still active in 2025?

Yes. As of September 2025, ONUS trades at around $0.6956 USD with over $1.2 million in daily volume. The project completed its two-year vesting schedule in July 2025 and launched key upgrades like reduced trading fees and automatic token conversions from delisted assets. It’s actively maintained and expanding.

Why did CoinMarketCap partner with ONUS?

CoinMarketCap partnered with ONUS to test how well its platform could support large-scale, legitimate airdrops. The campaign proved that real users would engage with simple, transparent campaigns - even with low odds. This success directly led to the creation of CMC Launchpad, which now uses smarter anti-bot filters to ensure only real participants get rewarded.

Can I still join an ONUS airdrop?

The original ONUS x CoinMarketCap airdrop is long over. There are no active ONUS airdrops as of December 2025. However, ONUS occasionally runs promotional campaigns within RICE Wallet - like earning tokens by trading or referring friends. Check the RICE Wallet app for current offers.

What’s the difference between ONUS and other airdrop tokens?

Unlike most airdrop tokens that fade after launch, ONUS built real utility: cross-chain DeFi tools, low trading fees, and a wallet ecosystem that rewards usage. It didn’t rely on hype. It built demand through features - like automatically converting delisted tokens into ONUS. That’s why it’s still trading in 2025, while hundreds of other airdrop tokens are dead.

27 comments

  • Yzak victor
    Posted by Yzak victor
    21:27 PM 12/ 7/2025

    Honestly, this was one of the few airdrops that didn’t feel like a scam. No KYC, no deposit, just a watchlist and a follow. I did it on a whim and didn’t think I’d win-but I did. RICE Wallet was clunky at first, but I stuck with it. Now I use it daily. That’s rare in crypto.

    Most projects give you tokens and vanish. ONUS gave me a tool. That’s the difference.

  • Adam Bosworth
    Posted by Adam Bosworth
    23:16 PM 12/ 8/2025

    lol this is so cringe. 6.2M people signed up for 15 tokens worth $12? Bro, that’s like paying $100 for a lottery ticket that pays $12. The only thing that worked here was the FOMO machine. They didn’t build a product-they built a hype trap.

    And now they’re acting like they’re geniuses? Please. This was a vanity metric play. RICE Wallet is still dead weight. I checked it last week. 200 users max.

  • Doreen Ochodo
    Posted by Doreen Ochodo
    10:37 AM 12/ 9/2025

    Simple. Clean. Real. That’s what this was.

    Not every airdrop needs to be a moon mission. Sometimes you just need to get people to try something. ONUS did that. And it stuck.

  • Tara Marshall
    Posted by Tara Marshall
    10:55 AM 12/ 9/2025

    Correct number: 75,000 tokens ÷ 5,000 winners = 15 ONUS each. Price at distribution was $0.78, so ~$11.70 per winner. Not $10-12 as stated, but close enough.

    Also, the Binance delisting auto-convert feature launched in August 2025, not September. Minor correction.

  • Jon Visotzky
    Posted by Jon Visotzky
    12:45 PM 12/ 9/2025

    Why does everyone act like this was some genius move? It was a numbers game. They knew 6 million people would sign up. They knew 99.9% wouldn’t care after. But 0.1%? That’s still 6,000 people who downloaded the wallet.

    That’s not strategy. That’s probability. And it worked because CoinMarketCap had the audience.

    Now try doing that without CMC. Go ahead.

  • Isha Kaur
    Posted by Isha Kaur
    03:32 AM 12/10/2025

    I remember signing up for this. I was in India, on a slow 4G connection, and I thought it was a joke. But I did it anyway. Didn’t win, but I kept RICE Wallet installed. After a few months, I started using it for small swaps. Then I discovered the fee discounts. Now I trade almost everything through it.

    What’s wild is that I never even thought about ONUS before the airdrop. It wasn’t the tokens-it was the interface. Clean, fast, no drama. That’s rare.

    Most wallets feel like a tax audit. RICE feels like a coffee shop. You just… want to hang out there.

  • Glenn Jones
    Posted by Glenn Jones
    19:33 PM 12/11/2025

    OMG this post is so delusional. ONUS didn’t build anything. They just exploited CMC’s traffic like a parasite. And now they’re acting like they’re the next Ethereum? LOL. The auto-convert feature? That’s just a stopgap for a token with zero organic demand. They’re just recycling dead assets. That’s not innovation. That’s dumpster diving.

    Also, the ‘two-year vesting’? That’s just standard. Everyone does that. Don’t act like you cracked the code. You just got lucky with a big platform.

  • Joe West
    Posted by Joe West
    21:17 PM 12/12/2025

    Biggest takeaway? They didn’t give away tokens-they gave away access.

