What is Airdrop?

Airdrop, one of the rapidly growing and interesting applications of the cryptocurrency world, means distributing free crypto money to users. Why exactly are these airdrop events, which have become a favorite of crypto enthusiasts and those looking for a return opportunity, being held? What is airdrop and why has it become so popular? Maybe you can get big returns just by participating in an airdrop event. If you are ready to explore this exciting aspect of the crypto asset world, you can take a look at the rest of our article.

What is Airdrop in the Crypto World?

Airdrop is the gift of any cryptocurrency to users for free. “What does airdrop mean?” In its most summary form, it can be explained this way. When considered by the project that carries out the airdrop, it can be said that this concept is a marketing method in the cryptocurrency world.

the airdrop event sends the gifted cryptocurrency to the users’ wallets free of charge. This means, “What is airdrop?” is the answer to the question. Airdrop is carried out by the project team. Generally, users are expected to meet certain conditions or requirements to participate in the airdrop event. Users who meet these expectations are rewarded with free coin or token distribution.

Nowadays, users show great interest in airdrop events. Because the cryptocurrencies distributed in the airdrop event are both free and these cryptocurrencies always have the potential to increase. Companies generally welcome airdrop events. To make their names known They think that holding an airdrop event will be productive.

Why is Airdrop Made?

There are multiple reasons behind airdrop. But there are two main reasons for this practice. These can be explained as raising awareness and attracting attention for a new cryptocurrency. Considering that new projects are constantly emerging, organizing airdrops becomes a good option to differentiate from competing projects.

If we need to take a more comprehensive look at the reasons behind why projects want to perform airdrops, we come across the following headings.

• Building Community: Airdrop events are an effective way to grow a project’s community. Free token distribution increases the interest of new users in the project and increases the number of community members. Building community is important to the long-term success of the project. Because a strong community helps reach more users and investors as the project develops and spreads.
• Raising Awareness: Drawing positive attention to the project is important for potential investors. In this way, it can contribute to the growth and development of the project.
• Attracting Investors: Cryptocurrencies distributed through a project’s airdrop event may have a certain value and use within the project’s own economy. These digital assets can be distributed to reward investors and users who contribute to the project. Additionally, airdrop events can provide an opportunity for investors to take a closer look at the project and make a decision to invest in the future.
• Encouraging Users: Airdrop events can be organized to encourage users to try a new platform. Users can receive free cryptocurrency for completing certain tasks of the project or using certain features of the platform. This way, users can better understand the potential of the project by experiencing it and using these cryptocurrencies.

Additionally, it should be noted that airdrop can also help acquire a very valuable database. At some airdrop events, participants may be asked to fill out several online forms. For example, airdrop events may require participants to provide their Facebook listings in order to win the airdrop. The information obtained from these forms requested from airdrop participants can be used in the future marketing activities of the project.

Airdrop participants should be careful about fraudulent activities. Airdrop events can be organized through fake sites and data shared with the other party, including personal information, can be processed for malicious purposes. Therefore, airdrop participants need to make sure that they only provide information to the official website of the relevant project.

Why Participate in the Airdrop Event?

Airdrop events create excitement in people. The chance to earn cryptocurrency for free also causes people to show interest in airdrop events. To take a closer look at why people participate in the airdrop event, some of the reasons can be listed below.

• Interest and Curiosity: The cryptocurrency world is growing rapidly. Many people enjoy exploring new possibilities and experiencing new projects in this field. Airdrop events allow people to access and try different cryptocurrencies for free.
• Chance to Win Prizes: Airdrop events distribute free cryptocurrency to participants. Some airdrop events can be quite valuable. Users who participate in such events get a chance to win prizes.
• Investment Opportunity: Cryptocurrencies distributed during airdrops are generally digital assets that have not yet been launched or are from new projects. With Airdrop, participants have the opportunity to own these cryptocurrencies at an early stage and invest early in projects with growth potential in the future.

How to Announce Airdrop?

Announcing the airdrop event is an important step to attract potential investors and community members of the project. Here are common methods to announce the airdrop event:

• Website and Blogs: The official website and blog of the project is an ideal environment to announce the details of the airdrop event and the conditions of participation.
• Social media: The project’s own social media channels or social media platforms that support the project are an effective tool for announcing the airdrop event. The project can be accessed via Twitter, Telegram, Instagram, etc. may be active on other social media channels and make posts encouraging participation in the airdrop event.
• Crypto Content Platforms: Content platforms frequently used by the cryptocurrency community can be used to announce the airdrop event. Medium, Reddit etc. Platforms or forum sites such as can help the project’s airdrop announcement reach a wide audience.
• Email Bulletins: Sending information about the airdrop event to users who subscribe to the project’s email newsletter can be an effective way to encourage participation and keep them updated.
• Influencer and Partner Studies: We can work with people or institutions that have a say in the cryptocurrency field and address the community to announce the airdrop event of the project to a wide audience. It may also be beneficial for the project to collaborate with other crypto projects and communities to jointly announce the airdrop event.
• Crypto News Sites: Sending a press release or article about the airdrop event to popular crypto news sites can help spread the event widely.

