Airdrops I’m Hunting or Received (Big List for 2024)

--- by D. Petkovski ---
airdrops

If you’ve read my last post on airdrops, you’re probably interested in what I’m currently positioning for.

This post contains a list of projects with confirmed or probable potential for airdrops.

Remember: this is just your starting point. If you’re interested in any of the listed airdrops, make sure to DYOR and figure out how to poisition for their eventual distribution.

Decentralized Finance and airdrop hunting are dangerous areas and you can lose all your money if you’re not extremely cautious.

Ethereum L2s

I put this category first because these are all legit projects dedicated to Ethereum scaling.

If you’re a beginner, I recommend sticking to these only.

They’re simpler to qualify for and often the eligibility criteria are quite similar. Here are some examples that were distributed:

  • Optimism (Distributed)
    • The most common eligibility criteria was using the network, considering time and number of transactions. Currently worth between $3k and 30k per wallet.
  • Arbitrum (Distributed)
    • The amount of $ARB distributed was based on transaction count, volume, active weeks & months, and bridged amount. The more actions an address did, the higher the airdrop – currently worth between $2,500 and $20k.
  • Manta (Distributed)
    • Two airdrops: the New Paradigm campaign based on the wallet’s activity on other L2s. And the token distribution based on early participation in the ecosystem. Less active users might’ve just gotten just $200, while more active addresses received $30k+.

Upcoming Ethereum L2 airdrops:

  • zkSync
  • Linea
  • Scroll
  • Taiko
  • Base
  • StarkNet
  • Polygon zkEVM
  • Zora
  • Blast
  • LightLink
  • Kroma

There are useful tools that show you your wallet’s activity on these networks. This includes things like transaction count, volume, active days/weeks/months, etc. Here are a few websites that you might find useful:

Cosmos Airdrops

This is also a beginner friendly category, as the eligibility for all of these is simple:

Delegate $ATOM.

Most projects that integrate in the IBC ecosystem and build using the Cosmos SDK reward the community.

I’ve received over 30 Cosmos airdrops, so I won’t include a list of the distributed ones. However, here are three links that I actively use to track upcoming Cosmos airdrops and you can see the past ones if you’re interested:

Again, no need to research qualifying for each of these separately as $ATOM delegators become eligible automatically most of the time.

New Networks, Narratives & Ecosystems

These are similar to the first category in the context of being independent networks rather than dApps on an existing network.

However, these aren’t Ethereum L2s, but separate ecosystems with their own utility and value propositions. Some are EVM compatible, others aren’t:

  • Celestia (Distributed)
    • $TIA was airdropped to the top 50% addresses in Ethereum rollups by activity, delegators of $ATOM and $OSMO, and contributors to Celestia’s GitHub repo or its core dependencies. Eligible users got anywhere between $500 and $40k and $TIA did a 10x since then. Also, delegators of $TIA are now eligible for multiple upcoming airdrops during 2024. I call this airdrop inception and it’s the closest thing to alchemy that we have in the world.
  • Maya Protocol (Distributed)
    • This included a distribution of $MAYA tokens to $RUNE holders based on their minimum balance over a period of time. The amounts varied based on the amount of $RUNE in an address.
  • ZkFair (Distributed)
    • The amount distributed was based on the gas fees spent by the address on other zkL2s on Ethereum.

Upcoming Airdrops:

  • EigenLayer – I have a post about its upcoming deposit unpause (time sensitive).
  • AltLayer
  • Venom
  • opBnb
  • Mantle
  • ZetaChain – They just announced that the snapshot was taken in April 2023, so no point in hunting this one.
  • Aleo
  • Dymension – The snapshot is already taken – eligibility criteria.
  • Hyperlane Nexus
  • Berachain – Still in testnet and a really interesting project, worth keeping an eye on. I covered it briefly in this post.
  • Saga

Bridges & Cross-Chain Swaps

As the title suggests, these are protocols that allow bridging tokens across networks.

Most of them announced launching a token and already have point systems to track users’ activity.

