The pathway to the Ethena airdrop was paved through an innovative and transparent points system known as “Shards.” This campaign was instrumental in quantifying user loyalty and contribution long before the ENA token even existed. Unlike opaque systems, Shards were tracked on-chain, allowing users to monitor their progress in real-time through a public dashboard. The algorithm weighted various activities, granting more Shards for actions that demonstrated deeper commitment, such as locking assets for extended periods or providing liquidity in strategic pools. This design brilliantly incentivized behaviors that directly benefited the protocol’s stability and growth, effectively aligning early user actions with the network’s long-term health. The promise of a future ena airdrop based on these accumulated points created a powerful feedback loop, driving significant capital into the ecosystem and fostering a competitive yet collaborative environment among early adopters. The transparency of the system built immense trust, as users could verify the rules and their standing without relying on the project’s word alone. This model of using a points campaign as a precursor to a token distribution has since become a blueprint for other DeFi projects seeking to bootstrap their communities in a fair and engaging manner.