As can be seen, there are many channels to announce the airdrop event. It is almost impossible for people interested in the cryptocurrency space to not be on any of these channels. In order to reach as many people as possible through airdrop, it is important that the project performing the airdrop uses as many channels as possible.

What are the Types of Airdrops?

Projects may request different actions from users in order to participate in airdrop events. This actually brings about the emergence of different types of airdrops. If we look at these;

• Standard Airdrop: This type of airdrop requires signing up for a newsletter or various updates. Just registering with your name and email address is enough to participate in the airdrop event.
• Bounty Airdrop: The most common activity in this type of airdrop is tweeting about the project, etc. Includes situations. If the requested tasks in this regard are fulfilled, participation in the airdrop event can be made.
• Holder Airdrop: In this type of airdrop, users are expected to keep certain cryptocurrencies in their wallets. If the desired demand is met, participants can earn free crypto from the airdrop event in return.
• Hardfork Airdrop: hardfork The airdrop type occurs when a cryptocurrency project is separated from the existing blockchain and creates a new blockchain and token set. In this process, the existing blockchain and the newly created blockchain are separated and represent two separate projects with the same history. hardfork Airdrop is a method in which the cryptocurrencies of the new project resulting from this separation are distributed free of charge to the cryptocurrency holders of the existing project. During the Bitcoin hard fork, Bitcoin holders were given the opportunity to obtain Bitcoin Cash based on the amount of Bitcoin in their wallets.
• Private Airdrop: This type of airdrop is reserved for a specific community only. Let’s say you are a VIP member of a particular project, website, club or other entity. In such a case, you may be eligible to participate in special airdrop events that everyone else will not know about. As the name suggests, this airdrop is reserved for a specific community only.

Airdrop Advantages and Disadvantages

Airdrops offer many advantages such as entering the cryptocurrency world with low risk, getting to know new projects and creating a community. The risk of fraud is the primary disadvantage of airdrops. The details you need to know about the advantages and disadvantages of Airdrop are as follows.

Airdop Advantages

1- Earning Free Tokens:

• Low Risk: Participants can earn cryptocurrency for free without allocating any financial resources. This means that especially beginners can get the opportunity to get involved in the cryptocurrency world without risk.

2- Getting to Know New Projects:

• Early Access: Participating in airdrops can be considered a way to learn about new projects and support the project early on. In this way, promising projects can be discovered well in advance.

3- Community Building and Participation:

• Community Development: Airdrops help projects increase their supporters through the communities they create.
• Participation Encouragement: Users can actively participate in the project through community events.

4- Marketing and Awareness:

• Reaching a Large Audience: Airdrops help projects reach a wider audience and increase brand awareness. Participants; Sharing airdrops on social media can help spread the projects.

5- Economic Return:

• Value Gain: Tokens obtained via airdrop may reach high prices over time. This means that participants can generate returns.
• Trade and Investment: Cryptocurrencies earned from airdrop can be traded on cryptocurrency exchanges. Thus, participants can get the chance to trade.

Airdrop Disadvantages

1- Fraud and Security Risks:

• Fake Projects: Airdrops may be fraudulent. This may result in misleading users. Considered this way, it is important to choose reliable projects.
• Phishing: There may be airdrops that require identity verification (KYC). If this airdrop event is carried out with malicious intent, there is a risk of misuse of personal information.

2- Time and Effort Requirement:

• Completing the Process: Completing social media or other tasks and filling out any forms that may be requested can be time-consuming.
• Complexity of Processes: Some airdrop participation requirements may require complex tasks, completion of registration steps and verification processes.

What are the Conditions for Participating in Airdrops?

