Crypto & Blockchain Bird Finance (HECO) CMC×BIRD Airdrop: What Really Happened

Bird Finance (HECO) CMC×BIRD Airdrop: What Really Happened

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The rumor of a CMC×BIRD airdrop by Bird Finance on HECO has been circulating for years. Some people still believe they missed out on free tokens. Others are checking their wallets, hoping for a surprise. But here’s the truth: no such airdrop ever happened. Not because it was canceled. Not because you were late. But because it never existed in the first place.

What Was Bird Finance (HECO)?

Bird Finance (HECO) was a DeFi project launched in late 2020, built on the HECO blockchain - a sidechain from Huobi that promised faster, cheaper transactions. It claimed to be a "cross-chain revenue aggregation protocol," which sounds fancy, but in plain terms, it meant users could stake their tokens and earn more tokens automatically. The project’s native token was called BIRD, with a total supply of 10 billion.

Its big selling point? A hyper-deflationary model. Every time someone traded BIRD, 6% of the transaction was taken as a fee. Half of that (3%) was burned forever. The rest went to liquidity pools, DAO governance, and token holders. Sounds great on paper. But in practice, this structure created a death spiral.

Why? Because as fees ate into every trade, traders lost interest. Liquidity dried up. No one wanted to buy or sell a token that cost 6% just to move it. By mid-2021, trading volume dropped to near zero. Today, CoinMarketCap lists the circulating supply as 0 BIRD tokens. The contract address - 0xed6a...8b0f3d - still exists on HECO, but no one is using it. The website, birdswap.com, now returns a 404 error. The project is gone.

Why Did People Think There Was a CMC Airdrop?

CoinMarketCap (CMC) is a price tracker. It doesn’t run airdrops. It doesn’t issue tokens. It doesn’t partner with random DeFi projects to give away free crypto. But in late 2020, CMC listed Bird Finance (HECO) as a "preview" token - meaning it showed up on their site with no trading volume, no liquidity, and no circulating supply. That listing gave the project false legitimacy.

Scammers noticed. They started posting on Reddit, Telegram, and Twitter: "CMC listed BIRD - airdrop coming soon!" They created fake websites, fake YouTube videos, and fake Discord servers. They told people to connect their wallets to "claim" tokens. Many did. And lost money.

The confusion got worse because there was another project with the same ticker: Bird.Money. It was an Ethereum-based DeFi risk-scoring platform that used machine learning to predict loan defaults. It had its own BIRD token, a different contract, and its own community. People mixed them up. Some thought the airdrop was from Bird.Money. Others thought it was from CoinMarketCap. Neither was true.

The Real Airdrop People Got Mixed Up With

There was one real airdrop that had "Bird" in the name - but it had nothing to do with HECO, CoinMarketCap, or Bird Finance. It was called BIRDS (not BIRD), and it was a Telegram-based giveaway from a completely unrelated project. Usethebitcoin.com documented it in 2021. You had to join their Telegram group, share a post, and tag friends. No wallet connection. No deposit. No risk. Just a free token for social effort.

That’s the only "Bird" airdrop that ever happened. And it was never connected to CoinMarketCap or HECO. But because both projects used bird-themed names and similar tokens, the confusion stuck. Even today, search engines return old forum threads and YouTube videos that still claim "CMC BIRD airdrop is live." They’re not. They’re relics of a dead project.

Three confused people in a chaotic crypto marketplace surrounded by fading scams and silent messages.

What Happened to the BIRD Token?

Let’s look at the numbers:

  • Maximum supply: 10 billion BIRD
  • Circulating supply: 0 (as of October 2025)
  • Price on Binance: $0.00
  • Price on Crypto.com: $0.01534 (but with $0 trading volume)
  • Contract status: Inactive, no recent transactions

The token’s value collapsed within weeks of launch. Early adopters who bought in at $0.50 saw it drop to pennies. Then to zero. The project’s developers vanished. The Telegram group went silent in February 2022. The last admin message: "temporary maintenance." That was the end.

