What is Airdrop?

3 min readMay 23, 2022

Airdrop, which means “air aid” in Turkish, is a marketing method that involves sending tokens or coins to wallet addresses to raise awareness of a new cryptocurrency. In this method, users are sent small amounts of tokens or coins for free for various small services, such as sharing a tweet about that cryptocurrency.

In addition to cryptocurrencies, NFT products, which are non-exchangeable tokens, can also be airdropped. Many NFT collections are airdropped today.

The purpose of the airdrop method is mainly to promote a new cryptocurrency. Airdrops are aimed to deliver a cryptocurrency to more people. From time to time, blockchain-based service providers such as cryptocurrency exchanges or wallets may also use the airdrop method to reward their loyal customers.

Airdrops are usually promoted on the company’s website, cryptocurrency forums, or social media. To take advantage of airdrops, you must have a cryptocurrency wallet address.

What is the difference between Airdrop and Initial Coin Offering (ICO)?

Airdrop events are different from Initial Coin Offering (ICO) events. The purpose of ICO events is to finance a new cryptocurrency. ICOs are not accessible, and these events are paid in exchange for other cryptocurrencies. An airdrop, on the other hand, is entirely free.

Most of the time, airdrops are organized to increase participation in ICO by raising awareness of a new cryptocurrency. Thus, a new token or coin can make a much stronger entry into the market.

What are the types of airdrops?

Airdrops can be roughly divided into types under four headings: Award airdrops, standard airdrops, holder airdrops, and hard fork airdrops.

In prize airdrops, cryptocurrency is awarded in exchange for the participant’s services, such as sharing on social media or tagging friends in a post. Prize airdrops may also be distributed as a result of a draw.

Standard airdrops are types of airdrops where the user can easily register by entering their first and last name or email address. The purpose of these airdrops is usually to create an extensive user information network.

Holder airdrops require the participant to have a certain amount of the corresponding cryptocurrency in their wallet to be eligible for the airdrop. This airdrop aims to reward token holders.

Finally, hard fork airdrops are issued for forked coins. These coins are airdropped to original coin holders.

How to get Airdrop?

Generally, two methods are used in airdrop distribution. The first is to give a certain amount of airdrop to the crypto money in the user’s wallet to reward the user. For example, OMG Network, then called OmiseGO, held an airdrop in July 2017. In this airdrop, all users with at least 0.1 ETH in their Ethereum (ETH) wallet were airdropped at 0.075 OMG tokens to 1 ETH.

The second method is to give a free airdrop to promote a newly released cryptocurrency. For this, sometimes services such as sharing on social media can be expected, or a lottery can be organized. However, users are not likely to have another cryptocurrency in their wallet to participate in the airdrop.

Regardless of the method by which the airdrop is organized, to benefit from an airdrop, you must have a crypto wallet with an address compatible with the blockchain where the relevant cryptocurrency was created. Airdrop distributed cryptocurrencies are sent to your crypto wallet. Today, Ethereum wallets are often used for airdrops, as most altcoins are built on the Ethereum blockchain according to the ERC-20 standard.

Where are airdrops tracked?

So, where and how are the airdrop dates and methods tracked?

You can follow current airdrops on social media, cryptocurrency forums, and websites showing airdrop calendars. On these websites, you can find out when, which airdrops will take place, and under what conditions. At the same time, cryptocurrency exchanges can announce the current airdrops on their websites.

You can then sell the cryptocurrencies you receive with Airdrop on reliable exchanges.