Airdrop events may request may vary for each project. However, conditions are similar in airdrop events. These may be as follows:

• Having a Wallet: The primary requirement for participating in cryptocurrency airdrops is to have a cryptocurrency wallet. Because a wallet address is required to receive the cryptocurrencies to be distributed during the airdrop event.
• Social Media Engagement: Many airdrops may require completion of certain tasks on social media platforms such as Twitter, Facebook, Telegram. These tasks may include following the project page, sharing a specific post of the project page, or commenting on a post shared by the project page.
• Registration and Verification: As a condition of participating in airdrop events, participants may be required to fill out a form and enter information such as e-mail address, wallet address and similar information into this form. In some cases, identity verification (KYC) may also be requested.
• Subscribing to Newsletter: Some projects that organize airdrops may want to convey the developments about their own projects without interruption. In such a case, those who wish to win airdrops may be asked to subscribe to their newsletters.
• Owning Cryptocurrency: As a condition of participation in some airdrop events, participants may be required to own a certain cryptocurrency.
• Joining the Community: Joining Telegram groups or Discord servers may be requested to participate in an airdrop event.
• Referral Programs: After participating in an airdrop event, inviting other users to this event can provide participants with additional cryptocurrency earnings.

These may be requirements that may be required of participants in order to participate in an airdrop event. It is important to be careful before participating in cryptocurrency airdrops and choose reliable projects against fraud risks. Conducting research about the project and evaluating community feedback can help participants identify projects that may be credible.

How Can I Participate in Airdrops?

airdrop events consists of several processes and steps. Generally, this process is similar in many airdrop events. The steps to participate in airdrop events are as follows.

• Researching reliable projects
• Understanding the requirements and terms of participation
• Signing up
• Determining the wallet address
• Completing tasks
• Confirmation of participation

After completing this entire process, you will be able to participate in the airdrop event. “How to get crypto airdrop?” Those who wonder, need to go through such a process.

How to Use Airdrop?

The choice regarding the use of cryptocurrencies earned from the airdrop event depends on the users as the final decision maker. Of course, the main factors that determine this situation are the usage purposes that the airdropped project will offer for the relevant cryptocurrency, how accepted the cryptocurrency earned as a result of the airdrop event is in the market, and the use cases offered by cryptocurrency platforms for the relevant cryptocurrency. Potential use cases of cryptocurrencies obtained as a result of airdrop may be as follows:

• Trade and Investment: Cryptocurrencies obtained via airdrop can be traded on cryptocurrency exchanges. This shows that these cryptocurrencies can be bought and sold or held as long-term investments.
• Procurement of Services and Products: Some projects may make it possible to use their own cryptocurrencies as a means of payment on their platforms. This may lead to the use of cryptocurrencies obtained as a result of airdrop winnings as a means of payment on their own platforms for the services or products offered by the projects.
• Voting and Governance: Many blockchain projects allow community members to vote on decisions that may be made about their project. Cryptocurrencies obtained as a result of airdrop may provide voting rights in such governance processes.
• Staking: Some cryptocurrency projects may offer staking mechanisms. Cryptocurrencies obtained as a result of airdrop winnings can be locked on the relevant project, thereby contributing to network security, and as a result, those who lock their cryptocurrencies can be rewarded.
• Credit and Borrowing: Decentralized finance (DeFi) platforms can provide loans in return for collateralizing crypto assets. Liquidity can be provided to these platforms with the cryptocurrencies obtained after the airdrop and loans can be obtained in return.
• Gift and Donation: Cryptocurrencies earned as a result of airdrop can be gifted by users to their circle of friends. These assets can be donated to charities that accept cryptocurrencies.
• Purchasing NFTs: These cryptocurrencies can be leveraged to acquire various NFTs such as digital artworks and in-game assets.

Airdrops can be a great starting point for those new to the cryptocurrency world. As can be seen above, there may be many ways to evaluate the cryptocurrencies obtained as a result of airdrop with various potential usage areas.

How Does Airdrop Work?

airdrop working processes may differ from each other, they are generally similar. To look at this process, the airdrop working system is generally as follows, step by step:

• Preparation of the Project: A project considering airdrop allocates a certain amount of cryptocurrency for airdrop. During this process, the purpose of the airdrop, its target audience and participation conditions are decided. The project usually announces this information on its official website, social media accounts or cryptocurrency communities.
• Announcement and Registration: After the airdrop is announced, the registration process is started for users who want to participate. Users share information requested by the project. This information can usually be information such as e-mail address, wallet address and social media account.
• Completion of Tasks: Participants are often asked to complete specific tasks.
• Verification Process: The project team checks whether the participants have completed the tasks. In some cases, users may be required to go through an identity verification (KYC) process. During this process, identity documents and personal information are verified.
• Token Distribution: The crypto coins earned by users who successfully complete the tasks and pass the verification process are distributed to their wallet addresses.
• Using status: Cryptocurrencies earned as a result of airdrop can be used by users for various purposes after reaching their wallets.

Is Airdrop Safe?

Airdrop is attractive to participants because cryptocurrencies are distributed free of charge and the distributed cryptocurrencies have the potential to reach high values. This attractive offer may also attract many participants to register for the airdrop event. It is also necessary to take into account investors who are interested in and will invest in the mentioned cryptocurrency through airdrop. At this point, fraudsters who want to turn this situation into an opportunity may step in. Airdrop participants and those who will invest in the relevant project may expect some risks as follows.

