Crypto airdrops are a great way to earn some extra tokens without having to spend any of your hard-earned crypto. In this article, we will explain airdrop farming and provide helpful resources that will help you get started on your airdrop farming journey.
Key highlights:
Airdrops happen when a crypto project distributes some of their tokens to users for free.
You can often increase your airdrop token allocation by making specific types of blockchain transactions.
The practice of maximizing airdrop rewards is called airdrop farming.
We show you the best ways to earn airdrop rewards based on the type of airdrop you're participating in.
What is airdrop farming?
Airdrop farming is the practice of maximizing your chances to get free cryptocurrency via airdrops. Most commonly, airdrop farming involves making specific types of transactions on a blockchain, but the best methods for airdrop farming depend on the type of airdrop you’re looking to participate in.
How to farm airdrops
Now, let’s take a look at the different ways you can earn tokens via airdrops. Please keep in mind that every airdrop has different criteria for eligibility, so you’ll have to do some research for each airdrop you’re interested in.
Confirmed airdrops
If you want to participate in confirmed airdrops, you can use websites for airdrops to stay on top of currently active crypto airdrops.
These are some of the best crypto airdrop sites you can use to find out airdrops to farm:
Airdrops.io
AirDropAlert
DappRadar
AirDropBob
A useful feature of airdrop websites is that they usually don’t just list airdrops, but also provide instructions on how to participate in them. If you’re looking for a more curated list of airdrops, we provide a list of the best crypto airdrops on CoinCodex.
Here are some of the common tasks you might have to do if you want to become eligible for airdrops:
Swapping tokens on a specific DEX (decentralized exchange)
Providing liquidity to a specific trading pair
Bridging tokens from one blockchain to another using a specific crypto bridge
Buying or selling NFTs on a specific NFT marketplace
Promoting the project on social media
Most often, you’ll be farming airdrops on Solana, Ethereum or layer 2 blockchains that are compatible with Ethereum.
Currently, it’s common practice to give airdrop participants “points” for completing certain tasks. When it’s time for the airdrop, the project allocates tokens to users based on the amount of points they earned during the airdrop campaign.
It's important to be cautious of airdrops that require too much effort in exchange for tokens. Legit projects use airdrops to achieve wide token distribution, not as a way to get people to work for them for free.
In some cases, projects have even asked airdrop participants for personal information. Needless to say, such airdrops should be avoided to protect your privacy and security.
Retroactive airdrops
One of the most popular ways to farm airdrops is to interact with crypto protocols and products that haven’t yet announced a plan to launch a token or airdrop, but are likely to do so at some point in the future.
A retroactive airdrop refers to the distribution of new tokens to users of a crypto protocol or platform. The term "retroactive" is used because these airdrops are based on a snapshot of the protocol’s past on-chain activity, rewarding users who have previously interacted with the platform.
The concept of retroactive airdrops gained traction in 2020, starting with Uniswap. Other DeFi projects like 1inch Network and dYdX quickly adopted the concept as well.
Many users engage with platforms and protocols that do not yet have a token, hoping to receive future airdrops as a reward for their early participation.
Here is a quick list of high-quality blockchain projects that haven’t yet announced plans to launch a token or airdrop, but might do so in the future.
Polymarket
Linea
Eclipse
Zora
Phantom
Please keep in mind that there’s no guarantee that the projects featured on this list will actually launch a token on airdrop. However, making some transactions on these platforms could be worthwhile if you’re trying to increase your chances of being included in airdrops.
Launchpools
Another way to get some tokens for (practically) free is to participate in Launchpool campaigns organized by major crypto exchanges such as Binance and Bybit.
The basic idea of a launchpool goes as follows:
A cryptocurrency project that’s about to launch a token partners with a crypto exchange. This gives the project a chance to distribute their tokens to a large number of users, benefit from increased visibility and secure a listing on a major exchange.
The project allocates a portion of their token’s supply to the launchpool campaign.
The exchange allows users to earn the new tokens by temporarily staking tokens (typically stablecoins and exchange tokens such as BNB).
After the launchpool campaign concludes, users are airdropped the new project’s tokens based on the amount of tokens they have staked and the duration of the stake.
After the airdrop, the token is listed on the exchange’s spot markets and can be freely traded by anyone.
While the average user will only receive a modest amount of tokens through launchpools, the great thing about them is that you don’t actually have to spend any crypto in order to participate. All you have to do is temporarily stake some tokens, and you can unstake them at any time.
Get Free Tokens on Binance
Telegram airdrops
At the moment, the TON Blockchain ecosystem is very popular when it comes to airdrops. More specifically, there is a large number of Telegram games where users can collect in-game points which are convertible to a token airdrop at a later date.
Most often, these games are clicker or idle games with very simple gameplay mechanics. Players collect in-game points and spend them to purchase upgrades, which further increase their ability to earn points. Typically, these games also implement daily challenges and tasks that allow players to earn additional points.
Once the project is ready to launch their token, players receive tokens based on the amount of in-game points they have earned and other factors (such as player referrals).
If you want to learn more about the best Telegram airdrops at the moment, make sure to check out our list of confirmed Telegram airdrops.
The bottom line
You can earn free tokens in airdrops through active participation in crypto protocols, using products such as wallets and DEXes, playing Telegram games and other methods. While the safest play is to only participate in confirmed airdrops, you can also earn some good rewards by taking a chance on upcoming airdrops and potential airdrops.
However, it’s important to understand that you’re not very likely to strike it rich from airdrops, unless you get very lucky. Airdrop farming is a very popular practice at the moment, which means that airdrops tend to get split among a very large number of users, reducing the number of tokens earned by each user.
If you’re someone who’s interested in the topic of airdrop farming, you’ll want to check out our guide on how how to buy new crypto before listing.
