TLDR I interviewed one of Lark’s writers, Jesse, to get some tips from him on how to have fun farming airdrops. How do you not lose your mind, your soul and your funds in the process? A key takeaway: by farming airdrops, you will get a feel for the quality of new projects, and will know if they are good investments – regardless if you qualify for the airdrop itself.
Airdrops in the pure sense of the word are tokenless protocols that you engage with, in the hopes that they will drop a token. For example, testnets. How do you know what airdrops to farm? How to keep track of positions, what to expect in terms of profits? Let’s dive in with Jesse.
Who’s Farming Who?
Who is farming who? Sometimes, the protocol lets the farmers jump through so many hoops that you don’t feel like an honest farmer, but like a circus monkey. Liking this, retweeting that, referring to such and such.
Jesse agrees:
“The protocols want to prove to the investors that they have a lot of interaction, a lot of traction. Pumping up those numbers, farming engagement on social channels. The projects that don’t have a lot of that, are often the most valuable, as they just want you to use their product.”
That isn’t to say that the social aspect doesn’t matter.
Jesse: When it’s done right, the project builds a community, gets people on board who want to support their project. For some projects – I WANT to hold their tokens – even if the price action is bloody – because I believe in them and they value my time. That separates real airdrops from the fakes. Eigenlayer blew it, and now members feel no longer valued.”
Airdrop Farming Evolution
The Uniswap airdrop of September 2020 took people by surprise. Just doing a swap before that month qualified you for a drop ending up being worth thousands.
Jesse: “It’s gotten a lot more complex. 1 transaction and walking away, like with UNI? zero chance of that now. You have to do those tasks daily or monthly. With bridges: touch them at least once a week. You can’t do a no-value trade, you can’t swap a penny. So while you can take some shortcuts, I would say, don’t cheat the system too much. It’s an arms race anyway. On the one hand you have industrial farmers and they try to outsmart defensive measures of the protocols that try to flag them. What you could do, to maximize your chances, is to use a few wallets and apply different amounts. Hope that a few of them won’t get flagged and will qualify.”
Follow the Main Trail
What to farm? There are literally hundreds of projects screaming for your time.
Farming Strategy is mostly following the main trail like Zealy, Galxe. These apps let you explore free mints, testnets, etcetera. (Zealy focuses more on DeFi services, like staking and liquidity provision). They’re like launchpads and communities for airdrops.
You can use such a platform to stay updated on new opportunities, ensuring you don’t miss out on potential token distributions. You connect your MetaMask, Coinbase wallet, etc. You create your ‘passport’ there that keeps you in touch.
Galxy also helps you find a community around specific projects. The hunt is often frustrating and so it can be nice to tap into the community knowledge of how to get over (or around)…
Erik started as a freelance writer around the time Satoshi was brewing on the whitepaper.
As a crypto investor, he is class of 2020. More of a holder than a trader, but never shy to experiment with new protocols.
