If you've been involved in cryptocurrencies for a while, you may have heard the phrase 'airdrops'. But people reading this concept of “crypto airdrops” for the first time might ask what it is. While airdrops are typically used to deliver essential supplies to areas that have been affected by wars and natural disasters, crypto airdrops are a little different. In layman's terms, an airdrop means giving a certain number of free coins or tokens to the crypto community for free. It's a kind of donation.
Generally, in order to receive an airdrop, you need to have some relevant coins stored in your wallet. For example, if the company doing the launch is based on Litecoin, you need some LTC in your wallet. If it is based on Ripple or Ether, you will need to own some XRP or ETH. Tokens offered for free by companies are generally considered rewards
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Why are Airdrops distributed?
The idea of giving away free coins is part of a marketing strategy. Most coin creators and blockchain-based startups choose to run airdrops for a variety of reasons.
Airdrops are always a boon for project owners and the cryptocurrency community. Companies offering free tokens attract a large number of participants to their project and get more followers on social media. Participants, in turn, receive a reward for likes, comments, shares and referrals on social media. It's a tried and tested business model that usually works very well.
Communities are very important when we talk about cryptocurrencies or ICOs. And donating free coins is one of the best strategies to build a bigger community.
Blockchain-based startups get more benefits from performing a cryptocurrency airdrop. Here are three big benefits:
1. Free Marketing: a new ico usually spends a fortune on marketing their projects. They have to spend thousands of dollars on paid listings, paid postings, and paid ads. With airdrops, they can reduce their marketing expenses as news about airdrops spreads very quickly. It attracts people to your project, which in turn helps you get more investors during your initial coin offering.
2. Attention online: with dozens of cryptocurrency-based projects arriving every month, it is becoming difficult for new projects to gain attention. Airdrops help them to attract attention as they are covered by many social networking sites, websites, YouTube channels, etc. Giving someone free money is a great way to get their attention. This could spur the adoption of a new currency better than an ICO.
Increases the price of an existing currency: if a new digital currency is airdropping, volumes will increase significantly as investors jump to take advantage of the airdrop. The demand for the coin may increase as people buy it just to be a part of the future coin launch. As a result, this will increase the value of the currency in the short term. an airdrop will also increase public awareness of this coin and increase volumes in the long run.
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How much can I earn with airdrops
Not all airdrops make you an overnight millionaire, but you can win up to $$ 10,000 (if you're lucky). While most tokens will still be worthless, there will be some that can make you feel rich. For example, in January 2018, users who signed up for the Ontology Email Newsletter (ONT) for free received 1000 ONT tokens. At that time, the value of ONT tokens was completely nothing. As of June 2018, a single ONT is worth US $ 8.50. Therefore, participants in this Airdrop held ONT coins worth more than US $ 8,000.
How can I find Airdrop information?
Information about Airdrops can be found on forum places like BitcoinTalk.org, Reddit, Facebook groups. There are also sites like Airdrop alert, ICOdrops and Airdropaddict that alert people to the advent of an airdrop release and distribution.