Original | Odaily Planet Daily

Author | Nanzhi

The three major airdrop kings of 2023, Starknet, ZKsync, and LayerZero, have all come to an end. There are not many large-scale airdrop opportunities at the public chain level left. The market's attention is mainly focused on Monad, Scroll, Linea and Berachain (as well as the upcoming Blast).

In this article, Odaily will introduce the basic situation of Scroll, the latest points activities and costs, and the interaction opportunities of the header protocol.

Before going into detail, users with less interactive experience also need to understand the recent important trend - account refinement, or in other words, the amount of funds in each address is more tested. Most new projects have adopted a points system based on the amount of funds, and ZKsync's fund precipitation rules reflect this trend. The era of relying on low-cost Tx and monthly activity to get airdrops has basically come to an end. In addition, in Scroll's latest points activity, the amount of funds has become the most core factor, so the author recommends that users should focus on premium accounts in their interactive strategy.

Introduction to Scroll

Scroll is a native zkEVM layer 2 solution for Ethereum. It is natively compatible with existing Ethereum applications and tools. Scroll has completed three rounds of financing, the last of which was completed in March 23, raising $50 million, with participation from Polychain, Sequoia China, etc.

For reference, ZKsync's last round of financing was US$200 million; LayerZero's last round of financing was US$120 million, with a valuation of US$3 billion; Starknet's last round of financing was US$100 million, with a valuation of US$8 billion.

Cross-chain funding

Whether to use the official cross-chain bridge was a calculation factor in some previous Layer2 airdrops, so it is recommended to use the official bridge cross-chain once under the boutique account strategy.

When the median Gas Price of Ethereum mainnet is 4.3gwei, the measured costs of each path are as follows:

  • The cost of withdrawing ETH mainnet from Binance is 5 USDT, and the cost of withdrawing Arbitrum and other L2 networks is about 0.1 USDT;

  • The cost of withdrawing ETH mainnet on OKX is 1.38 USDT, and the cost of withdrawing Arbitrum and other L2 networks is about 0.2 USDT;

  • The official cross-chain bridge costs 1.8 USDT;

  • Using Stargate to cross-chain from L2 to Ethereum mainnet costs 1.35 USDT + 0.025% cross-chain bridge fee;

  • Using Orbiter to cross the L2 chain to the Ethereum main network costs 1.35 USDT + 0.05% cross-chain bridge fee;

  • Using Stargate to cross-chain from L2 to Scroll Gas fee is 0.25 USDT + 0.025% cross-chain bridge fee;

Therefore, the cross-chain strategy is different depending on the original location of the funds:

  • When funds are originally deposited in OKX, they can be withdrawn directly to the mainnet and then use the official cross-chain bridge;

  • When funds are originally stored in Binance, it is recommended to transfer to OKX and then repeat the above steps, rather than cross-chain from Binance to L2 and then cross-chain to the mainnet;

  • When funds are originally stored on the chain, it is recommended to use Stargate's economic model (Economy), which takes about 4 minutes to cross the chain to the main network.

Scroll Sessions

ScrollSession One is the second round of loyalty program launched by Scroll on June 22, 2024. According to the official announcement of Scroll, this program aims to reward the community participating in the Scroll ecosystem through Scroll Marks (hereinafter referred to as points).

Basic Points-Entry Assets

Previously in April, Scroll launched Session Zero, at that time users could earn points through the native cross-chain bridge ETH and wstETH, or through LayerZero cross-chain STONE.

In Session One, after using any cross-chain bridge to cross-chain assets to Scroll, you can get corresponding scores based on the daily fund balance without any operation. Eligible assets include ETH, wstETH, STONE, USDC, USDT, wrsETH, and various assets on the Tranchess protocol. Users can follow the path introduced in the previous section.

Extra Points - Designated DEX/Lending Protocol

Providing liquidity to Scroll's designated DEX and performing lending operations in designated lending protocols will earn additional points.

There are 6 qualified DEXs, namely: Ambient Finance, Nuri, Izumi Finance, Syncswap, Oku Trade, and Zebra;

There are 6 qualified lending protocols, namely: Aave, Rho Markets, LayerBank, Cog Finance, Compound, Synonym. It should be noted that a single loan can earn you the full amount of extra points, and recurring loans will not earn you more points. You can earn extra points by depositing and lending assets and leaving them in your wallet.

The launch of Scroll Session means that Scroll's interactive airdrops have become a points model measured by asset amount. Due to the linear distribution characteristics of points, the strategy is once again tilted towards premium accounts.

Header Protocol

In previous Layer2 airdrops, the number of interactions with different contracts was also a major consideration. Although Scroll has launched a points system, it also involves multiple protocols. It is recommended to interact with more protocols and tokens while obtaining points in case the airdrop rules require it.

This section will introduce the functions of several top projects. In addition to the following projects, users can choose other Session One projects set by Scroll to participate. Previously, there have been many cases of top projects being stolen or running away on the ZKsync network, so users need to pay special attention to the security of the protocol.

Tranchess

Tranchess is a yield derivatives protocol, similar to Pendle, which allows interest-bearing tokens to be split into yield tokens and principal tokens. It currently supports STONE, SolvBTC and ETH, with a TVL of nearly US$300 million.

The four assets under Tranchess, turPSTONE, staYSTONE, stoneQUEEN, and staYSTONE-STONE, can obtain Scroll points.

(Odaily Note: CHESS, the protocol token of Transess, has been listed on Binance in 2021, and is one of the few tokens listed on Binance spot but without contracts. Its security is guaranteed to a certain extent.)

Pencils Protocol

Pencils Protocol is the second-largest protocol by TVL on Scroll and has many functions. Currently, you can only pay attention to and participate in its Stake section, which allows users to stake tokens such as WETH, USDT, USDC, and obtain points and income from the protocol itself.

However, it should be noted that the staking service of this protocol is not included in the list of additional points for Session One.

Ambient

Ambient is currently the DEX with the highest TVL on Scroll and is on the list of Session One’s extra points. Ambient provides both AMM and Perp trading. Providing liquidity on Ambient will earn you points in addition to Session One’s extra points, as well as points from the protocol itself.

Ghost

Aave is an old lending protocol from Ethereum, which I will not elaborate on here. Lending on Aave can earn you extra points for Session One and is the most secure. However, there is a cap on the supply on Scroll. As of the time of writing, it has reached the limit and no deposits can be made. Aave will increase the cap from time to time.

in conclusion

In addition to the mainstream trend of capital accumulation and the introduction of the points model by Scroll, the high gas fee on Scroll is also a major factor that users need to pay attention to. When the main network gas price is 4 gwei, each interaction still costs 0.25 USDT. Low-quality accounts can neither obtain enough Scroll Mark points nor easily consume ETH quickly due to high gas. The era of premium accounts has arrived.