What Is an Airdrop?

Users of cryptocurrencies who engage with both new and old platforms frequently are likely to at some point receive an airdrop. Airdrops involve blockchain-based businesses and developers handing away free tokens to members of their communities as part of a bigger marketing effort.

Sending freshly created tokens to thousands or even hundreds of wallet addresses is the main goal, with the aim that receivers will be more likely to interact with the relevant project, even if it’s just to figure out how to exchange the free tokens for anything else.

This idea is comparable to receiving a free discount card in your mailbox to entice you to go to a nearby new store. However, the main goal of a crypto airdrop isn’t to get the recipient to spend money, but to promote fresh initiatives and services.

In most cases, users receive a crypto airdrop in return for completing a certain activity. For example:

• Following social media accounts
• Retweeting tweets with specific hashtag or sharing posts
• Completing a transaction (sending or receiving)
• Signing up on a website or subscribing to Newsletter

Why Do Crypto Airdrops Exist?

Promoting a blockchain firm, project, or service is the main goal of a crypto airdrop. The team may bootstrap its project and guarantee a fair distribution of tokens among its community from day one by releasing tokens to users.

Additionally, once the cryptocurrency starts trading on an exchange, those who get it are motivated to raise awareness and aid the project in reaching a larger audience. The likelihood that the token’s price will increase increases as interest in it grows.

By advertising the launch on a project’s website, cryptocurrency forums, and social media, airdrops frequently gain traction. This is similar to receiving a HelloFresh coupon in your email with a discount code because both of those initiatives aim to increase platform usage by offering a financial incentive.

Genuine cryptocurrency airdrops never require users to make any kind of investment. Instead, it is a strategy to distinguish oneself from rivals who sought outside funding before releasing their tokens.

Examples of Crypto Airdrops

A few coin airdrops that recently occurred in the cryptocurrency market caught users off guard.

All non-fungible token (NFT) founders, collections, and enthusiasts who had previously conducted trades on the OpenSea NFT marketplace received rewards from OpenDao’s airdrop of SOS tokens. The only need for recipients was to manually claim the token from the website. As a result of the airdrop, OpenDao’s Twitter following increased to over 60,000, and the token was claimed by more than 120,000 addresses.

The Gas DAO, which launched the GAS currency on the Ethereum platform, took a similar action. The airdrop was open to everyone who had ever used Ethereum and paid gas fees of at least $1,559; tokens may be claimed online. Over 57,000 addresses registered for the airdrop. The Gas DAO, which strives to represent the active users of the Ethereum network, grants voting rights through the GAS token.

The third illustration is the LooksRare team’s LOOKS airdrop. After putting an NFT for sale on the LooksRare marketplace, users with over 3 ether in transaction volume on OpenSea between June 16, 2021, and December 16, 2021, were eligible for LOOKS tokens. Owners of the LOOKS token partake in the trading commissions that the LooksRare platform generates. Users can also invest LOOKS to gain additional tokens.

How Can you Become Eligible for a Crypto Airdrop?

It can be challenging to make sure you are qualified for upcoming events because a crypto airdrop is primarily intended for marketing and promotional activities. Although the majority of them are simple to discover, each airdrop has certain eligibility requirements that must be met. Qualification is challenging when an airdrop involving a blockchain snapshot is announced after the fact. There are more possibilities to consider, though:

• Find specific crypto airdrop websites (you will typically receive an email notification), much like you would when signing up for promotions at a store you frequently shop at.
• Look for the hashtag #airdrop on social media to see if anything has changed.
• Use various cryptocurrency services, goods, platforms, and blockchains actively.
• Look through news sources and forums devoted to cryptocurrencies for references to current or planned airdrops.

The primary prerequisite for getting cryptocurrency airdrops is having a wallet with a balance. An airdrop cannot be claimed or received without a wallet address. While convenient, using an exchange address is inappropriate for airdrops. Users should instead research the many cryptocurrency wallet options available to them in order to store their money. One of the most widely used wallet address providers are MetaMask and Trust Wallet.