Crypto news site reports:
This week, meme stock sensation Keith Gill, also known as Roaring Kitty, showcased his enduring influence across the stock market, as the much-hyped airdrop of the Ethereum Layer 2 network, Blast, appeared to fall flat.
After a prolonged silence, GameStop’s bullish Roaring Kitty returned to Twitter on Thursday, posting a cryptic, wordless message featuring a cartoon dog.
In a span of 15 minutes, dog barks (forgive us) propelled major pet care stocks to surge. Chewy, Inc. skyrocketed by 33%, Petco rose by 14%, and PetMed Express saw a 7% increase in share prices.
These rapid jumps collectively created billions in value within minutes. However, gains were just as swiftly erased.
Amidst this phenomenon, a Solana meme coin named CHEWY surged approximately 11,000% during the news cycle. Curiously, some traders appeared to have purchased the token even before Roaring Kitty posted his dog-themed message.
Earlier in the week, Chewy’s stocks seemed to undergo similarly fitting trades.
Meanwhile, in the realm of cryptocurrencies, this week saw the long-awaited airdrop of the native Blast token, distributing around 17 billion new Blast tokens for free.
Many had anticipated this event to be the highlight of the summer. While certainly nothing to scoff at—the early trading prices pegged the total value of the airdrop at $354 million—many Blast users were left disappointed by these figures.
Disappointment likely stemmed from previously high expectations for the token, driven by Blast’s popularity among crypto whales and the exorbitant amounts charged during the airdrop of its predecessor, Blur (a disruptive, incentivized NFT marketplace).
BLAST debuted with a bang on Wednesday morning, only to face massive sell-offs, further exacerbating its plunge. Such volatility during airdrops is commonplace—but again, massive expectations amplified the initial discomfort.
Nevertheless, some stakeholders in the Blast ecosystem—like savvy Fantasy Top player Jandef—countered claims of Blast’s airdrop failure.
Jandef emphasized that despite many BLAST users dumping the new tokens within hours of their initial appearance, many whales in the ecosystem remained committed.
BLAST briefly rebounded on Thursday before declining again. Currently, it hovers around $0.02, well below early projections.
Andrew Hayward, Editor