---
type: claim
domain: internet-finance
description: Token distributions to historical participants leverage behavioral economics to seed active markets
confidence: experimental
source: Drift Futarchy proposal, endowment effect literature
created: 2026-03-15
---

# Futarchy retroactive rewards bootstrap participation through endowment effect by converting past engagement into token holdings that create psychological ownership

The Drift Futarchy incentive program explicitly uses retroactive token distribution to MetaDAO participants as a mechanism to bootstrap engagement. The proposal cites the endowment effect - the behavioral economics finding that people value things more highly once they own them - as the theoretical basis. By distributing 9,600 DRIFT to 32 MetaDAO participants based on historical activity (5+ interactions over 30+ days), plus 2,400 DRIFT to AMM swappers, the proposal creates a cohort of token holders who have psychological ownership before the futarchy system launches. This differs from standard airdrops by explicitly targeting demonstrated forecasters rather than broad distribution. The tiered structure (100-400 DRIFT based on META holdings) further segments by engagement level. The proposal pairs this with forward incentives (5,000 DRIFT per passing proposal, 20,000 DRIFT activity pool) to convert initial ownership into sustained participation.


### Additional Evidence (confirm)
*Source: [[2024-05-30-futardio-proposal-drift-futarchy-proposal-welcome-the-futarchs]] | Added: 2026-03-16*

Drift Futarchy proposal explicitly cites endowment effect as mechanism for retroactive rewards to 32 MetaDAO participants (9,600 DRIFT) based on activity thresholds. Proposal states rewards are 'meant to signal rewards for strong forecasters in futarchic markets' by 'rewarding early and active participants of MetaDAO with tokens to participate in Drift Futarchy (via the endowment effect).'

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Relevant Notes:
- MetaDAO is the futarchy launchpad on Solana where projects raise capital through unruggable ICOs governed by conditional markets creating the first platform for ownership coins at scale.md

Topics:
- [[_map]]