    Most projects think airdrops are about giving money. ONUS gave people a door. And they walked through it.

    That’s why it worked. Not the price. Not the hype. The door.

  • Regina Jestrow
    Posted by Regina Jestrow
    01:23 AM 12/14/2025

    Wait, so you’re telling me people actually stayed on RICE Wallet after the airdrop? I thought it was just a temporary thing. I deleted mine after 3 days. I didn’t even get the tokens.

    But now I’m curious… how many of those 5,000 winners are still active? Is there data on that? Like, wallet activity over time? I’d love to see the retention curve.

  • Cristal Consulting
    Posted by Cristal Consulting
    22:42 PM 12/14/2025

    You didn’t win? Doesn’t matter.

    What matters is you showed up. That’s the first step. The rest follows.

    Keep RICE Wallet open. Check it once a month. Something will come. It always does.

  • Kenneth Ljungström
    Posted by Kenneth Ljungström
    16:38 PM 12/15/2025

    Man I still use RICE Wallet every week 😊

    Low fees, easy swaps, and the auto-convert thing saved me when Binance dumped Self Chain. I got ONUS for free basically. No one told me about it-I just saw it in the app.

    Still not a moonshot, but it’s real. And that’s enough for me 🙌

  • Brooke Schmalbach
    Posted by Brooke Schmalbach
    17:08 PM 12/15/2025

    Oh please. You’re romanticizing a marketing stunt. This was a vanity metric engineered to inflate CMC’s ‘successful airdrop’ metrics. ONUS is a ghost town. The ‘$1.2M daily volume’? Half of it is wash trading between their own wallets. Look at the on-chain flow. It’s all circular. No real liquidity.

    And don’t get me started on ‘automatic conversion’-that’s just a tax on the delisted token holders. They didn’t save anyone. They just harvested panic.

  • Nina Meretoile
    Posted by Nina Meretoile
    11:00 AM 12/17/2025

    This is the kind of story that makes me believe crypto can still be good.

    Not every project needs to be a blockchain-powered metaverse unicorn. Sometimes, it’s just about making a wallet that doesn’t suck. That doesn’t freeze. That doesn’t charge $50 in gas to swap $10.

    ONUS did that. And they didn’t even try to be cool. They just… worked.

    That’s the quiet revolution.

    And yeah, I still use it. Every. Single. Day.

  • michael cuevas
    Posted by michael cuevas
    22:11 PM 12/18/2025

    So you’re telling me a guy with a watchlist won $12 and now thinks he’s a crypto guru?

    Pathetic. I’ve lost more on gas fees than those winners got. And you’re acting like this was genius?

    LMFAO. Next you’ll tell me the guy who clicked ‘like’ on a YouTube ad is a marketing prodigy.

  • Barb Pooley
    Posted by Barb Pooley
    05:37 AM 12/20/2025

    Wait… so CoinMarketCap *helped* them? After they got bought by Binance? That’s the same company that let every scam token through for years?

    Something’s off here. Why would CMC suddenly care about ‘real users’? Did they get paid? Was this a covert token dump?

    I don’t trust this. I don’t trust anything that smells too clean. There’s a hidden hand here. Always is.

  • Thomas Downey
    Posted by Thomas Downey
    09:59 AM 12/20/2025

    The entire narrative is a grotesque misrepresentation of market dynamics. To frame this as a ‘community-building triumph’ is to ignore the fundamental asymmetry of power: a nascent token leveraged the monopolistic reach of a dominant data aggregator to extract user attention under the guise of meritocracy. The odds-1 in 1,250-were not a feature; they were a psychological weapon, designed to simulate scarcity where none existed. The RICE Wallet was not a gateway to utility-it was a walled garden for data harvesting, disguised as decentralization. The ‘automatic conversion’ mechanism is a predatory liquidity pump disguised as consumer protection. The entire campaign was a masterclass in institutionalized manipulation, masked as innovation. This is not a case study in community-it is a case study in extraction.

  • ronald dayrit
    Posted by ronald dayrit
    08:01 AM 12/21/2025

    There’s something deeply human about this story. Not the tokens, not the wallet, not even the platform. It’s the fact that six million people-six million-chose to show up for something that offered them almost nothing. Not wealth. Not fame. Not even a guarantee. Just a chance. A sliver of possibility.

    We live in a world that tells us everything must be optimized, monetized, gamified. But here, people showed up because they believed in the idea of participation. Not because they thought they’d win. But because they wanted to be part of something that might matter.

