The recent Token Generation Event (TGE) of the Scroll project in October signals the winding down of Layer 2 (L2) airdrops. Following the announcement of this airdrop standard, which uses a scoring system as the entry threshold, a Twitter user humorously noted a score of 199.99—talk about bad luck!
Indeed, the key focus for any airdrop is its “entry criteria,” as this determines the difference between receiving “nothing and hundreds of dollars.”
When considering multiple accounts, this can escalate to the difference between “nothing and tens of thousands of dollars.” In this article, I will summarize the “low-threshold” standards of mainstream airdrops to help you strategize for future projects.
UNI kicked off the airdrop era, offering a true “click to receive” opportunity—just one transaction could net you over a thousand dollars in rewards.
If UNI is the heavyweight champion of decentralized exchanges (DEX), then DYDX is the game-changer in the perpetual contracts (PERP) arena. You only need to make a deposit (no trading necessary) to qualify for rewards; if your trading volume exceeds $1, you can earn even more tokens.
However, keep in mind that you’ll need to boost your trading volume before you can claim the airdrop, and this cost should be considered.
Initially, when the rules were announced, EIGEN did not offer low-threshold rewards and instead distributed tokens based on user scores. Some accounts with lower deposits missed out on airdrops, which drew significant criticism.
The team quickly revised the rules to be more favorable for retail investors. All users who deposited on the mainnet before the announcement received 100 low-threshold tokens in addition to the tokens earned through their scores.
Additionally, earlier LRT users (before March 15), such as Renzo, also received 100 low-threshold tokens. It’s clear that the EIGEN team has a broad vision.
Pizza represents another great opportunity in the BTC ecosystem and is quite simple; you only need to make one transfer using Unisat to qualify. However, the snapshot start date coincided with the decline of the inscription craze, meaning many players didn’t use their BTC wallets during that time.
The low-threshold rewards for ZIRCUIT aren’t particularly valuable, but due to very low ETH gas fees at the time, the costs were also minimal. Some accounts managed to keep costs under $2, and if done in bulk, there was still a decent return on investment. It’s reported that Feng (@0x0xFeng) registered 2,000 accounts.
OP is the trailblazer of L2 airdrops. Thanks to the relatively low costs of L2, it also began the trend of maximizing rewards through multiple accounts. The requirements for OP’s low-threshold rewards are quite simple; you just need to use OP twice with at least a day in between. Other eligibility criteria are also easy to meet, like using OP during four separate weeks.
ARB was a significant airdrop that offered very low costs for qualifying for rewards. The entire process was straightforward. Many users rushed to participate in this project. After the ARB airdrop, it marked the beginning of a new era for studios looking to optimize their earnings.
The low-threshold rules for STRK follow a typical “multiple usage” model, with specific requirements for transaction count, usage duration, and trading volume, but they are not too strict.
However, one contentious requirement is that users must have a balance greater than 0.005 ETH. This blanket standard disqualified many DeFi users who had their funds in lending or liquidity pools. Furthermore, on L2 networks, such a high ETH requirement for gas isn’t necessary, which also left another group of users unable to meet the airdrop criteria.
Since 2022, many L2 projects have used a “multiple usage” standard to determine eligibility for rewards, which has attracted many studios. Zksync, however, has opted for a points system, using TWAB (Time-Weighted Average Balance) to determine token accumulation. Simply put, the more money you deposit and the longer you keep it there, the more tokens you will receive in the airdrop.
If you interact with Zksync like you would with OP, ARB, or Starknet—by moving large sums, swapping, and quickly transferring funds to new accounts—you might end up with nothing because your time-weighted balance will be too low.
Scroll is open about its points-based airdrop system, also utilizing the TWAB mechanism. The 200-point threshold was something most users expected.
In a real-world example, a younger Biteye deposited 0.16 ETH to exchange for Stone at the end of May but didn’t put it into any DeFi protocols, resulting in a score of 190 points.
Depositing into lending protocols or liquidity pools yields higher points, leading to the conclusion that depositing 0.15 ETH in a DeFi protocol for over four months can qualify for low-threshold rewards.
In its initial phase, Puffer ran promotions where registering would earn users 1000 points, plus additional points for referrals, allowing users to qualify for rewards without needing to deposit any funds.
04Premium account rewards
Projects like Celestia, which focus on modular infrastructure rather than just L2 solutions, have many partnerships. This means you might have interacted with TIA without even realizing it. The TIA airdrop serves as a reminder of the importance of maintaining good activity across the mainnet, ENS, and Gitcoin.
