It is beyond doubt that airdrops have been getting a lot of attention over the past few months. Airdrops, particularly in DeFi have been a way for projects to distribute tokens evenly among early supports. Some of the more popular Defi Protocols airdrops like Uniswap and 1inch have been highly lucrative for its early users and are excellent examples of being rewarded for participation in crypto.
This year alone, we have seen multiple high-value airdrops for early users. One such example was dydx, a decentralised margin trading platform that airdropped its early user’s tokens worth between $4,000 and $135,000, depending on trading volume. A much more recent airdrop was carried out by Ethereum Naming Service (ENS), the web 3.0 username service. Users who bought ens domains netted upwards of four digits.
If you missed out on these airdrops or are looking for more after receiving them, you are at the right place. Before going on with the list of potential airdrops, I would like to mention that these are just speculations and there could be projects in this list that have already taken a snapshot but just haven’t disclosed it to the public yet. Regardless, here are a few protocols that do not have a token yet and can possibly do an airdrop to their users:
1. Metamask
Metamask is the most popular crypto wallet that users use to buy, store, send and swap tokens in various different blockchains. The metamask airdrop has been rumoured for the longest time. It is pretty evident that the airdrop could potentially be around the corner, especially with this tweet by the co-founder of Ethereum and the founder of ConsenSys, the company behind Metamask.
If you have not already done so, it would be good to create a metamask wallet and swap tokens in their in-built swap section. It could be possible that the snapshot has been taken already, given the founder is talking about the token in public — but we never know with these things
2. Opensea
Opensea is the largest NFT marketplace that allows users to buy, sell and trade NFT’s. The marketplace has soared over the year, with volume surging over 3 billion in August. Many of the other marketplaces like SuperRare have already launched a token through an airdrop, so it would be wise to think that opensea would potentially do the same.
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Potential Criteria: Interact with the platform by buying or selling NFT’s
3. Zapper
Zapper is a DeFi asset management platform that lets users track and visualise defi assets and liabilities in one interface. It is cross-chain and tracks portfolios across 9 different networks. Zapper has raised $17 Million in funding from Coinbase ventures, Delphi Digital and many other investors.
Potential Criteria: Complete the quests on the platform to earn experience
4. Zerion
Zerion is another DeFi asset management platform to build and manage your entire DeFi portfolio. Zerion received 10.2 Million in Series A funding from Placeholder, Wintermute and other investors.
Potential Criteria: Complete Swaps and interact with the platform
5. Matcha
Matcha is a decentralised trading platform powered by 0x labs that finds users the best prices across all the different exchanges and combines them into one trade.
Potential Criteria: Make trades on the platform
6. Cowswap
Cowswap is a DEX aggregator that allows users to trade with Miner Extractable Value (MEV) while utilizing ETH-less orders settled by AMM’s or p2p. Cowswap recently hit a record daily volume of 50 Million and operates in Ethereum and xDai chain.
Potential Criteria: Make trades on the platform
7. Zksync
Zksync is a layer 2 that was the first ZK rollup capable of executing native ethereum smart contracts. It is a trustless protocol for low-cost payments and uses zero-knowledge proofs and on-chain data to keep users funds safe. Zksync does not have a token yet, but the official website claims that tokens will be released in the future.
Potential Criteria: Use testnet, swap tokens and bridge ETH into the wallet. While you are at it, you could also test out Zigzag Exchange, an order book that is already active on zksync, by swapping your bridged ETH. Who knows? Zigzag could also do an airdrop in the future.
8. Optimism
Optimism is an EVM compatible optimistic rollup (ORU) that is designed to be fast, simple and secure. There have been tremendous vocal support for public rollups like Optimism to issue tokens in order to compete with other layer 1’s.
Potential Criteria: Bridge tokens using the official optimism bridge and make some swap tokens on Uniswap at an incredibly low cost. Additionally, try out Kwenta and Rubicon, which are dapps on optimism that could do an airdrop in the long run as well.
9. Arbitrum
Similar to Optimism, Arbitrum is an optimistic rollup that is built to scale Ethereum by offchain labs. Offchain labs has received $123 Million in funding from Polychain Capital, Pantera Capital, Alameda Research and many other VC/investors. Arbitrum, as of now, has the highest total value locked amount among all the upcoming layer 2 protocols.
Potential Criteria: Bridge tokens using the official arbitrium bridge and make some swaps on Uniswap at an incredibly low cost.
10. Hop Exchange & Xpollinate
Hop exchange and Xpollinate are cross-chain bridges that help users efficiently send tokens across rollups and layer 1’s. These are critical for the seamless interaction between different chains. Hop exchange is being rumored to be doing an airdrop, and I believe Xpollinate will also be following in the footsteps if it happens.
Potential Criteria: Send tokens across different chains and Layer 2’s
Notice how the term “potential criteria” is being used for all of the airdrops mentioned in this list. This is because it is never clear as to what projects have in mind, and we can only speculate based on each project’s application.
Disclaimer: As usual, none of the information in this article is financial advice. These airdrops and criteria are pure speculations, as I mentioned numerous times in this article. Individuals must do their own research before using all these projects in expectation of Airdrops.
