TechFlow news, according to Dragonfly's latest "2025 State of Airdrops Report," U.S. users have missed out on substantial cryptocurrency airdrop gains due to geographic restrictions. The report analyzed data from 12 airdrop projects between 2019 and 2023 (11 geographically restricted projects and one unrestricted control project), estimating that 920,000 to 5.2 million active U.S. users (5-10% of U.S. crypto holders) were affected by these geographic restrictions.
The study found that in 2024, approximately 22-24% of active global crypto addresses belonged to U.S. residents. The 11 projects in the sample collectively generated around $7.16 billion in value, with about 1.86 million users globally claiming rewards, and the median claim amount per eligible address was approximately $4,800. The report estimates that U.S. users lost potential earnings of $1.84 billion to $2.64 billion between 2020 and 2024 due to geographic restrictions.
More broadly, based on a sample of 21 geographically restricted airdrops analyzed by CoinGecko, U.S. users may have missed out on $3.49 billion to $5.02 billion. This has led to an estimated federal tax loss of $418 million to $1.1 billion and state tax losses of $107 million to $284 million, resulting in total tax revenue losses of $525 million to $1.38 billion. The report also notes that the migration of crypto firms overseas has significantly reduced U.S. tax revenues. For example, Tether reported profits of $6.2 billion in 2024; if fully subject to U.S. taxation, it could have contributed approximately $1.3 billion in federal corporate taxes and $316 million in state taxes.