The project team did not clearly define what constitutes an active rollup user, making the requirements quite competitive. Neither the younger Biteye’s nor the older brother’s EVM addresses met the criteria, but the older brother’s Starknet wallet, which had a larger balance, received a few tokens.
Moreover, some group members mentioned that addresses that had interacted with zkEVM easily qualified, and wallets that had made inscriptions on Zksync also received low-threshold rewards.
Looking at the timeline, airdrops have evolved from “click-to-receive” ➡️ “multiple usage” ➡️ “points-based systems,” indicating that the difficulty is increasing over time.
In 2024, there will still be airdrops like Eigenlayer’s “click-to-receive,” but these are supported by strong project foundations and good visions. Early Eigen airdrops were also time-limited and had high gas fees.
As for results, even if you deposit $10, you can receive low-threshold rewards. However, it takes a lot of courage to spend high gas fees to deposit multiple accounts, as most projects won’t reward that kind of effort.
I believe there may still be “click-to-receive” opportunities with Babylon for a couple of reasons:
However, such airdrops will likely become less common due to increasing competition. Similarly, transparent airdrops like ARB’s will also decrease. Although not always transparent, the returns after tokens are issued might be higher because non-transparent airdrops usually face less competition, allowing for more creative project ideas. This type of project challenges users’ ability to discover and strategize.
In my opinion, points-based projects should prioritize low-threshold accounts since projects like Blast and Mode lock funds for top-ranking wallets.
The best outcome for premium accounts would be to have rewards released in a linear fashion based on points. However, this makes it harder for project teams to engage in “mouse trading” strategies. Therefore, I suggest not focusing solely on premium accounts but rather splitting your funds—at least half for premium accounts and half for low-threshold accounts. This strategy could be more stable.
Low-threshold accounts should ideally rank in the top 30%. Based on past experiences, it’s advisable to deposit between $100 and $200 worth of tokens as soon as points are introduced, preferably into DeFi protocols such as lending or liquidity pools.
Additionally, some projects allow users to increase points through methods like circular lending (though it’s important to manage risks), like BOB. However, Scroll has made it clear that the funds used in circular lending will not count towards point calculations.
The recent Token Generation Event (TGE) of the Scroll project in October signals the winding down of Layer 2 (L2) airdrops. Following the announcement of this airdrop standard, which uses a scoring system as the entry threshold, a Twitter user humorously noted a score of 199.99—talk about bad luck!
Indeed, the key focus for any airdrop is its “entry criteria,” as this determines the difference between receiving “nothing and hundreds of dollars.”
When considering multiple accounts, this can escalate to the difference between “nothing and tens of thousands of dollars.” In this article, I will summarize the “low-threshold” standards of mainstream airdrops to help you strategize for future projects.
UNI kicked off the airdrop era, offering a true “click to receive” opportunity—just one transaction could net you over a thousand dollars in rewards.
If UNI is the heavyweight champion of decentralized exchanges (DEX), then DYDX is the game-changer in the perpetual contracts (PERP) arena. You only need to make a deposit (no trading necessary) to qualify for rewards; if your trading volume exceeds $1, you can earn even more tokens.
However, keep in mind that you’ll need to boost your trading volume before you can claim the airdrop, and this cost should be considered.
Initially, when the rules were announced, EIGEN did not offer low-threshold rewards and instead distributed tokens based on user scores. Some accounts with lower deposits missed out on airdrops, which drew significant criticism.
The team quickly revised the rules to be more favorable for retail investors. All users who deposited on the mainnet before the announcement received 100 low-threshold tokens in addition to the tokens earned through their scores.
Additionally, earlier LRT users (before March 15), such as Renzo, also received 100 low-threshold tokens. It’s clear that the EIGEN team has a broad vision.
Pizza represents another great opportunity in the BTC ecosystem and is quite simple; you only need to make one transfer using Unisat to qualify. However, the snapshot start date coincided with the decline of the inscription craze, meaning many players didn’t use their BTC wallets during that time.
The low-threshold rewards for ZIRCUIT aren’t particularly valuable, but due to very low ETH gas fees at the time, the costs were also minimal. Some accounts managed to keep costs under $2, and if done in bulk, there was still a decent return on investment. It’s reported that Feng (@0x0xFeng) registered 2,000 accounts.
