What Is Airdrop Farming and How to Do It to Earn Free Crypto

What Is Airdrop Farming?

Airdrop farming in crypto is a strategy used by users where they intentionally engage in various activities or complete specific tasks across different projects to qualify for and receive airdrops. 

An airdrop is the distribution of free tokens or assets by a project as part of a promotional campaign or to reward early adopters. It is also the most popular form of token launch distribution as it helps the project bootstrap an initial community. With many projects undertaking airdrop campaigns, some users have taken to systematically “farm” these rewards, leading to the term airdrop farmers. These farmers often face criticism for exploiting the system, with some even using bots and automated scripts to take advantage of the opportunities for personal gain.

How Do I Farm Airdrops?

Typically, users can farm  airdrops through one of two ways. The first is through consistent and active interaction with the platform. For instance, a user may qualify for an airdrop from a token bridge dApp such as Wormhole or LayerZero simply by actively using its token bridges. A popular method for determining a user's airdrop allocation involves aggregating various factors such as the number of transactions, fees paid, overall usage history, and sometimes even interactions with the project’s social media channels. 

Specifically, usage history is evaluated to reward users based on the duration and consistency of their engagement. For instance, a user who has been actively using the dApp for 20 months may be rewarded more favorably compared to a user who has only started using the dApp for 3 months. Projects generally favor and reward long-term and early adopters more for their sustained participation.

Another method is through liquidity provision. To bootstrap liquidity, platforms often incentivize users to provide liquidity with the promise of an airdrop. For example, the zkSync airdrop rewarded liquidity providers based on the amount of liquidity they contributed and the duration of their participation. This strategy is commonly used by projects aiming to quickly establish liquidity. However, it can also favor wealthier participants who are able to provide larger amounts of liquidity, potentially skewing the airdrop amounts towards wealthier users.

There are also other ways of qualifying for an airdrop such as being holders of active Non-Fungible Token (NFT) communities such as Pudgy Penguins. Owners of these NFTs are frequently included in many airdrops as their communities are deemed to be valuable users. This inclusion is sometimes seen as unfair and biased by members of the crypto community.

Airdrop farming is a complex strategy that is ever-changing especially since its rise to popularity in 2024, for an up to date guide on how to farm specific airdrops visit our Airdrop Guide Learn Section!