In the past two weeks, the controversy over the qualifications of zkSync airdrops has been the most concerned topic in the community. Community users and project owners have different opinions, and the controversy was finally explained by the saying "the era of airdrops has changed". Various signals indicate that in the new cycle, airdrops can no longer easily achieve a win-win situation for users and project owners, and the actual realization of this native wealth code in the cryptocurrency circle has become more difficult.
It is worth noting that on the day when ZK was launched on the Binance trading platform, Binance announced the distribution of ZK tokens to qualified community users, providing a total of 52,500 places to the community and distributing more than 10 million ZK tokens.
This move is unprecedented. It is not just a "pattern" operation around the zkSync community, but also reflects the important changes Binance has made under the new changes in the crypto market environment.
In recent months, the crypto market has preferred projects with sufficient circulation, and projects with high FDV and low circulation have been labeled as suppressing market liquidity. Based on the changing needs of the crypto community, Binance announced a month ago that it would modify its listing rules to provide opportunities for crypto projects with medium to high circulation but low FDV.
Explorations to respond to community needs are ongoing. On June 19, Binance announced the launch of the HODLer Airdrop event, using a "retrospective snapshot" approach to distribute new project tokens to BNB holders. This time, the HODLer Airdrop tends to select projects with medium to low market value FDV and medium to high circulation.
Previously, project tokens were usually listed on Binance with Launchpool, and BNB holders would receive rewards through Launchpool or Megadrop. However, since such activities clearly define the participation time and project situation, they will attract large funds to buy BNB at the beginning of the activity and pour into the Launchpool, and then unlock and withdraw in large quantities at the end, which may even have a volatile impact on the price of BNB. For the interests of long-term BNB holders, it seems necessary to control the incentive share of project tokens allocated to Launchpool to a certain extent.
Through this HODLer Airdrop event, rewards were distributed to the community before the project tokens were listed on Binance spot trading, allowing long-term BNB holders to obtain more shares of new project tokens.
In users' predictions of project development, "being listed on Binance" often represents "a big deal", which is one of the highlights of the project to attract users to participate. Now, there is a more comprehensive solution in this expectation fulfillment link. HODLer Airdrop makes the process of realizing Binance's influence no longer just a game for big players, but also a blessing for diamond hands.
Retroactive dividends, the spring of Diamond Hands
Steps to participate in HODLer Airdrop
If you want to participate in the HODLer Airdrop event, you can deposit the BNB you hold into "Simple Earning Coins". Regardless of which deposit period you choose, you will have the opportunity to receive the airdrop tokens issued by Binance.
The steps to participate are very simple and seem to be nothing special. The characteristic of HODLer Airdrop is that Binance will take multiple snapshots of the user's balance and the total pool balance at any time every hour to calculate the user's average balance per hour. The final decision on how much airdrop rewards a user can get is the snapshot at a random time before the announcement of the airdrop reward.
In addition, when participating in the event, users do not know what project's airdrops they will receive. Binance will announce the project information in the HODLer Airdrop announcement, and within 24 hours after the announcement, eligible users will receive the HODLer Airdrop rewards directly in their spot wallets.
Compared with previous community activities launched by Binance, HODLer Airdrop pays more attention to fairness and popularity, providing Binance users with a fairer opportunity to participate in activities and obtain investment returns with low risk.
Random snapshots, blind box prize draws
The introduction of the retrospective random snapshot mechanism adds uncertainty to the HODLer Airdrop activity. What ultimately determines how much airdrop rewards a user can get is a snapshot at a random moment before the airdrop reward announcement is released.
Before the HODLer Airdrop of the new token begins, Binance has completed the user balance snapshot. For example, in the calculation of the rewards for the HODLer Airdrop on June 11, 2024, the reference user balance snapshot time range is from June 1, 2024 to June 7, 2024.
This uncertainty will actually make community participation more equitable.
In the crypto market, "investment" and "speculation" operations are often mixed together. For loyal users who have long supported Binance and actively participated in community activities, random snapshots are a mechanism to recognize and reward their loyalty. HODLer Airdrop activities tend to reward investors who firmly hold BNB, encouraging users to invest based on their trust in Binance and their long-term optimism about the value of BNB, rather than speculative behavior pursuing short-term interests.
