Airdrops – what are they good for?

With an even slightest interest in the cryptocurrencies and blockchain, it was impossible not to hear for the cryptocurrency airdrops. For those who were not paying attention in the past couple of years, airdrops are free crypto tokens and coins. But, there is no free lunch. Users are asked to do various tasks to get free tokens and coins. Those tasks usually include following the blockchain project on social media, and airdrop can be collected in a couple of minutes.

There are also a few complicated tasks that may include repetitive posting on various social media and content creation. These kinds of airdrops are called bounties. They are harder to get but rewards are much bigger.

Airdrops are great for promoting the new crypto project

After we have found out what are airdrops, let’s see if they are any good and why blockchain projects are using them. Launching an ICO is a very expansive adventure. It may cost up to $500,000 to launch and held a proper ICO. A big portion of the raised funds from the ICO, something between 10% and 20%, go to marketing. But for the ICO to be successful a marketing campaign has to be carefully planned. And this is where airdrops have truly blossomed.

Airdrops are helping to create a community on the social media

Airdrops are a great and cheap way to increase the awareness of the blockchain project. In exchange for social media actions, users will get the blockchain project tokens. But project managers have to be aware that simply getting users on social media is not enough. They must find ways to engage users on social media because in most of the cases users will unfollow them after the airdrop if they do not see potential in the project.

Distribution of the tokens

Airdrops will help to distribute the tokens. Alongside with the ICO airdrops are great for the initial token distribution. It is very important that the token is fairly distributed. One of the main postulates of the blockchain technology is decentralization, it is very important that no one owns more than 50% tokens. Of course, proportional distribution is not enough for project success. If a token is not used or traded it will have no value.

Collecting a lead database

Airdrops are a great way to collect a valuable database of users who are interested in the project. In most cases, while applying for the airdrop users will have to submit their email and will have to agree to receive future information about the project. A database can be later used in promoting ICO, STO or IEO and could potentially be a difference between successful or unsuccessful fundraising.

Watch out for the scams!

While collecting sweet airdrops you should have the same mentality as you were investing in the ICO. Airdrops may be free, but you are investing your time instead of BTC or ETH coins. It is important to do a minimum of own research. You do not have to go through all the project details, check every member of the team or read all the white papers, but there are some minimum things that you should check before the participation in the airdrop.

Firstly you need to check the project website. Now it is easy to make a good-looking website, especially how good the WordPress platform is. I’m not saying that if blockchain project is using a WordPress that automatically it is a scam. But if the project is built around the website platform it may not be a good sign if it is built in WordPress. It is easy to check its website is built in WordPress. Right-click to check the website source and then search for the keyword “wp”. If there are more than 80-90 occurrences of it than the website is build in WordPress. Yet again, I’m not saying that using WordPress is a sign that the project is a scam. I have built many sites in WordPress and I love it. But if the blockchain project is built as a website platform and the product will be used on the website platform than in most cases WordPress will have difficulties with it.

Always check the team. If there is no mentioning of the team on the website then that is a big red flag. Only exceptions may be cryptocurrencies exchanges. If team members do not have a LinkedIn profile that is also a red flag. If you are suspicious by now in the project legitimacy search team members photos on google. To do that use a Chrome browser and right-click on team member photo and click on “Search Google for image”. If that profile image is used by someone else then that is the ultimate red flag.

A quick look on the website will give you the first impressions of the blockchain project. If you are even a bit suspicious in the project legitimacy you can check for scam warnings in a couple of minutes. Furthermore, if you are even a bit suspicious in it never do a KYC if it is one of the airdrop requirements. The price of the stolen identity on the black market is up to $20. Now multiple that with tens of thousands of potential participants of the scam airdrops and you will figure out why they are dangerous.

Do your own minimum research before airdrop participation. There is no point in participating in airdrops of the project with no potential. You will lose your time in completing it and even if you get your tokens it is questionable that they will ever get any value. On the other hand, if you have done your own research and you have stumbled on a good and legit project do your best to collect all the tokens you can get. You can increase your reward with referrals. There are still ongoing BAT referral rewards that all crypto lovers should take advantage of.

A final thought is that airdrops are good for the industry, but like everything, they have the bad side. It is up to you to do your own research and to stay safe.

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