Airdrop has lost its charm, grabbing tokens is no longer a lucrative industry

Recently, many teams focused on obtaining Airdrops have reported difficulties and even called for rights protection. The actions of the project parties seem to be increasingly unscrupulous, and the recent zkSync incident has made people feel that they are unwilling to maintain even basic integrity.

The Airdrop Controversy of Avail

In mid-April this year, Avail announced its Airdrop rules, which can be said to have opened the curtain on the project's "neglect" of users. As an important project in the DA layer of modular blockchain, Avail has previously received considerable funding. However, its airdrop claiming website left many people disappointed. Many users who had actively participated in the testnet and were active in the L2 ecosystem found that they received "not eligible" results when checking their eligibility. This has led to widespread dissatisfaction among users, with some questioning the fairness of the rules and even accusing the project of "insider trading."

Even holders of Dymension, who have a potential business relationship with Avail, did not manage to receive the Airdrop as hoped. More confusingly, users who participated in node operations also did not benefit. The project team claimed that 5% of the nodes would be randomly selected to receive the Airdrop, but the actual situation seems otherwise. In response to the community's strong reaction, Avail ultimately decided to conduct a second round of Airdrop to appease some dissatisfied users.

Taiko's Ambiguous Attitude

Another highly anticipated project, Taiko, has taken a more ambiguous stance, refusing to disclose the specific details of its Airdrop rules. The project's co-founder stated that to avoid unnecessary controversy, they would not reveal the detailed rules of the TKO genesis Airdrop. They claim that the goal is fair distribution but acknowledge that they cannot meet everyone's expectations.

As skepticism grows, the founder's responses on social media have become increasingly tough, seemingly dissatisfied with the criticism.

Complex Strategies of IO

Since the end of the first quarter of this year, IO.net has received a large investment, and its valuation has reached a quite high level. As an AI computing power platform, IO promises to airdrop a large number of tokens to computing power providers. This has attracted a large number of users to participate in mining, and even affected the market prices of certain hardware devices.

However, IO has not publicly displayed the user's points situation, which has left many miners feeling uneasy. Considering that renting computing power or purchasing equipment requires cost investment, users have no choice but to continue mining. Some have described IO's approach as a kind of PUA strategy, making users invest a lot of effort without being able to determine the returns.

Due to the limited total amount of tokens allocated to miners, while the number of machines participating in mining continues to increase, many studios and teams may eventually face losses.

Controversial Events of zkSync

In a recent series of events, zkSync's actions have sparked the greatest controversy. As a project that has received significant funding, its Airdrop distribution method has left many feeling disappointed and angry.

An NFT marketplace platform publicly stated that as the largest NFT trading platform in the zkSync ecosystem, they surprisingly did not receive any Airdrop, which is hard to understand. Even more questionable is the fact that a large number of addresses that had never had any interaction records received Airdrops, while some addresses that received larger Airdrops seemed to have a special relationship with the project team.

The Essential Transformation of Airdrop

Looking back, internet companies used to widely use the method of distributing red envelopes to attract new users. However, over time, even those companies that started this way have become increasingly stingy.

This actually reflects the normal process of project development. The project team always needs to weigh how to use the limited budget most effectively. In the early stages, when the usage threshold for crypto projects is relatively high, directly allocating funds to users is more effective than investing in advertising. However, as some teams begin to create fake users in bulk, the project team will naturally adjust their strategy.

Today, with technological advancements, the entry barriers for many projects have significantly lowered. In the future, airdrops for crypto projects may become similar to the small red envelopes of today's internet products - only a very few genuine users will receive tiny rewards. For those who hope to make a living by "shearing sheep," this era may be gone forever.

For those who are still running related studios, it may be time to consider a transformation. If you really want to participate in Airdrop activities, it is also recommended to choose projects that do not require any investment.