Generalized Airdrop Strategies
Learn tactics to maximize your eligibility for a wide variety of airdrops.
We've compiled our highest conviction generalized airdrop farming strategies and provided the rationale behind each approach, pulling examples from past airdrops to do so!
In this guide, we cover:
1) Holding Project NFTs
2) Holding Collective NFTs
3) Donating to Public Goods Funding
4) Being a User
5) Running a Validator
Keep an eye out for more strategies to be listed soon™️!
Last updated April 6th, 2022
Hold Project NFTs
Rationale: Occasionally, projects elect to launch NFTs prior to token issuance. Such was the case with Uniswap's Unisocks and the SudoSwap-adjacent 0xmon NFT project.
Holders of these iconic NFTs were rewarded with tokens come airdrop time.
Maximizing token allocations for fervent supporters is a goal of any protocol. Owning illiquid, niche NFTs displays alignment with and support for the issuing project. HODLers differentiate themselves from average community participants, making financial statements of support prior to the initial launch of a token.
We recommend this strategy for any pre-token project that has issued and NFT.
Starter guides:
Hold Collective NFTs
Rationale: Bootstrapping a project is difficult! Nacent protocol must compete for users and liquidity. For protocols with tokens, this is often done via token incentives, leading to fleeting increases in users and TVL, which evaporate when incentives dry up.
Collectives help bridge this gap for protocols while providing insane benefits for their members! Examples include Honeycomb NFTs by the Honey Jar, which may provide HODLers with exposure to and benefits from a variety of dApps deploying to Berachain.
Starter guides:
Donating to Public Goods Funding
Rationale: Optimism's OP airdrop set the precedent for retroactively rewarding users funding public goods by rewarding donors to Gitcoin on Ethereum!
Not only did these donors displayed their commitment to the health of the Ethereum ecosystem, but they are aligned with the goals of Optimism, which implemented its own public goods funding program. Users who are aligned a project's morals have a higher likelihood of participating in the ecosystem and are less likely to dump the token.
We recommend this strategy for protocols that have displayed alignment with Ethereum values. This includes protocols committed to aggressively pursuing decentralization, open-sourcing their code, and supporting the health of the broader Ethereum ecosystem.
Starter guides:
Being a User
Rationale: Since time immemorial (a.k.a. the UNI airdrop), every airdrop that we are aware of has had an allocation to the community: it's what makes an airdrop... an airdrop!
Early users provide massive amounts of value to the protocols they use, often developing unique use cases for primitives and providing valuable feedback to core teams. Devs want to reward the users that have helped their protocols succeed. Communities contribute value to the protocols they use and are rewarded via tokens.
We recommend this strategy for any protocol; if you're expecting an airdrop, you had better be a user!
Running a Validator
Rationale: Airdrop distributions are becoming increasingly targeted, with teams looking to reward likely holders and protocol users.
Running a validator not only helps to secure the Ethereum network, but may make you eligible for an airdrop or two! Ethereum validators have displayed a long term commitment to the health of the Ethereum ecosystem, and have sacrificed near-term liquidity to do so! This group of Etherians are certainly HODLers and protocol users; running a validator gives you the opportunity to position yourself for future airdrops.
We feel is an especially effective strategy for qualifying for potential LSD and L2 airdrops!