    That’s the quiet miracle. Not the $1.2 million volume. Not the vesting schedule. Not the auto-conversion. It’s that six million people, in a world of noise, chose to be quiet participants in a quiet experiment. And some of them stayed.

    That’s not marketing. That’s meaning.

  • Nicole Parker
    Posted by Nicole Parker
    15:46 PM 12/21/2025

    I didn’t win, but I kept RICE Wallet open because it felt different. No pop-ups. No push notifications begging for fees. No ‘join our Telegram’ every 30 seconds. Just… clean. Like a well-made app should be.

    Then one day I saw the fee discount drop from 5k to 2.5k ONUS. I didn’t even realize I had enough. I checked. I did. I clicked. And suddenly I was paying 0.01% to trade. I cried a little.

    Not because I saved money. Because someone remembered the little guys.

    That’s rare.

  • Billye Nipper
    Posted by Billye Nipper
    16:37 PM 12/22/2025

    Okay, so… I didn’t win. But I kept the app. And now I get these little notifications like ‘You’ve earned 0.15 ONUS for referring a friend!’ or ‘Your trading fee is now 0.025%!’ and it feels… nice?

    I don’t even trade much. But I check it. Like a habit. Like a little digital garden I water once a week.

    I don’t know why. But I do.

    And I’m glad I didn’t delete it.

  • Roseline Stephen
    Posted by Roseline Stephen
    16:21 PM 12/24/2025

    Interesting that they didn’t require KYC. That’s rare for a project that got this big.

    I wonder how many of those 6.2 million were bots. Or if CMC’s filters actually worked.

    Not saying it’s fake. Just… curious.

  • Nelson Issangya
    Posted by Nelson Issangya
    10:59 AM 12/26/2025

    Stop acting like this was some deep strategy. It was a lucky break. ONUS got lucky because CoinMarketCap had the audience. Any other project with the same deal would’ve done the same.

    But here’s the truth: most of those 5,000 winners didn’t even know what ONUS was. They just clicked. And now they’re stuck with a token they don’t understand.

    That’s not community. That’s clutter.

    But hey-if you’re happy, great. Don’t let me ruin your little win.

  • Mariam Almatrook
    Posted by Mariam Almatrook
    04:52 AM 12/28/2025

    One cannot help but observe the profound irony inherent in this so-called ‘community-building triumph.’ The very architecture of the airdrop-predicated upon the commodification of attention, the algorithmic exploitation of psychological scarcity, and the strategic deployment of institutional credibility-is a quintessential manifestation of late-stage capitalist performativity. The RICE Wallet, far from being a decentralized tool of liberation, functions as a proprietary chokepoint, enforcing user dependency under the benevolent façade of ‘utility.’ The ‘automatic conversion’ mechanism is not innovation-it is coercive asset reclamation, disguised as consumer service. To celebrate this as a model is to mistake spectacle for substance, and to confuse the noise of participation with the silence of genuine value creation.

  • miriam gionfriddo
    Posted by miriam gionfriddo
    01:59 AM 12/29/2025

    wait so the auto convert thing was in 2025? but the airdrop was 2022? how did they know bakertoken and hifi would get delisted? that’s sus. like… did they have insider info? or was this all planned? i’m not buying it. this smells like a pump and dump with a side of blockchain magic.

  • Kenneth Ljungström
    Posted by Kenneth Ljungström
    19:58 PM 12/29/2025

    Just read this again. I still use RICE Wallet every week. 😊

    And I still get those little ‘you earned 0.08 ONUS’ nudges. Feels like a secret club.

    Not rich. Not famous. But not forgotten.

    That’s enough.

  • Nina Meretoile
    Posted by Nina Meretoile
    02:38 AM 12/30/2025

    That’s the thing. It’s not about being rich. It’s about being seen.

    Most apps don’t notice you unless you spend. RICE does. Even if you just hold. Even if you do nothing.

    That’s why I’m still here.

  • Thomas Downey
    Posted by Thomas Downey
    22:38 PM 12/30/2025

    And yet, the very notion of ‘being seen’ by a corporate entity masquerading as a decentralized protocol remains a delusion of agency. The algorithmic nudges, the token rewards, the ‘secret club’ rhetoric-all are meticulously engineered to simulate belonging while reinforcing dependency. The illusion of recognition is the most potent form of control. One is not seen; one is tracked. One is not welcomed; one is monetized. The RICE Wallet is not a sanctuary. It is a behavioral laboratory.

  • Tara Marshall
    Posted by Tara Marshall
    15:09 PM 12/31/2025

    Correction: The auto-convert feature triggered on September 15, 2025, not August. Binance delisted BakeryToken on Sept 10. ONUS activated conversion 5 days later. Confirmed via blockchain explorer.

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