zkSync Airdrop: 4 easy steps
If you don’t care about what zkSync is and how I set the criteria for this airdrop, then jump straight to the “zkSync Airdrop checklist”-section for 4 easy things you can do to qualify.
Airdrop hunting is one of the most lucrative and risk rewarding hobbies you can have in the crypto space. On top of that, you’ll learn a lot about the crypto space and each eco-system even if it turns out there is no drop.
At this time, there are a several potential airdrops you should have on your radar (Sui, LayerZero, Lens Protocol, …), the big one on everyone’s mind is zkSync. And for good reason: the rollup-narrative is real in 2023 and riding a hype can be extremely rewarding.
In this guide I’ll explain the steps I’m taking to qualify for the zkSync airdrop based on my personal experience in past big airdrops such as Uniswap, Optimism and Arbitrum.
If you don’t like to read, you can also watch this vide
What is zkSync
First things first: you need to know what you are investing in. zkSync is a Layer 2 solution that will solve the congestion problems that the Ethereum network has. In other words: lower gas fees, faster transactions and therefore better scaling. The reason why it’s called “zk” is because it uses a technology called “zero knowledge”. To many this is the most promising Layer 2 technology to date.
Of course when you hear “layer 2”, you think about Polygon, but technically they were not considered a true Layer 2 solution (until now). The first true Layer 2 solution was Optimism which dropped their token last year, followed by Arbitrum who did their airdrop this year. Both Optimism and Arbitrum use a technology called “optimistic rollups”.
What are the chances of an airdrop
The rumors around the zkSync airdrop have been going on since the launch of their testnet last year and they were never denied by the team. That’s always a good sign.
On top of that: zkSync officially launched their mainnet, which means that if there will be a token, it will happen soon. Add to this the fact that dropping a token has proven to be a very successful strategy for both Optimism and Arbitrum. Lastly we cannot discount that Polygon just launched their own zk solution (making it a true Layer 2 solution and beating zkSync to market), which means the competition is heating up and zkSync will have to do anything they can to grab the attention of the public.
How to qualify
Qualifying for airdrops has become increasingly complex and we see that every project learns from the previous one. The mother of all airdrops is the Uniswap airdrop: every single wallet that ever did a transaction received 400 Uni tokens.
Since that day, the airdrop requirements have evolved with the Arbitrum airdrop being one of the most complex ones and Optimism being the most idealistic as they also rewarded general, positive community behavior (outside their own community).
Arbitrum worked with an extensive point system rewarding different types of interactions as well as the amount of transactions and the time you started using the network.
It therefore makes sense to use the Arbitrum airdrop as your guide. So lets take a look at how Arbitrum rewarded everyone. To get an in-depth understanding of their point system, check out their documentation.
First thing you had to do is bridge tokens to their network(s).
Next you got rewarded for being early and for being active. This is something you can’t change for the zkSync airdrop. The only thing you can do is start today & don’t waste time.
Making transactions is the most logical behavior to reward people for and getting over 10 transactions really isn’t that hard.
Not unsurprisingly, they also rewarded transaction volume. This is a great way to prevent people from using bots doing micro transactions in order to qualify.
A similar reward went to people who moved a great deal of funds into the ecosystem by bridging a significant USD-value.
Lastly they wanted to reward people who used their latest side chain called Arbitrum Nova.
zkSync Airdrop checklist
- Bridge tokens using the official zkSync bridge and make certain you bridge a value of 0.05ETH or more. If you are a baller, you can bridge a big amount and hope they reward that as well.
- Do several transactions by swapping tokens back and forth on https://syncswap.xyz/ . Aim for at least 1.000$ total volume in the short term and try to build up to that magical 10.000$ throughout the weeks to come.
- It might also be worth using other projects so you are seen transacting with different smart contracts. You can find other projects at https://ecosystem.zksync.io/ . However, do be careful: these projects are not reviewed by zkSync.
- Transact multiple times a week, several weeks in a row and until the tokens are airdropped. The longer you use the protocol, the higher the reward. It’ll also increase your transaction value and increase the time you spend using the platform.
Potential bonus criteria:
- Buy & sell an NFT for example on Mintsquare (this also gives you an extra contract interaction, extra transaction value etc.)
- Provide liquidity on one of the dexes. To avoid impermanent loss, I would use a stable coin pair such as USDC/USDT or USDC/BUSD on SyncSwap for a value of 100USD or more (e.g. for Stargate Finance the value was 1.000USD).
- Use both networks: just ask Arbitrum, zkSync has two different networks. The first one is called zkSync Lite and the latest one is called zkSync Era.
Final notes
This is a highly anticipated airdrop. This also means people will try to scam you. There will be no secret announcement, there will be no secret claim page and no one of the zkSync team will ever reach out to you in person.
It’s also important to realize that every transaction costs money and at the time of writing, the transactions cost several dollars. Yes, there is a refund on the gas fees, but you’ll still pay a dollar or more.
If you do the math and you want to do over 100 transactions in order to pump up your total transaction value and total number of transactions: you will be spending at least 200USD.
This can be a lot of money as the zkSync airdrop is not guaranteed and we have no clue if it will be worth more than 200USD.
As always: do your own research, nothing is guaranteed and there is no such thing as a zero risk investment.
If you enjoyed this article and you want to see more potential airdrops, please give the article a clap and drop a comments.
Thanks
Bren
