An airdrop, in the cryptocurrency business, is a marketing stunt that involves sending coins or tokens to wallet addresses in order to promote awareness of a new virtual currency. Small amounts of the new virtual currency are sent to the wallets of active members of the blockchain community for free or in return for a small service, such as retweeting a post sent by the company issuing the currency.
Crypto users that frequently interact with new and existing platforms will likely receive an airdrop at some stage. Airdrops involve blockchain-based projects and developers sending out free tokens to members of their communities as part of a broader marketing initiative.
The main idea is to send newly minted tokens to hundreds or thousands of different wallet addresses with the hope recipients will be more inclined to engage with the corresponding project – even if it’s only to learn how to cash out the free tokens into something else.
This concept is similar to finding a free discount card in your mailbox to encourage you to visit a new store in the area. However, a crypto airdrop isn't predominantly about making the recipient spend money but rather raising awareness for new projects and services.
In most cases, a crypto airdrop is issued to users in exchange for completing a certain task. These tasks often involve things such as:
- Following an account on social media.
- Sharing or retweeting one of their posts, including hashtags.
- Sending or receiving a transaction (using a particular crypto platform or wallet).
- Creating an account and signing up to receive updates.