In web3, an airdrop refers to the process in which a project distributes new coins or tokens to selected wallet addresses or users who meet certain criteria. The goal, ultimately, can range from creating buzz and excitement around the project (or any of their new product launches), strengthening the community by giving members a stake in the project, or if the project is generous, it can be a way of saying “thank you” to early or loyal users.

In addition, airdrops are also a brilliant marketing strategy for projects to boost visibility, foster interest, and turn short-term or one-off users into loyal members of the project’s ecosystem. It’s a cost-effective method of promoting the project and generating hype around it while being beneficial to both the project and the participant.

In most cases, an airdrop is issued to the user after fulfilling certain criteria. These criteria, however, will vary depending on the type and purpose of the airdrop. To be precise, this can involve anything from simply signing up to a platform, completing certain tasks on the platform, promoting the project on social media, or even holding certain coins or tokens.

Once the tasks have been completed, the internal team of the project will conduct a verification process at the end of the campaign. Assuming no misconduct, the project will then distribute the promised tokens into the participant’s wallet, marking a successful airdrop campaign.

Since the first-ever airdrop by Auroracoin in 2014, this token distribution strategy has evolved substantially. Today, we can classify web3 airdrops into five categories, each of which has its own advantages depending on the desired endgame of the project.

Standard airdrops are the simplest type of airdrops. It’s open for everyone to participate in and rarely requires much effort to participate other than signing up for an account and providing a wallet address. Straightforward and has a low barrier to entry—who doesn’t love that?

This is where things get a little more interesting and interactive. Instead of completing a certain task to be eligible for a fixed number of tokens, bounty airdrops are where you complete tasks and earn points. These points will then determine how many tokens you’re eligible for. In other words, if you put a colossal amount of effort into completing the tasks, you’ll get rewarded for that and receive a very sizeable amount of tokens as a reward.

Sometimes, airdrop campaigns can get overwhelming and the participants can far surpass the expected figure. Although that’s a good problem, risk control measures are often required in these situations as a contingency. Raffle airdrops is an airdrop campaign with an added lottery mechanism to randomize winners and limit the recipients to a fixed number of wallets. This makes it easier for the project to manage expectations while ensuring that the campaign is worthwhile for participants.

Think of this as the airdrops for VIPs, because it is—exclusive airdrops are the type of airdrop that is available to a specific group of users. These users can be selected based on factors like how much time they spend on the project, their level of involvement in the community, or the number of tokens they hold. And it’s up to the project to decide how the airdrops will be distributed. So, yes, being early and involved does pay off!

Holder airdrops are HODLers’ haven. It’s also an automatic process in which the project accesses the blockchain at a pre-determined time, takes a ‘snapshot’ of the community and the number of tokens each address holds, and distributes the airdrop tokens accordingly.

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