I recently took a close look at Bryan Pellegrino, co-founder of LayerZero,’s detailed explanation of the airdrop rules. The overall logic is quite clear and worth a deep understanding.

The core idea is repeatedly emphasizing a principle: reward genuine users and crack down on wizards and spam transactions. Among the initial 6 million wallets, 3 million have fewer than 5 transactions, and these are the key targets for scrutiny. The main criteria for LayerZero’s airdrop filtering can be summarized into three points: first, transaction amount must be sufficient; second, transaction persistence; third, authenticity of usage.

Regarding the handling of low-value transactions, the rules are quite explicit. All single transactions below $1 are weighted at only 20% (i.e., a 20% discount). NFTs with market value or total transaction volume below 0.00001 ETH are also treated according to this standard. But there’s an important detail: only these specific low-value transactions are discounted, not the entire address. For example, if you have 130 LayerZero transactions, with 10 of them being worthless NFTs, only those 10 will be weighted at 20%, while the other 120 transactions remain normal.

I find this design quite interesting because LayerZero’s airdrop incentivization uses a semi-linear distribution model, with both an upper and lower limit. After processing all data, the system normalizes based on the actual protocol fees you paid (not the underlying blockchain fees). In other words, the system focuses on your contribution to the LayerZero protocol itself, rather than how much gas you spent on Ethereum or other chains.

Gas refuel costs are also considered, although most operation fees are below $1, the project team explicitly states they will evaluate this data. Additionally, non-standard interactions like providing liquidity or deploying contracts are handled separately through the RFP (Resource Allocation Protocol), which is why developers who deployed nearly 60,000 contracts also have a chance to receive incentives.

Early users will receive additional multipliers, and active users will be prioritized. From this perspective, the design logic of LayerZero’s airdrop rules aims to balance fairness and participation. The final list of wizards will be announced before the end of June, and at that point, the entire incentive model will truly be implemented.