NFT airdrops are exciting but do your own research before participating

In this week's Crypto Knight column we focus on crypto airdrops, and whether they are worth the risk.

Anything can be sold as an NFT including music, drawing, GIF, tweets and even a selfie can be sold for millions of dollars. (Photo: Beeple/ Express Image)

Written by: Mehab Qureshi

6 min readPuneApr 9, 2022 03:37 PM IST First published on: Mar 19, 2022 at 03:18 PM IST

Launching a new crypto project is one thing— and marketing it is another. Every day you hear about a new crypto token or a new non-fungible-token (NFT) project being dropped—all aiming to book profits. With the increasing competition within the cryptocurrency and NFT space, developers have come up with unique strategies to promote their crypto projects.

Some crypto developers use weird and gimmicky token names such as Dogecoin, Potcoin, Dentacoin, etc., while others give out free NFTs to few community members to promote their project before it officially launches. And this is exactly what we are going to talk about.

The basics

Did you ever find a coupon code in your mailbox for a free meal? This is the technique that crypto airdrops essentially use. A crypto airdrop is predominantly about raising awareness for new projects and services. The idea is to send new tokens or NFTs to thousands of crypto wallet addresses with the hope that more and more recipients will engage and promote with the corresponding project– even if it’s only to learn how to cash out the free tokens into something else.

To promote any crypto token, the mantra is pretty simple: the more interest a token or an NFT project garnishes, the more likely it rises in price.

Notably, most of the crypto airdrops are announced through social media, the company’s official website and online forums. The crypto creators might ask you to complete a few tasks to send out a crypto airdrop. This includes following the crypto token’s official account on social media such as Facebook, Instagram, sharing or retweeting one of their posts, including hashtags in your posts, and signing up on their platfrom to receive updates.

Popular crypto airdrops

In 2021, thousands of crypto airdrops were launched but there were a few that took users by surprise. Below we list some of them.

Rarible: It is an NFT marketplace where users can sell and buy NFTs. But what makes this marketplace unique is that it facilitates voting rights to all the users that hold any NFT artwork on its platform. The company conducts one of the biggest NFT airdrops in the crypto domain with a weekly airdrop of 75,000 RARI tokens.

PancakeSwap: It is a cryptocurrency exchange that has the most popular NFT airdrop. The first 8,888 people who created an account on the platform got a limited-edition 3D animated minted NFT. The airdrop was quickly filled with NFT enthusiasts.

BNBBunnies: It is a set of 10,000 algorithmically generated NFT digital artwork that come with unique characteristics for each bunny. Every 100th bunny has special wings and features. It should be noted that the platform, gives out 1,500 bunnies out of 10,000 bunnies for free.

LooksRare: LOOKS airdrop generated by the LooksRare team was one of the biggest airdrop in the history. Any users with over 3 Ethereum in transaction volume on OpenSea between June 16, 2021, and December 16, 2021, were eligible for LOOKS tokens after listing an NFT for sale on the LooksRare marketplace. This airdrop was unique than other because it promised every LOOKS token holder to receive a share of the trading fees generated by the LooksRare platform.

Crypto airdrops: How to be part of it

If you are looking to expand your crypto wallet with NFTs, crypto tokens and potentially make profits, then crypto airdrops are good. However, there is no exact place to continuously get NFT airdrops from. There are a couple of ways to find them.

The best way is to do your own research before participating in any crypto airdrop. Browse the web, search for crypto airdrops according to your interest. Follow the NFT and crypto enthusiast community on Reddit, Twitter, Telegram and even on Discord. You will most likely be flooded with giveaways on these groups but do not fall for it. Only check these platforms for official crypto airdrops. If you see a potential airdrop check the company’s social media handles, website and check what work they’ve done in the past.

You can also track airdrops from crypto aggregators such as CoinMarketCap, Airdrop alert, etc. You will find three categories on these platforms: ended airdrops, ongoing airdrops, and future airdrops. These are pretty self-explanatory. Users can participate in “ongoing airdrops,” the airdrops in the “future” category will let you know when the airdrop goes live.

Are airdrops worth the risk?

Crypto airdrops can sometimes be very risky. Scammers using airdrops can steal your identity, gather personal data and pinpoint you as the future target. Cybercriminals could even use false airdrops to even gain user base for a totally different project. This is why you should never give away your private key or your crypto wallet passcode t to any untrusted party.

Lastly, Cryptocurrency airdrop campaigns are not so easy, it requires commitment. Stories about crypto enthusiasts hitting the jackpot in cryptocurrency through airdrops are quite common to hear. But, take note, airdrops require dedication, timing and alot of awareness.

Doing some research before you get involved with any airdrop is highly recommended because even if they are completely legit, they can still end up being completely worthless, and a waste of time.