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What is Airdrop? Mastering from scratch

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Gate
Update 05-15 11:14
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Airdrop is a marketing and community incentive project for cryptocurrency projects to distribute tokens or tokens to users for free, aiming to enhance project visibility, expand user base, and reward early supporters. This article comprehensively analyzes the definition, types, purposes and advantages, participation process, potential risks and precautions of airdrops, and combines with Gate's practical guide to help readers understand the airdrop mechanism in one article and safely and efficiently participate in various airdrop projects.

1. What is Airdrop?

An Airdrop is a practice in which crypto project parties distribute tokens to specific addresses for free, usually for marketing or community incentive purposes, without requiring participants to pay any fees. Airdrops are usually divided into unconditional distribution and distribution that requires completing tasks (such as following social media, signing up for an account, or holding specified assets).

2. The main types of airdrops

# 2.1 Unconditional Airdrop

The project party directly airdrops to all holders of a certain token or users who meet certain conditions without additional operations. It is common to distribute new chain tokens to the original chain holders after a hard fork.

# 2.2 Task-Driven Airdrop

Requires users to complete simple tasks such as social sharing, registration, filling out surveys, inviting friends, etc., and distributes airdrop rewards after assessment. This model balances promotion and user screening.

# 2.3 Holdings Airdrop (Snapshot Airdrop)

Lock up holdings at a certain snapshot time, and then airdrop new tokens based on the proportion of holdings to encourage long-term holding and early support.

# 2.4 Points-based Airdrop

Users accumulate points through various on-chain/off-chain activities, and then distribute airdrops according to the ranking of points, aiming to reward high-quality community contributors.

3. Why do airdrops? Project and user perspectives

# 3.1 Project Party Perspective

  • Quickly Pulling in New Users and Building Momentum Use free rewards to attract new users to sign up and follow, expanding community influence.
  • Decentralized distribution Airdrop to achieve diversified token holdings and reduce concentration risk.
  • Test ecosystem activity After the airdrop, the movement of tokens and user behavior can be observed, providing data support for the design of subsequent token economic models.

# 3.2 User Perspective

  • Zero-cost coin acquisition Gate: Potential value tokens can be obtained without investment, suitable for early supporters and participants exploring new projects.
  • Asset appreciation opportunities After a successful airdrop, if the project develops well, the token value may rise significantly.
  • Participate in community governance Holding airdropped tokens often comes with voting rights, allowing you to have a say in DAO decision-making.

4. Relevant Professional Terminology

TermsMeaning
SnapshotBlockchain records at a certain height, used to determine the distribution of holdings snapshot airdrops
ClaimUsers need to click the corresponding 'Claim' button on the airdrop project to receive the airdrop.
Lock-up PositionLock-up mechanism, unlock part of the airdropped tokens in batches to prevent the initial dumping from causing a price collapse
Sybil AttackMalicious actors create addresses in bulk to obtain airdrops, and the project party often sets up filtering rules to prevent this behavior.
smart contractsSmart contracts that host the airdrop logic to ensure automatic execution of distribution rules

5, Conclusion

Airdrops are a win-win mechanism between projects and users, which not only help projects quickly expand their communities and validate economic models but also provide users with zero-cost participation and potential profit opportunities. By mastering the types of airdrops, participation processes, and risk prevention techniques, you can steadily move forward in Web3 airdrops.

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