OP is the trailblazer of L2 airdrops. Thanks to the relatively low costs of L2, it also began the trend of maximizing rewards through multiple accounts. The requirements for OP’s low-threshold rewards are quite simple; you just need to use OP twice with at least a day in between. Other eligibility criteria are also easy to meet, like using OP during four separate weeks.
ARB was a significant airdrop that offered very low costs for qualifying for rewards. The entire process was straightforward. Many users rushed to participate in this project. After the ARB airdrop, it marked the beginning of a new era for studios looking to optimize their earnings.
The low-threshold rules for STRK follow a typical “multiple usage” model, with specific requirements for transaction count, usage duration, and trading volume, but they are not too strict.
However, one contentious requirement is that users must have a balance greater than 0.005 ETH. This blanket standard disqualified many DeFi users who had their funds in lending or liquidity pools. Furthermore, on L2 networks, such a high ETH requirement for gas isn’t necessary, which also left another group of users unable to meet the airdrop criteria.
Since 2022, many L2 projects have used a “multiple usage” standard to determine eligibility for rewards, which has attracted many studios. Zksync, however, has opted for a points system, using TWAB (Time-Weighted Average Balance) to determine token accumulation. Simply put, the more money you deposit and the longer you keep it there, the more tokens you will receive in the airdrop.
If you interact with Zksync like you would with OP, ARB, or Starknet—by moving large sums, swapping, and quickly transferring funds to new accounts—you might end up with nothing because your time-weighted balance will be too low.
Scroll is open about its points-based airdrop system, also utilizing the TWAB mechanism. The 200-point threshold was something most users expected.
In a real-world example, a younger Biteye deposited 0.16 ETH to exchange for Stone at the end of May but didn’t put it into any DeFi protocols, resulting in a score of 190 points.
Depositing into lending protocols or liquidity pools yields higher points, leading to the conclusion that depositing 0.15 ETH in a DeFi protocol for over four months can qualify for low-threshold rewards.
In its initial phase, Puffer ran promotions where registering would earn users 1000 points, plus additional points for referrals, allowing users to qualify for rewards without needing to deposit any funds.
04Premium account rewards
Projects like Celestia, which focus on modular infrastructure rather than just L2 solutions, have many partnerships. This means you might have interacted with TIA without even realizing it. The TIA airdrop serves as a reminder of the importance of maintaining good activity across the mainnet, ENS, and Gitcoin.
The project team did not clearly define what constitutes an active rollup user, making the requirements quite competitive. Neither the younger Biteye’s nor the older brother’s EVM addresses met the criteria, but the older brother’s Starknet wallet, which had a larger balance, received a few tokens.
Moreover, some group members mentioned that addresses that had interacted with zkEVM easily qualified, and wallets that had made inscriptions on Zksync also received low-threshold rewards.
Looking at the timeline, airdrops have evolved from “click-to-receive” ➡️ “multiple usage” ➡️ “points-based systems,” indicating that the difficulty is increasing over time.
In 2024, there will still be airdrops like Eigenlayer’s “click-to-receive,” but these are supported by strong project foundations and good visions. Early Eigen airdrops were also time-limited and had high gas fees.
As for results, even if you deposit $10, you can receive low-threshold rewards. However, it takes a lot of courage to spend high gas fees to deposit multiple accounts, as most projects won’t reward that kind of effort.
I believe there may still be “click-to-receive” opportunities with Babylon for a couple of reasons:
However, such airdrops will likely become less common due to increasing competition. Similarly, transparent airdrops like ARB’s will also decrease. Although not always transparent, the returns after tokens are issued might be higher because non-transparent airdrops usually face less competition, allowing for more creative project ideas. This type of project challenges users’ ability to discover and strategize.
In my opinion, points-based projects should prioritize low-threshold accounts since projects like Blast and Mode lock funds for top-ranking wallets.
The best outcome for premium accounts would be to have rewards released in a linear fashion based on points. However, this makes it harder for project teams to engage in “mouse trading” strategies. Therefore, I suggest not focusing solely on premium accounts but rather splitting your funds—at least half for premium accounts and half for low-threshold accounts. This strategy could be more stable.
Low-threshold accounts should ideally rank in the top 30%. Based on past experiences, it’s advisable to deposit between $100 and $200 worth of tokens as soon as points are introduced, preferably into DeFi protocols such as lending or liquidity pools.
Additionally, some projects allow users to increase points through methods like circular lending (though it’s important to manage risks), like BOB. However, Scroll has made it clear that the funds used in circular lending will not count towards point calculations.