What is it and can you make money with it?

So-called airdrop hunters make collecting airdrops their life’s work. They research and interact with a variety of protocols, social media channels, and cryptocurrencies, hoping to be rewarded for doing so. This can sometimes be very lucrative.

However, it is also associated with a great deal of uncertainty, because predicting airdrops is difficult or almost impossible. This is mainly the case because projects protect themselves against airdrop hunters and Sybil attacks (a user wants to dust off a respective airdrop more often and trick the system). That is why projects develop their own criteria for the distribution of an airdrop.

One of the biggest advantages of airdrops: they normalize that users like you and me get a bigger share of rewards from projects they support. But what exactly is an airdrop and can you really make so much money with it? In this article, you’ll learn everything you need to know about the novel crypto marketing tactic. Let’s start from the beginning.

What is an airdrop anyway?

A crypto airdrop is not part of a military strategy, nor is it Apple software for sending files. Rather, an airdrop is a marketing tactic in which coins or tokens are sent to different wallet addresses.

A few years ago, airdrops were first used as a crypto marketing tactic that allows lesser-known and new projects to gain exposure and build a community and decentralized network.

However, the practice of using airdrops has evolved over time and in line with what is happening in the crypto scene. The term now covers many different forms of token payouts.

Crypto projects have a certain amount of tokens that are used for airdrops. If you meet the conditions of participation, you too can benefit. But what exactly are the conditions of participation and what types of airdrops are there?

What airdrops are there and who are they sent to?

With a whole normal airdrop you log into a site, fill out a questionnaire with your wallet address or simply post it on a social media channel like Twitter or Discord. They are very popular because you can easily participate and get free cryptocurrencies in return. However, this form of airdrops is often not an insider tip and only has a certain number of tokens that are distributed.

It looks different Airdrops that you get in exchange for certain activities. They are also often called bounties, which means bounty bonus. Here you often have to put in real work, but in return you are paid more generously. The activities represent a certain added value for the crypto project (translations, social media posts, code) and this is precisely why many projects are now opting for this form of airdrop.

Another form is the distribution of tokens owner of a certain project. You receive crypto if you own a certain number of tokens of another cryptocurrency or NFTs. In the area of ​​NFTs, airdrops are particularly often distributed to project owners and most successful NFT projects make use of them.

The most famous airdrops in crypto history

Of the bitcoin cash-Airdrop represented a high point in crypto year 2017. The Bitcoin network split into two parties back then by creating a hard fork of the BTC network. The code was duplicated and some of the Bitcoin miners and developers supported the new network from now on, which should be made a lot more efficient. Bitcoin owners were credited with the same amount of Bitcoin Cash (BCH). Hardly anyone talks about the project anymore.

Listed on September 1, 2020 Uniswap den State of the Ethereum blockchain. Anyone who had traded on the decentralized exchange up to that point could look forward to 400 UNI tokens. The price of these tokens was over $1,000 at the time. That’s quite a lot when you consider that around 12,000 addresses were taken into account.

Airdrops also play a central role in the world of NFTs. Of the Bored Ape Yacht Club is probably the best-known NFT project and conquered the mainstream at record speed. The monkeys rose in price from 0.1 to a whopping 160 ETH. As if a thousand times the purchase price wasn’t enough, the owners got all sorts of airdrops. These include other NFTs such as the Mutant Apes, digital land pieces from the Bored Apes Metaverse, and a proprietary token called ApeCoin.

Training helps against the risks of the crypto market

Caution: You should always be careful when receiving funds in the form of airdrops. Many scammers target ignorant people and try to rob you of your cryptocurrencies. There are phishing attacks, pump and dumps and many other scams.

Especially for beginners, the crypto market is unclear and confusing, down to downright dangerous. It is therefore important, especially as a beginner, to deal with the subject well. This is the only way to make informed decisions and survive in the cryptocurrency world.

That is why there are numerous platforms that offer an extensive range of further training for beginners and advanced users. So if you are interested in crypto education, you can take a look at the Binance Academy, for example. There you will find answers to the most important questions about Bitcoin, Blockchains, NFTs, Metaverse, Gaming and much more.