Author: Jake Pahor, Cryptography Researcher; Translation: 0xjs@Golden Finance
It’s only been two months since 2024 and the crypto community has already announced some huge airdrops: JUP, STRK, PIXEL, DYM, ALT, W.
The number of potential airdrops will exceed 1,000 in 2024. Therefore, crypto airdrops and harvesting have just begun.
But only a few airdrops will yield returns above 5 figures.
I have spent the past few weeks developing the ultimate airdrop evaluation framework and ranking 100 projects’ airdrops and picking the top 5 projects, along with the free tools I used.
Airdrop Evaluation Framework
With thousands of airdrops and points programs out there, it can quickly become overwhelming. To combat this, I created a framework for evaluating which airdrops are worth our time. After all, time is our most precious resource.
Here are the 6 indicators I will use:
1. Funding; 2. Points plan; 3. TVL; 4. Dilution; 5. Momentum; 6. Effort
I will explain why I chose these indicators and why they are important.
1. Financing
Well-funded projects are more likely to launch tokens and receive large airdrops. After all, venture capitalists need a way to cash out their gains.
DefiLlama has a great tool that lists all the tokenless protocols that are potentially airdropping. You can then filter by “Total Funds Raised.”
2. Points Program
If a project has a points program, there is a good chance they will do an airdrop in the future. Imagine the community backlash and brand damage if they don’t.
It is important to note that not all airdrops are based on a points program (such as ARB).
3、TVL
A high TVL can be a double-edged sword. While it increases the chances of receiving a large airdrop, it can also lead to dilution due to the participation of a large number of wallets.
Projects often use airdrop tiers as a way to manage distribution more fairly.
4. Dilution
If a large number of wallets are already participating in a certain airdrop, then this means that the value of the overall airdrop will be diluted.
General rule of thumb – aim to be in the top 10% of wallets if you can.
Just like investing, if you have limited funds, concentrate your bets.
5. Momentum
Focus on the ecosystems you believe in and the chains you prefer to use.
Cryptocurrency is an attention game, and the projects that receive the most attention during a bull run will be the biggest winners.
View TVL inflows on DefiLlama → DeFi → Chains → Sort 1m Change.
6. Hard work
I'm generally a pretty lazy person. I don't like to expend more effort than I need to.
So I prefer those airdrops that have less farming options. For example:
Higher Effort: Bridges, Dex's
Lower Workload: Staking, LP, Re-staking
Sometimes both are needed.
100 Project Airdrop Rankings
This is the airdrop ranking of more than 100 projects in 2024 that I made, the link is as follows:
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/177QsKoUP-Jp9hsvlBGhbRQ9HV6GrSaBH4RPAV-oDNFM/edit?usp=sharing
Of the 100 projects listed in the table, I believe there are a ton of profitable airdrops. There are probably many others that I’ve overlooked.
I will continually update this table to add new projects and future airdrops.
Top 5 airdrops list
Athena
Ethena Labs is a synthetic dollar protocol based on Ethereum. The stablecoin is USDe.
It has attracted huge attention within just a few days of its launch.
With 6,360 users, it has not yet been seriously diluted, but it won’t be for long. Ethena raised $20.5 million in funding.
Eigenlayer
Eigenlayer is a re-staking protocol based on Ethereum.
With TVL approaching $8 billion, it could be the largest airdrop in 2024. Eigenlayer raised $64.5 million.
B² Network
BSquared Network is a Layer 2 Rollup solution on Bitcoin.
It recently announced an airdrop for early adopters and has deposited over 24,000 addresses with a TVL of over $400 million.
It completed a seed round in January 2024 for an undisclosed amount (HashKey, OKX, Kucoin).
Stride
Stride is a liquidity staking platform for the IBC blockchain.
Its stTIA airdrop was very popular. You can earn STRD rewards by holding liquid staked TIA on Stride, Osmos, or Neutron.
Blast
Blast is an Ethereum layer 2 solution with native yields in ETH and stablecoins.
It has amassed over $1.8B TVL in just a few months and has received strong support ($20M funding).
Similar to EigenLayer, it has seen a large influx of users to take advantage of the airdrop, but it could still be a lucrative airdrop.
Some other good projects include:
Nostrs finance
Ether.fi
Parcl
Drift
Protocol
KelpDAO
Conclusion
Finally, airdrops are speculative in nature and there is no guarantee that we will receive any reward for our efforts.
I want to give a shout out to some of the great resources I used in this article: drakeondigital, Dynamo DeFi, CC2Ventures, Airdrops one, airdrops.io, DefiLlama
NOTE: None of this is financial advice or sponsored content. Always be highly cautious when clicking on links/airdrops.
