Airdrops are when crypto projects give away free tokens to their communities in order to get more people to use them.
Crypto users who use new and old platforms a lot are likely to get an airdrop at some point. Crypto Airdrop is when blockchain projects and developers give out free tokens to people in their communities as part of a larger marketing campaign.
As a starting point, the main idea is for people who get new tokens to send them to a lot of different wallet addresses, even if they just want to learn how to exchange them for something else.
This is like getting a free discount card in your mailbox to make you want to go to a new store in the area. However, a crypto airdrop isn’t all about making the person who gets it spends money. Instead, it’s about getting people to know about new projects and services.
Most of the time, a crypto airdrop is given to people who do something. Many times, these tasks include things like:
- On social media, you can follow a person or group.
- Sharing or retweeting one of their posts, with the hashtags in it.
- Sending or receiving money in a transaction (using a particular crypto platform or wallet).
- As soon as you register, you’ll be able to get news and updates.
There are also times when users don’t have to do anything to get a crypto airdrop, as we’ll show below.
Why do crypto airdrops exist?
Organizing a crypto airdrop is a good way to spread the word about a blockchain startup, project, or service. By giving tokens to users, the team can start their project and make sure that everyone gets a fair share of tokens from the start. Furthermore, the people who get these tokens are encouraged to spread the word about the project and help it reach a wider audience when the token starts trading on an exchange. The more attention the token gets, the more likely it is to rise in value.
When airdrops start, people often spread the word about them by posting about them on the project’s website, cryptocurrency forums, and social media. This isn’t any different from getting a HelloFresh coupon in your email with a discount code, because those campaigns are meant to get more people to sign up for the service by giving them money.
Crypto airdrops that are legit will not ask people to invest in them at all, and they won’t. Instead, it’s a way to stand out from competitors who have tried to get money from outside sources before releasing their tokens.
How do crypto airdrops work and are they safe?
There are many ways to do a crypto airdrop:
- Have people do one or more small social tasks to be eligible for the airdrop at a later date.
- Tokens will be automatically given to holders of a certain asset or balance on the blockchain where the airdrop will happen. Everyone who has 0.01 ether or more on their address gets the airdrop.
- Snapping the blockchain at a previous date and letting people get airdrop tokens from a smart contract on a project’s site.
According to what people say, crypto airdrops aren’t always as risk-free as they appear to be.
Because airdrops give “free money” to the people who get them, there will be airdrops that are just pump-and-dump schemes. When someone creates a token, they hope there will be enough interest in the token for it to get listed on an exchange. Once tokens start trading, the creator sells a lot of tokens, which lowers the price.
Another possible attack method is called a “dusting attack.” Sending a small amount of cryptocurrency to someone who doesn’t know it is a scam will make them less private. Then, the attacker will look at the transactions of the wallet tokens that were given out to find out who or what is running the wallet.
Finally, the U.S. Internal Revenue Service considers airdrops to be income, which means that whenever you get “free tokens,” you’ll have to pay taxes on them, even if you didn’t want them in the first place.
Examples of crypto airdrops
In the last few weeks, the cryptocurrency industry has seen a few crypto airdrops that surprised users.
All non-fungible token (NFT) creators, collections, and fans who used the OpenSea NFT marketplace before the airdrop of SOS tokens were rewarded. Recipients didn’t have to do anything else except go to the website and manually claim the token they were given. Over 60,000 people now follow OpenDao on Twitter thanks to the airdrop, and more than 120,000 people signed up for a token that came with it. Read also; CRYPTOCURRENCY PREDICTION FOR 2022
The Gas DAO did the same thing. It created the GAS token and put it on the Ethereum blockchain. All Ethereum users who’ve ever paid $1,559 or more in gas fees are in the running for the airdrop, which can be claimed through the website. More than 57,000 people signed up for the airdrop. The GAS token gives you a say in the Gas DAO, which wants to be the voice of people who use the Ethereum network.
They organized a LOOKS airdrop, and this is the third one. OpenSea users who sold more than 3 ether worth of NFT on the LooksRare marketplace between June 16, 2021, and December 16, 2021, were eligible for LOOKS tokens after they sold an NFT on the LooksRare marketplace. Users who own the LOOKS token get a share of the fees that the LooksRare platform charges for trading. Another way to get more tokens is to put your LOOKS up for stake.
How can you become eligible for a crypto airdrop?
As crypto airdrops are mostly for marketing and promotion, it can be hard to make sure you’ll be able to participate in future events. Every airdrop has its own set of rules to see if you’re eligible. Most of them are easy to find. Read more; Trends in Africa Crypto Sector to Expect in 2022 Airdrops that include a blockchain snapshot are often announced after the fact, which makes it hard to qualify for them. However, there are other options to look into:
- Find crypto airdrop websites and sign up for emails from them. This is like signing up for coupons from a store you usually shop at.
- Social media is a good place to look for the #airdrop hashtag and see if anything has changed since last time.
- People who use cryptocurrency services, products, platforms and blockchains should be active users of them.
- Cryptocurrency forums and news sites are good places to look for mentions of recent or upcoming airdrops.
The most important thing for getting crypto airdrops is having a cryptocurrency wallet with money in it. The person who wants to get or claim an airdrop must have a wallet address to get or claim the airdrop. Using an exchange address is easy, but it’s not good for airdrops. Instead, people should look into the different ways they can store their cryptocurrency funds. In terms of wallets, MetaMask is one of the most used.
