Thousands of cryptocurrencies exist today, and more are being discovered every day. Some of these cryptocurrencies may be unique in terms of their use cases and the problems they came to solve. On a broad scale, many of these cryptocurrencies struggle to be noticed by the public and hence the idea of crypto airdrop comes to play this role.
Several cryptocurrency projects are implementing the idea of airdrop in other to increase the adoption of their project. This practice of distributing cryptocurrency freely to user’s wallet is what we call a crypto airdrop.
In the subsequent discussion of this content, we will be making emphasis on what crypto airdropping is all about, the difference between crypto airdrop and Initial Coin Offering (ICO), types of crypto airdrop, and the reason for crypto projects offering airdrop.
What Is Crypto Airdropping?
Crypto airdrop is the giving out of any new tokens to people who already possess them. Free coins are distributed to promote a project, raise the amount of cryptocurrency in circulation, encourage the trading of the token, and create a vibrant community.
For instance, if you are holding some $CORE, you might be eligible to receive $PEPE tokens that are equal to your $CORE holdings. In general, the influence of the endowment of a cryptocurrency airdrop extends the life of a coin since recipients have the propensity to value their possessions more highly than their market value. By effectively holding the coin being airdropped, for a particular period, it helps to minimize the selling pressure.
It also makes the coins valuable early on so that the current holders can start trading them, which will attract other users to the cryptocurrency market. The exposure to cryptocurrency can be significantly increased through airdropping in the cryptocurrency space.
Difference Between Initial Coin Offering (ICO) And Cryptocurrency Airdropping
Airdropping in cryptocurrency is not the same as Initial Coin Offering (ICO), which is a kind of crowdfunding for new cryptocurrencies. The project whitepaper that will elaborate on how it will operate and the minimum number of tokens that will be created is released by the developers as part of an Initial Coin Offering. Then, they offer investors a discount on tokens if they buy them early at the initial stage of the campaign.
In contrast to this, crypto developers and teams usually give out free tokens in cryptocurrency airdrops to create awareness of the token as well as to boost adoptions.
Types Of Crypto Airdrops
Different methods may be used for offering cryptocurrency airdrops. The most common strategic method involves adding free tokens to a user’s wallet in their crypto wallet for simple actions like registering their email address or share of the crypto project on their social media handle. Well, below are some examples of different kinds of crypto airdrops.
Signing-Up Airdrop:
Just as the name implies, so it is. To receive an airdrop, the user must first subscribe to a newsletter or carry out other activities within the airdrop ecosystem.
Airdrop Bounty:
In this kind of airdrop, the participant is required to complete a specific task set out by the newly about-lunch coin before having access to gain the free coin distribution. This task may include writing about the airdrop on your tweeter handle or posting about the project on Instagram with the names of your buddies included.
Hard Fork Airdrop:
This kind of airdrop is peculiar from other kinds of airdrop. For instance, let us consider $LTC to be the cryptocurrency of a particular blockchain. On the same blockchain, another token maybe called $ARB is created when it’s hard forks. This type of airdrop holder coin ($LTC in this case) will get the actual number of the coin $ARB in their wallets when the hard fork occurs. An example of a coin that experienced this kind of airdrop was $BCH (Bitcoin Cash) in 2017.
Exclusive Airdrop:
This airdrop distribution is based on a specific group of individuals who are consistence in the project community, website, and campaigns across various platforms.
Staking Airdrop:
When an individual who already has the particular token in their crypto wallet receives new tokens, it is most times referred to as this kind of airdrop. This is because the new token to be airdropped isn’t a hard fork of an already-exiting cryptocurrency on the blockchain. However, this is different from hard fork airdrop.
Why Crypto Airdrop?
There are several reasons why crypto projects usually offer airdrop for their users. In this subsequent part of this content, we will be considering two critical reasons for airdrop offering by new cryptocurrency projects.
Firstly, mostly for marketing purposes, cryptocurrency startups give airdrops. Before users begin a trading startup when it first joins the market, it needs exposure. Before now, ICOs dominated this scenario. These occasions, however, oversaturated the market because many businesses saw them as a chance to get money from investors and go with it without the provision of anything in return.
Again, most of these cryptocurrency initiatives reward their users most times using airdrops. Every crypto investor aims to make profits from the market, as they always switch between projects to boost their profits.
Summary
Different blockchain sections, the development of new coins, and several cryptocurrency trading platforms are all on the rise along with the interest in cryptocurrencies and blockchain technology. Most novices in the crypto industry find it challenging to understand most of these terms.
Well, we believe that most of the emphases made on the concept of cryptocurrency airdrop and other related information will give important insights to help in clarifying some of these confusions for newbies.
