Solana Mobile to airdrop 30% of smartphone token supply

Solana’s mobile phone is getting its own token.

The previously-announced SKR token will launch on January 21 and give users unprecedented control over their smartphones, Solana Mobile said on Wednesday.

Holders who stake SKR can elect so-called Guardians — Solana node operators charged with vetting applications submitted to Solana’s mobile app store. Staked tokens will earn yield, according to Solana Mobile.

Several companies with close ties to Solana Mobile parent company Solana Labs will serve as Guardians in 2026, including Anza, DoubleZero, Helius, and Jito.

“Multiple independent operators means no single company controls approvals or verification, creating the foundation for open mobile,” Solana Mobile said on its blog.

Solana Mobile released the Seeker, its second-generation Solana-themed phone, last August. It was an attempt to offer crypto power-users an alternative to phones that run on software provided by Apple and Google, both of which take a hefty cut from applications on their respective app stores.

“Hopefully, Google and Apple will come to their senses and see what could be possible if they relax some of their fee structures and some of their restrictive policies,” Emmett Hollyer, general manager at Solana Mobile, told DL News in 2024 when the Seeker was first announced.

“Until then, we need to find a way to give builders a reasonable path to distribution.”

SKR will launch with a supply of 10 billion tokens, with more than half available immediately and the remainder locked for up to three years.

A January 21 airdrop will distribute 30% of SKR tokens. One quarter of all tokens will be set aside for employees of Solana Mobile and Solana Labs. Another quarter will be set aside to fund growth initiatives and partnerships.

The supply of SKR will grow 10% in the first year after the token’s launch. That inflation rate will decrease 25% each year until it hits 2%. New tokens will flow to guardians and to stakers.

The Seeker is the second mobile phone from Solana Mobile. The first, the Saga, sold just 20,000 units after its launch in May 2023.

In October, Solana Mobile said it would stop providing vital software and security updates for the phone just two years after launch.

Aleks Gilbert is DL News’ New York-based DeFi correspondent. You can reach him at [email protected].