  • Layer Zero – I’d keep an eye on this one as it’s an omnichain interoperability protocol (i.e. not a standalone dApp) and is valued at $3B.
  • Orbiter Finance
  • Owlto Finance
  • LiquidSwap
  • Wormhole
  • Bungee
  • El Dorado Market
  • Jumper Exchange
  • deBridge
  • Rango Exchange

LST & LRT Projects

These are protocols in the liquid staking and liquid restaking narrative.

Most of them have “points”, which are accumulated by addresses based on the time and amount of $ETH they have deposited.

  • Swell Network – I have a post on the airdrop combo that can be done with Swell and EigenLayer.
  • Gravita Protocol
  • EtherFi
  • Renzo Finance
  • Astrid Finance
  • Genesis Finance
  • Inception LRT

I share these for information purposes, but I recommend restaking on EigenLayer directly rather than through third-party dApps. But some people like the liquid restaking route too, so do your own research on this.

Personally, I only position myself more seriously for the top two from this list (i.e. I go for liquid staking and not for liquid restaking).

Wallets, dApps & Other Airdrops

These are separate applications that are expected to reward early participation.

Usually this is measured in active days, number of transactions, or transaction volume (like Vela exchange or the ZigZag DEX). Others are based on being a holder of some asset (such as $BMP and $.COM for Bitmap holders).

I don’t recommend hunting these as a beginner, as it may get exhausting, expensive, and the rewards may be disappointing for many of them. However, you can prioritize their usage while positioning for other airdrops (for example: use Rabby, bridge with Orbiter Finance, and provide liquidity through SyncSwap when positioning for zkSync).

But if you want to DYOR, here’s the list:

  • Vertex
  • SyncSwap
  • Nostra Finance
  • Taho Wallet
  • Rainbow Wallet
  • MetaMask
  • Rabby Wallet
  • Unisat
  • Phantom Wallet
  • Cashmere Finance
  • MilkyWay Zone
  • Mendi Finance
  • Tabi
  • LineaBank
  • Talis Protocol
  • 10kSwap
  • XyFinance
  • Fluo Finance
  • Demex
  • Smart Layer
  • Interport
  • Kinza Finance
  • Aevo
  • Cega
  • MarginFi
  • Kamino Finance
  • SolBlaze
  • Odos
  • IntentX
  • Redstone
  • Pike Finance
  • Hyperliquid
  • BetSwirl
  • MayanSwap
  • Zeta Markets
  • ZeroLend
  • Helix App
  • Dojo Swap
  • DeBank
  • Quai
  • Omni
  • Ambit Finance

Note: these are just from the top of my head or some recent bookmarks I found.

There are hundreds of projects building and one can never be prepared for all potential airdrops – I’ve missed Jito, Ethereum Name Service, and many others.

I’d even say that if you’re reading this post a week late, there’s certainly new developments, ranging from some of these being distributed already to new potential airdrops being public.

Suggested Roadmap for Beginners

If you’ve stuck around so far, you deserve some recommendations & tips:

  • First of all, airdrop hunting (and DeFi in general) is a dangerous place. It’s filled with scammers that want your money. Quadruple-check if you’re at the right websites, don’t do anything you’re not 100% certain of, and never share your seed phrase.
  • If you’re a beginner in terms of airdrops, familiarize yourself with Ethereum layer 2s. Watch some videos, read, ask questions. Then, try Arbitrum’s qualifying actions on any other layer 2 network without a token.
  • If you’re already holding $ATOM, withdraw it to a non-custodial wallet and delegate it ASAP. Unlike most other airdrops, this one doesn’t require any extra qualifying actions.
  • If you get familiar and comfortable with DeFi, the bridges are low hanging fruits.
  • Remember that you can qualify from multiple wallets, just don’t get flagged as a sybil (addresses with extremely similar bot behavior which often end up disqualified).
  • Stay curious, learn, participate in testnets regardless of the projects’ airdrop potential. Immerse yourself and use crypto as a normal user.

Thanks for reading and don’t hesitate to reach out if you have questions or want to discuss upcoming projects.

Until then, I’d appreciate a subscribe and share on social media.

 

Author

  • D. Petkovski

    D. Petkovski

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