I just reread the history of Web3 airdrops and truly feel the need to share my perspective. From the early days when airdrops were a real opportunity for the community to benefit early on, now it has turned into a game where only those with enough information and capital can win.

Looking back at the recent history of airdrops, I see a clear pattern: projects start with big promises, attracting users by encouraging interaction, providing liquidity, or locking up funds. But when it’s time to distribute tokens, the rules change completely.

It might begin with Hop Protocol with its "Sybil accusation" mechanism that pits the community against each other. Then there’s Blast with its continuously changing reward system. LayerZero is even worse — after 18 months of interaction, users are required to "confess" to avoid being completely wiped out. This is exactly when the history of airdrops begins to collapse.

zkSync, Infinex, Linea — each project has its own way of "turning the tables" on users. zkSync uses "activity level" to manipulate gas fees, then uses "capital volume" to exclude people. Linea turns airdrops into full-time jobs with extremely low hourly wages. Grass takes physical resources from users under the guise of building Web3.

Monad, Babylon, Backpack, EdgeX — each name carries a different painful story. Backpack even created fake volume for two years before applying strict KYC right before TGE. Users lost hundreds of thousands of dollars in fees just to get back a small fraction of the value.

Then there’s Genius, which is truly the last straw. When receiving an airdrop, 70% is burned immediately or locked for a year. This is the moment when the history of airdrops officially dies in the community’s mind.

But I think what’s more important is understanding the true nature of the problem. The community only cares about "is there a coin, how is it distributed," not whether the product is truly good. Projects exploit this — you want an airdrop, they want your capital and transaction fees.

The bubble of airdrops has burst. Countless people have been "reversed" into ruin. But perhaps this is also a necessary cleansing. The market is forced to return to rationality: only products with real PMF deserve investment of time and capital.

This is the end of the era of airdrops, and also the rebirth of Web3. Projects from PUA and dark secrets will ultimately be eliminated. Truly ready projects that build with the community will earn valuable trust.

I’m curious, do you know of any other airdrop projects? Share in the comments!