In addition, HODLer Airdrop also sets a hard limit on the amount of BNB each user can hold, which will also be announced in each HODLer Airdrop announcement. For example, if a user holds 203 BNB and the holding calculation limit is 200 BNB, the user's final reward amount will be calculated based on 200 BNB.
This limited participation mechanism avoids the monopoly of rewards by users with larger amounts of funds to a certain extent. Small and medium-sized investors will be able to obtain more reward shares, thereby highlighting the dividend returns for long-term holders.
The setting that is compatible with the retrospective random snapshot is the post-disclosure of project details, which can be understood as a "blind box prize draw". Such a setting involves the trust between the platform and users.
When users participate in the HODLer Airdrop event, they do not know exactly which airdrop token they will receive. If there are multiple HODLer Airdrop projects running at the same time, the user's BNB assets in BNB Simple Earn will be distributed to the projects running at the same time (unless otherwise stated).
New coins on Binance often become hot topics for discussion and pursuit in the crypto community. In the attention-driven crypto market, taking action before market news means being able to get more financial returns. In this HODLer Airdrop event, a snapshot was taken when the announcement was released, and eligible users can receive token airdrops within just 24 hours after the announcement was issued.
This fast feedback mechanism can provide users with instant satisfaction. Holding BNB can "passively own hot target positions." In addition, it is well known that Binance's mining and listing rumors often have an impact on BNB's price fluctuations, and the HODLer Airdrop weakens this impact to a certain extent, lengthening the investor's holding period. This is a community game involving trust, which requires Binance to have enough confidence.
One fish, four ways to eat, seamless BNB benefits
Prior to this, Launchpool had become the "strongest engine" to boost BNB's growth and give back to community users. In the past year, BNB has risen by more than 130%, rising from around $200 to a record high of $721 at the beginning of this month. During the same period, the benefits of BNB holders participating in Launchpool were quite impressive.
In the past six months, Binance Launchpool has launched 14 projects. Users can participate in the mining of new coins by staking BNB. In addition to the gains from the increase in BNB, they can also get considerable Launchpool gains. Taking the mining gains of the 14 periods before April 16 as an example, the average BNB mining yield was 136%, and during the bear market, the mining APY of Launchpool was also around 15%-20%.
Related reading: "Analyzing the wealth code of Binance Launchpool, what is the wealth effect of previous years?"
Later, Binance launched the Megadrop event, where users can subscribe to BNB regular products, participate in the event in the Binance Web3 wallet to earn points, and get new coin airdrop rewards. The first Megadrop project, Bitcoin re-staking public chain BounceBit (BB), also had an increase of more than 200% two weeks after its launch.
Related reading: "Killing two birds with one stone, retail investor-friendly, analyzing the advantages of Binance's Megadrop"
So what is the difference between the HODLer Airdrop and the Launchpool, which is still running now, and the recently launched Magadrop?
The biggest difference is that Launchpool and Megadrop both have clear funding effectiveness times, while the holding period of HODLer Airdrop is a random period before the announcement.
Based on this, from the user’s perspective, the participation paths for the first two are to first see the announcement, then put the BNB held into the activity pool or participate in the activity, while the HODLer Airdrop has completed a snapshot of the BNB holders who previously participated in the deposit when the announcement was issued.
In the HODLer Airdrop, BNB users can enjoy the simple profit rate of earning coins, and can also participate in the Launchpool and Megadrop points activities at the same time, enjoying the benefits of "one fish, four meals". The opportunity for users to generate additional income based on BNB assets will be seamlessly connected.
By continuously launching such community activities, Binance's development and the interests of BNB holders have formed a positive cycle. Despite the sluggish market and the changing narrative, the industry continues to develop, and there are still many projects worth paying attention to and with investment value. Doing a comprehensive investment research analysis and keeping an eye on alpha dynamics are the first rules of crypto market investment. In addition, following the "biggest smart money" to earn low-risk returns is also an option worth considering.
Just a month ago, Binance announced that it would modify its listing rules and start supporting small and medium-sized crypto projects, saying that Binance would invite high-quality teams to apply for listing projects through direct listing, Launchpools, and Megadrops. In the introduction of the launch of HODLer Airdrop, Binance also emphasized that it would introduce small and medium-sized projects with large circulation, strong community, and organic growth. At present, the first round of listing projects of HODLer Airdrop has not been announced. What will the wealth effect be? There is also the unveiling of the "first batch of diamond hand users".