• Forgery: Airdrop sites can commit fraud by asking users for private information or payment in advance. It is important that users only participate in airdrop events of trusted and verified projects.
• Low Value Cryptocurrencies: The value of tokens distributed through airdrop events is generally low. This means that the tokens obtained by users may not have much value or they may experience liquidity problems in the market.
• Volatility Associated with Major News: Some airdrop events link projects to important news. This may cause significant fluctuations in the token value. Users should be careful about the token value during the airdrop, and if investing is to be made, they should carefully research the relevant project beforehand.
• Security: Airdrop events may require participants to provide personal information. This may result in users’ privacy being compromised and encountering spam or other unsolicited messages.
• Valid Token Address and Wallet Issue: It is important that the cryptocurrencies given via airdrop are sent correctly to the valid wallet address of the participants. There is a risk of entering an incorrect address, in which case cryptocurrencies may be permanently lost.
• Pumping: Projects can gather many investors through the excitement they create through different communication channels. Once the relevant cryptocurrency starts to be listed on exchanges, project developers can sell all the cryptocurrency for a quick profit. After such a development, developers may abandon the project and the project may cease functioning.

To give an example of the risk carried by airdrop events, the EDOGE incident can be examined. In order to breathe new life into Dogecoin, developers are creating Ether on the Ethereum blockchain. They formed Doge (EDOGE). Developers, 5 million EDOGE tokens held the airdrop event. As soon as the tokens hit the exchanges, around October 24, 2017, they sold all the tokens. The developers disappeared and the project fell into silence.

What Can Be Done to Avoid Airdrop Risks?

• Airdrop events to participate in should be carefully researched.
• Those who will share their personal information at any stage and those who will make payments for any reason should be careful.
• Airdrop events generally do not request personal information or payment. It is necessary to be careful against such attempts.
• It should be ensured that the website to be interacted with is the official channel of the project.
• The reputation of the project should be evaluated through the forum and social media channels.
• The verification process must be completed to avoid fake accounts and bots.
• It must be ensured that the correct wallet address is provided in order to receive the cryptocurrencies to be distributed.

In order to avoid such situations, it is recommended to first take a look at the project’s website and research the team members. It should be checked what has been done specifically for this project and how progress has been made in previous projects, if any. After this, the whitepaper of the project needs to be read. It remains to be seen what the project does and whether it adds real value to the ecosystem.

Who Performed the First Airdrop Event?

Airdrop in blockchain history Powered by Auroracoin. Auroracoin has emerged as a cryptocurrency for Iceland. Auroracoin distributed tokens to the citizens of Iceland in March 2014. In this event, known as the first airdrop in history, Auroracoin 50% of it was distributed to the citizens of the country. Permanent residents of Iceland are entitled to receive 31.8 AUR each.

Since the economic crisis in 2008, Icelandic people have been looking for a way to break away from the Icelandic krona. Hlynur, a board member of the Aurora Foundation Þor “Auroracoin came up with a new idea in 2014,” Björnsson told Cointelegraph. Replacing the Icelandic krona with a cryptocurrency.” he said.

‘Cryptocurrency’ was seen as an opportunity for Icelanders to free themselves from currency controls and government devaluation of the currency. Auroracoin was designed to replace the traditional fiat currency financial system in the country. The best solution to distribute this cryptocurrency to Icelandic citizens seemed to be an airdrop.

The devaluation took place within a few months after the airdrop distribution of Auroracoin to Icelandic citizens. Auroracoin lost over 50% in value within a few days after the airdrop event. Auroracoin, known as Iceland’s cryptocurrency, failed by losing all its market value in a short period of 6 months.

What is the Difference Between Airdrop and ICO?

ICO (Initial Coin Offering) with airdrop event can be confused with each other. ICO is a pre-sale event. The main purpose of the ICO is to finance the cryptocurrency project that is prepared to be launched on the market. Participation in ICO events is paid. By participating in ICO events, investors have the chance to invest in cryptocurrencies that may be in a good position in the future before they are launched.

On the other hand, airdrop events are a marketing method where participation is free. Participants are given the relevant project’s cryptocurrency free of charge and can earn money from these cryptocurrencies. Considering this, airdrop events can increase ICO participation. In this way, the launch of a new cryptocurrency can make it much stronger. To sum up, airdrop events are held for the marketing of cryptocurrency projects and users earn money from these events thanks to the free crypto coins distributed. Considered this way, it is a win-win situation for both project owners and users.