Arbitrum developers announced an airdrop of their governance token, ARB, to eligible users and DAOs on the Ethereum Layer-2 platform. The average user receives around 625 ARB tokens, which corresponds to around $625 to $1,250, according to pre-launch trading prices and popular estimates.
The prospect of earning free money has caused excitement around users looking to hunt for the next airdrop opportunity. Airdrop farming activities also benefit from the protocol by attracting liquidity and usage to the platform. These strategies work well for developers and users of the protocol.
In addition, sales of team protocol tokens require securities laws, posing significant legal risks to developing teams. Thus, it is reasonable to assume that future protocols will use the same strategy to decentralize the protocol.
Here are five potential airdrop opportunities for this year.
zkSync Era
zkSync Era is a Layer-2 rollup on Ethereum based on zero-knowledge (ZK) proof technology. Experts, including Ethereum founder Vitalik Buterin, say that the zk-based EVM-compatible rollup could be a game-changing technology with high scalability and throughput, leading to mass adoption.
zkSync has the added advantage of being EMV compatible, which allows access to the blockchain through the MetaMask wallet itself.
Matter Labs, the team behind zkSync raised $200 million in December 2022 in a series C funding round led by Blockchain Capital and Dragonfly. Major decentralized applications on Ethereum like Chainlink, Uniswap and Aave have signaled their intention to launch on zkSync.
On February 16, 2023, Matter Labs opened the floodgates for registered projects to distribute their code on the zkSync mainnet. Public savings will begin shortly. Users who want to maximize their chances of getting an airdrop will look to increase their on-chain footprint on the mainnet.
Starknet
Starknet is another ZK-based Ethereum rollup that supports decentralized applications. Starkware, the developing company behind Starknet, has confirmed the STARK token and utility for decentralizing the Ethereum Layer-2 network.
The team has previously worked on StarkEx, an Ethereum scale engine used by independent Layer-2 solutions like Sorare, ImmutableX and dYdX. The success of previous projects instills confidence in the success of Starknet.
Starkware launched the Starknet mainnet in November 2023. Total deposits on Starnet increased by 45% to $2.49 million after the announcement of the Aribtrum token launch as users rushed to process the next airdrop. On-chain analytics company, Nansen, to witness a record deposit of $3.4 million in ETH and DAI on March 17 for the Starknet ecosystem.
Scroll
Rollup, branded as “true zkEVM,” is another Ethereum Layer 2 ZK-Rollup. It is similar to zkSync Era, which comes with full EVM compatibility. The project raised $30 million in April 2022 in an investment round led by Polychain Capital.
Blockchain was developed by Ye Zhang, Ph.D. student at New York University. Roll’s design emulates the same version of the Ethereum Virtual Machine used on the mainnet, making it easier for existing Ethereum developers to deploy code on Roll compared to alternatives like zkSync and Polygon’s zkEVM.
On February 28, the Gulung team opened on the Goerli Ethereum testnet, enabling public testing activities. According to the team, more than 100,000 users accessed the previous testnet version of Scroll. The mainnet launch is scheduled for the end of 2023.
related: Attack of zkEVMs! Crypto is 10x the moment
Sui Network
Sui Network is a Move-based Layer-1 blockchain, similar to Aptos, born from the ashes of the failed Meta blockchain project, Libra. Evan Cheng, who previously led the research and development unit of the crypto wallet Meta, is the CEO of Mysten Labs, the team developing Sui.
Aptos Labs launched its blockchain native token, APT, on October 18, 2022, sending 20 million tokens to eligible users who created custom NFTs on the Aptos testnet. On launch day, the airdrop cost more than $1,500. Sui testnet users can expect a similar airdrop when the mainnet launches in Q2 2023.
On March 21, Mysten Labs opened Waves for Mainnet campaign, including “a series of events and content to further educate the public about the potential for the Sui protocol.” Participating in the Sui campaign and developing a digital footprint on the testnet can increase your chances of getting an airdrop in the future.
You Network
Sei Network is a Cosmos-based Layer 1 blockchain focused primarily on DeFi and high-frequency trading applications.
The blockchain includes basic applications such as order matching engines and liquidity models integrated into the platform to enhance the trading experience. The project is backed by industry heavyweights like Multicoin Capital, Coinbase Ventures and Delphi Digital.
The team launched an incentivized testnet in Q2 2022 with various NFT minting missions and campaigns. Users who participate in the event will receive an airdrop when the mainnet launches. The team has assumed that the launch will happen soon.
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