When you hear secondary sales, the trading of crypto assets after their initial distribution, often on decentralized exchanges or peer-to-peer markets. Also known as resale activity, it’s the moment a token stops being a promise and starts being a price tag. This is where most crypto projects either survive or die. The first buyers—early investors, airdrop hunters, or team members—sell their tokens. That’s a secondary sale. It’s not the launch. It’s not the hype. It’s the real test: does anyone actually want this thing after the free stuff runs out?
Secondary sales are tied directly to crypto airdrop, free token distributions meant to bootstrap adoption, often used by DeFi protocols and NFT projects to attract users. But here’s the truth: over 90% of airdropped tokens never make it past the first resale. Look at FEAR token—people got it for free in 2021. Today, it trades at $0.0084 with no project behind it. Same with Shambala BALA or XSUTER—no official team, no utility, just a ghost in the blockchain. These aren’t investments. They’re digital lottery tickets that lose value the moment they hit the open market.
token distribution, how crypto tokens are allocated to users, teams, and investors, often through presales, staking rewards, or airdrops sets the stage. If too many tokens go to insiders, secondary sales crash prices. If too many go to speculators, they dump fast. Projects like GMX and CoinW actually reward users for using the platform—real activity, not just claiming free tokens. That’s the difference between a sustainable model and a pump-and-dump.
And then there’s NFT airdrop, a free distribution of non-fungible tokens, often used to reward community members or promote new collections. Galaxy Adventure Chest? Unverified. MoMo KEY? No team. These aren’t collectibles—they’re phishing traps. Real NFT airdrops come from projects with live platforms, active communities, and transparent ownership. Secondary sales of NFTs only matter if someone actually uses them—like buying a piece of tokenized real estate on RealT or Propy. Otherwise, you’re just holding a JPEG that no one else wants.
Secondary sales expose the truth. No one talks about them because they’re ugly. But if you’re buying a token after an airdrop, ask: who’s selling? Why? And what happens when the last free token is claimed? The answers are in the trading data, not the Twitter threads. Below, you’ll find real breakdowns of tokens that collapsed after their first resale, scams disguised as airdrops, and a few projects that actually survived because they gave people a reason to hold—not just claim.
NFT royalties let creators earn from secondary sales, but not all marketplaces pay them. Learn how ERC-2981 works, why some platforms ignore royalties, and what creators and buyers should do in 2025.
