For days leading up to July 7, 2026, the price of the GRASS token rallied nearly 60 percent. Buyers rushed to accumulate tokens, convinced that the “Token Holder and Network Participant Call” promised by the Grass Foundation would mark a major liquidity event for the Stage 2 airdrop awaited since the beginning of the year. Twenty-four hours later, the GRASS price plunged 30-35 percent, falling from a peak of around $0.60 to the $0.35 range - and an once-optimistic community quickly turned furious.
USDC, Not GRASS - and the Reason Has Left Some Suspicious
During the call, the Grass team confirmed that the Stage 2 claim window opens on July 22, 2026, at 1:00 PM EST, with a claim deadline of January 22, 2027, via the official dashboard. What caused the uproar: Stage 2 rewards will no longer be distributed in native GRASS tokens, but in the USDC stablecoin instead. The official rationale was “regulatory uncertainty” - a phrase the team stated was meant to enable users from more jurisdictions to claim without legal hurdles. Eligibility is tied to Epochs 1 through 19, spanning October 14, 2024, to June 8, 2026, and participants are required to use a new non-custodial wallet named Grass Wallet, set to roll out in mid-July.
Node Operators Feel Betrayed
On paper, Grass had a compelling story to share on the call: the project claimed an annualized USDC revenue of roughly $33 million and even put forward a governance proposal for revenue sharing with token holders. Yet those impressive numbers were not enough to quell the disappointment. Several veteran node operators - individuals who contributed their internet bandwidth to the Grass network for months - felt that receiving payouts in USDC rather than native GRASS tokens effectively diminished the real value of their contributions. Social media sentiment turned sharply negative within hours after the call concluded.
The Grass episode serves as a reminder that the “clarity” promised by crypto projects does not always bring good news. Investors who bought heavily in anticipation of a big announcement now have to confront the reality that even minor technical details - in this case, the payout denomination - can reverse market sentiment overnight. For users still holding GRASS in hopes that Stage 2 would drive up the price, this has been a bitter lesson that airdrop outcomes do not always fall the way people expect.
Reported by CoinGabbar.
Disclaimer: This article is for informational and educational purposes only, not financial advice. Cryptocurrency assets are highly volatile and carry significant risk. Always do your own research (DYOR) and never invest more than you can afford to lose.
