With airdrops becoming one of the hottest ways for blockchain projects to garner attention and create user bases, cryptocurrency airdrops continue to trend in 2024. As it is established that a huge number of frauds lie under all the opportunities offered by the spheres of crypto, it is very important to understand which airdrop is for real and what they bring along. This article will take you through some of the best and legitimate airdrops that are being announced nowadays; these include Hamster Kombat, Tap Swap, Blum, Rocky Rabbit, Sunwaves, and more. I’ll go over how long these airdrops have been announced, what kind of community response they have, if they are legit or not, and when they will supposedly be listed on an exchange.
Hamster Kombat
Pre-Announcement Dates and Engagement:
Hamster Kombat announced its airdrop in early August 2024. But what really made for such a fast time frame on the project was the core gameplay—strategy combined with NFT collectibles—where the game attracted close to 50,000 participants interested in its airdrop for the expectation of free NFTs and in-game tokens.
Legitimacy:
Hamster Kombat is a fully transparent and legit project. With a development roadmap, an active community is present on the Discord and Twitter. The game is live right now, and this airdrop can be considered as a reward for the first adopters and players.
Exchange Listing
According to the roadmap, the tokens that will be distributed through the Hamster Kombat airdrop should hit some mid-tier exchanges like KuCoin and Gate.io by the end of August 2024. Both of these exchanges are notorious for listing rising projects and boast considerable liquidity.
Tap Swap
Announcement and Engagement:
Tap Swap has conducted its own airdrop, which was announced in July, to >70,000 participants in July this year. This is another step the team has taken to market the offer, as the number of users on DEXs increases due to scrutiny from regulators for centralized exchanges.
It is Legitimate: As said, the team constructing Tap Swap is represented in public and functional. The Beta version of the exchange has been running for testing purposes with open access for all users.
Exchange listing:
It is anticipated that airdropped Tap Swap tokens will be listed on DEX exchanges, effectively traded on Uniswap and PancakeSwap, at a timeframe of circa September 2024. These DEXs favor the little Tap Swap project identity, genuinely decentralized, hence accessible from whatever nook of the world.
Blum
Announcement and Engagement
Blum is a project that specifies decentralized finance solutions, and they first announced their airdrop in June 2024. About 40,000 participants joined the airdrop, with the promise this project carries for DeFi to be transformed into a realm with more user-friendly interfaces displaying extremely innovative financial products.
Legitimacy:
Blum seems to be quite a legitimate project with great directions shown by their whitepaper and some actual development. The team has some good old blockchain partners, which then vouch further for the project’s legitimacy.
Listing on Exchanges
More so, with such an exchange listing standard, Blum’s tokens are expected to hit major exchanges including Binance and Kraken by October 2024. In this way, the project’s credibility has been realized.
Rocky Rabbit
Announcement and User Acquisition:
By August 2024, Rocky Rabbit was already on a full airdrop with its blockchain-based gaming project. The edge-cutting unrivaled play-to-earn model attracted approximately 35,000 participants.
The project’s credibility:
There have been mixed views on the credibility of Rocky Rabbit, though the project has a working product and an active community. There have been some concerns about the transparency of the development team. Potential participants are advised to exercise caution and do their own research.
Exchange Listing
If everything moves according to plan, Rocky Rabbit’s tokens will join the gaming-focused exchanges BitMart and CoinEx, by November 2024. Since the reviews are a mix of positives and negatives, the listing efforts on a more general exchange would probably take some time.
Sun waves
Announcement and Engagement:
In its mission towards viable solutions for a solar energy integrating economy, Sunwaves announced onboarding in an airdrop in July 2024. The program has received around 25,000 interested participants in eco-friendly solutions using blockchain.
Sun waves is a considered genuine project. They have been very open about their initiative to work on Renewable Energy with Blockchain, and as said, the founding members have a vast experience working in each industry.
Listing in an Exchange
Sun waves Coin will be listed on targeted green and niche exchanges like CoinGreen by September 2024. The alignment of the project with such sustainability criteria would make it apt for such exchanges.
Other Airdrops of Interest
Apart from the airdrops mentioned above, numerous others are creating a big buzz within the crypto space. Some of these include the projects below:
Meta Play: A project orientated towards metaverses with an announced airdrop in August 2024; over 60,000 participants have already confirmed tokens to date, and the tokens will soon be listed on Huobi and other exchanges before December 2024.
Eco Chain: A carbon-neutral blockchain started an airdrop in June 2024. The project has 30,000 users and they will consider listing the tokens on less popular platforms that are carbon-reduced by the end of the 2024.
Fake Airdrops vs. Real Airdrops
Most promotions will be aimed at giving the business involved an edge, like the ones above, but the crypto industry isn’t too pure to avoid a good scam. Here are a few pointers to help crypto tell a serious company from a less serious one:
Transparent: Serious projects normally have a very transparent whitepaper, dev team, and roadmap.
Community Engagement: A positive strength of community involved in platforms like Discord, Twitter, and Telegram is a good factor.
Partnerships and Collaborations: Strong affirmation of partnerships with other credible blockchain entities
The participants are advised to be vigilant, perform due diligence, and proceed only with airdrops from the projects which appear to have the said traits.
Security Issues and Scam-Related Airdrops
One of the major risks associated with airdrops could be fraud. As popularity is increasing, so is the number of scams, leading towards innocent users. Bogus airdrops will try to entice potential users to claim free tokens, only to have most be led to phishing sites to fish for personal information, or even worse, their cryptocurrency.
For instance, fraudsters will create a fake website similar in appearance to a real project, requesting users to enter private keys to wallets. With that information now in possession, they are able to access users’ wallets and drain their holdings. Another popular trick is phishing, where fake accounts on social media websites or through email impersonate a project, mostly asking people to join a fake airdrop.
There are a few key safety rules participants should be aware of in order not to fall into the hands of scammers. For sure, one should never give their private keys, as no genuine airdrop will request them from your wallet. In case the airdrop is doing so, it is most probably a scam.
Verify the Source: Be sure to always verify the source of any project through its official website and official social media accounts before joining an airdrop. Ensure you are contacting legitimately controlled accounts, not those of impostors.
Use a Separate Wallet: Consider creating a separate wallet just for airdrops. That way, in case the worst happens, your main wallet remains secure.
Be Scrutinizing of Offers That Sound Too Good to Be True: If an Airdrop is offering outrageously high amounts of tokens or rewards, chances are you are being scammed. Always listen to your gut and question such offers.
FAQ
What is a cryptocurrency airdrop?
It is the process of making specified quantities of tokens or coins available to wallet holders for free in most cases when wallet holders undertake tasks required to be members of projects or communities.
Are all airdrops legitimate?
Obviously not all airdrops are legit. To find out about their legitimacy, you have to do some research on each project individually.
By which time will I see the airdropped tokens listed on exchanges?
This time varies from project to project. Some have been listed within a couple of months, some after several months. Always check the project’s official channels for updates.