Even the technical details don’t add up. Bird Finance claimed to have "zero-knowledge staking" and "multi-mining" features. But when you try to interact with the contract today, MetaMask says "contract not found." The smart contract code was never properly verified on HECOScan. No audits were ever published. No team members were ever identified.

Why Do These Projects Fail?

Bird Finance (HECO) wasn’t an isolated case. It followed a pattern seen in dozens of DeFi projects during the 2020-2021 boom. The playbook was simple:

  1. Use a catchy name (Bird, Doge, Cat, etc.)
  2. Launch with a hyper-deflationary model
  3. Claim partnerships with big names (CoinMarketCap, Binance, etc.)
  4. Encourage early investors to stake and "compound"
  5. Let liquidity drain, then disappear

A 2024 report from Delphi Digital found that 98.7% of projects using this model failed. Why? Because high transaction fees kill liquidity. When users can’t trade without losing 6%, they stop trading. No trading means no price movement. No price movement means no interest. And when interest dies, so does the project.

Bird Finance was one of over 17 "Bird"-named crypto projects launched during DeFi Summer. Most vanished within 6 months. Only a handful survived - and none of them had anything to do with CoinMarketCap.

A hollow bird perched on a tombstone labeled '0 BIRD supply,' surrounded by floating scam fragments.

What Should You Do Now?

If you still have BIRD tokens in your wallet - delete them. They’re worthless. If you’re still seeing ads or YouTube videos promising "CMC BIRD airdrop" - don’t click. Don’t connect your wallet. Don’t send any funds.

If you’re researching a new project and see "CMC listed" as a selling point, be skeptical. CoinMarketCap lists thousands of tokens. A listing doesn’t mean it’s safe. It doesn’t mean it’s real. It just means someone paid for the data feed.

The lesson here isn’t about Bird Finance. It’s about crypto hype. Always ask: Who is behind this? What’s the actual product? Is there real trading volume? Are the developers public? If the answer to any of those is "no," walk away.

Final Reality Check

There was no CMC×BIRD airdrop. There never was. Bird Finance (HECO) was a failed project that vanished in 2022. Its token has zero value. Its website is gone. Its team is gone. The only thing left is misinformation.

Don’t fall for it. Don’t chase ghosts. And don’t let a name like "CMC" trick you into thinking something is official. In crypto, names mean nothing. Data does.

Was there ever a real CMC×BIRD airdrop?

No. CoinMarketCap does not run airdrops. Bird Finance (HECO) never distributed tokens. The CMC×BIRD airdrop never existed. It was a scam created by bad actors who used CoinMarketCap’s listing to falsely legitimize a dead project.

What happened to the BIRD token?

The BIRD token from Bird Finance (HECO) has a circulating supply of 0. Its price is $0.00 on major exchanges. The smart contract is inactive. No trades have occurred in years. The token is worthless and cannot be recovered.

Is Bird Finance (HECO) the same as Bird.Money?

No. Bird Finance (HECO) was a yield aggregation protocol on the HECO chain. Bird.Money was a risk-scoring platform on Ethereum. They had different tokens, different teams, and different goals. They shared only a similar name and ticker symbol - which caused widespread confusion.

Can I still claim BIRD tokens?

No. The project’s website is offline. The contract is inactive. There are no active wallets, no distribution mechanisms, and no team to contact. Any site claiming you can claim BIRD tokens is a phishing scam.

Why did CoinMarketCap list BIRD if it had no value?

CoinMarketCap lists tokens based on data feeds from exchanges and blockchains - not quality or legitimacy. If a project’s token appears on a blockchain with a supply, CMC will list it as a "preview" even if there’s no trading. This doesn’t mean it’s safe. It just means the data exists.

About the author

Kurt Marquardt

I'm a blockchain analyst and educator based in Boulder, where I research crypto networks and on-chain data. I consult startups on token economics and security best practices. I write practical guides on coins and market breakdowns with a focus on exchanges and airdrop strategies. My mission is to make complex crypto concepts usable for everyday investors.