The LOAN token is the governance and utility token for ProtonLoan, a decentralized lending and borrowing protocol built on the Proton blockchain. To bootstrap the community and reward early supporters, the Proton team distributed LOAN tokens through an airdrop to users who staked their XPR. Here is how the process worked and what you need to know.
What Is ProtonLoan?
ProtonLoan allows users to lend and borrow tokens directly on the Proton blockchain. Lenders deposit tokens into lending pools and earn interest, while borrowers can take out collateralized loans. The LOAN token plays a central role in the protocol: holders can vote on governance proposals, and LOAN is used to incentivize liquidity across the platform.
The airdrop was designed to distribute LOAN tokens to the Proton community ahead of the protocol launch, giving early participants a stake in the governance of the lending platform from day one.
How to Qualify for the Airdrop
The primary requirement was staking XPR tokens through the Proton staking mechanism. Here is what you needed to do:
- Hold XPR in your WebAuth.com wallet. Make sure your tokens are in a WebAuth.com wallet, as this is the official wallet for the Proton blockchain.
- Stake your XPR. Open the wallet and navigate to the Staking section. Choose the amount of XPR you want to stake and confirm the transaction. Staked XPR earns regular staking rewards in addition to qualifying you for airdrops.
- Keep your XPR staked during the snapshot. Airdrop distributions were based on snapshots taken at specific block heights. The more XPR you had staked at the time of the snapshot, the larger your share of the LOAN airdrop.
Snapshots were taken periodically over several weeks, so consistent staking was rewarded more than last-minute deposits.
Claiming Your LOAN Tokens
After each snapshot and distribution round, LOAN tokens were sent directly to eligible wallets. There was no separate claim process required. You could check your LOAN balance by:
- Opening your WebAuth.com wallet.
- Looking for the LOAN token in your token list. If it did not appear automatically, you may have needed to add the token by searching for "LOAN" in the wallet's token management section.
- Verifying the amount received against the announced distribution ratios published by the Proton team on their official channels.
What to Do with LOAN
Once you received your LOAN tokens, you had several options:
- Hold for governance. Use your LOAN tokens to vote on proposals that shape the future of the ProtonLoan protocol.
- Provide liquidity. Add LOAN to a liquidity pool on ProtonSwap to earn trading fees.
- Trade. Swap LOAN for other tokens on ProtonSwap if you preferred to realize the value immediately.
The LOAN airdrop was a straightforward way for XPR stakers to gain early access to one of Proton's most important DeFi protocols. If you were already staking XPR, you qualified automatically, making it one of the simplest airdrops in the ecosystem.