Nado’s NFT Airdrop to Early Adopters
Nado, which is a perpetual derivatives exchange on Kraken’s Ink network, just distributed its official NFT collection to early users. They called it Templars of the Storm, and it went to people who were active during the pre-alpha phase. These users had to make a choice: they could either take Ink points or get the NFT instead. I think that’s an interesting trade-off, honestly.
The collection seems to be doing fairly well so far. The floor price is sitting at 0.45 ETH, which is about $1,200 at current prices. Since it launched, the NFTs have generated 141 ETH in trading volume. That’s roughly $385,000. Actually, that makes it the second most traded NFT collection over the past day, right behind Pudgy Penguins. Pudgy did 250 ETH, so there’s still a gap, but being number two isn’t bad for a new project.
Ink Points and Network Growth
Now, about those Ink points. They’re distributed to dApps first, then to users. The points will eventually be redeemable for INK tokens when the blockchain has its token generation event. I’m not sure when that will happen, but that’s the plan.
Ink itself is growing pretty quickly. The total value locked on the network has doubled since late November. It reached an all-time high of $570 million on January 15. That’s significant growth in a relatively short time, especially considering how competitive the L2 space has become.
Open Beta and Trading Activity
Right after the NFT launch, Nado started its Open Beta Season 1. They’re rewarding users for providing liquidity and trading. If you hold the NFTs, you get point multipliers and fee reduction tiers. That’s a common approach these days—tying platform benefits to NFT ownership.
But here’s something to think about: despite the NFT excitement, Nado isn’t in the top 10 perpetual DEXs by volume. Over the last day, they processed $828 million in volume. That sounds like a lot, but compared to the sector leader, Hyperliquid, which did $14.5 billion, it’s quite small. The gap is substantial.
Maybe the NFT collection will bring more attention to the platform. Or perhaps users are more interested in collecting the NFTs than actually trading on the exchange. It’s hard to say. The NFT market can be unpredictable—sometimes these collections create lasting engagement, sometimes they’re just a temporary boost.
What I find interesting is how platforms are using NFTs not just as collectibles, but as access passes to platform benefits. It’s becoming a standard playbook. Whether that translates to sustained trading volume is another question. Nado has some ground to cover if it wants to compete with the bigger players in the perp DEX space.
