It is an exciting time to be in the cryptocurrency space.  The world of blockchain has a little bit of everything – from the drama that the volatility of the markets brings, to the prospective new projects that appear almost daily, it’s hard to imagine that anyone could be bored navigating through the crypto universe.  

One of the most exciting aspects of cryptocurrency is the discovery of a new coin or token – representing a new project or use case of the blockchain that possibly has not been tried before.  Like companies, the projects behind these currencies require marketing strategies to promote their coin/token.  This helps to reach out to those unfamiliar with the project so that they can get initiated.  Not an easy task, considering that there are regularly thousands of active cryptocurrencies at any given moment (currently over 6,700 and counting).

However, one popular technique to advertise an unknown crypto project has been through the practice of conducting airdrops.  After all, the words “free money” is as sweet in English as it is in any other language around the world.

What are Cryptocurrency Airdrops?

Typically, cryptocurrency airdrops are marketing stunts which involve an interested party to register some basic information with the crypto project that is making the airdrop.  As a reward for providing these registration details, the project will eventually send coins or tokens to the providing party’s wallet addresses.  These coins/tokens are typically the currency that is (or will be used) on the project’s blockchain.

Information provided may include name, email address, and other details which may help the project further get the user involved as the project develops and grows.  Airdrops often require users to also join community channels (e.g. Telegram), or to follow the project on Twitter, Instagram, or other social media platforms.

In other cases, coin or token holders of a specific blockchain may simply receive currencies in their existing wallet.  This may happen when a blockchain gets “forked” (or when one blockchain splits into two separate chains).  In these cases, cryptocurrency holders of the original blockchain will get corresponding currencies on the new blockchain.  One of the more famous forks has been the fork from Bitcoin (BTC) to Bitcoin Cash (BCH).  During this fork, BTC holders received one for one BCH for the amount of BTC they were holding at the time of the fork.

How to Uncover Cryptocurrency Airdrops

With the large number of crypto projects out there, it should be of no surprise that many of the coins and tokens received during a cryptocurrency airdrop end up holding very little value in the end.  Still, for all the unsuccessful airdrops out there, from time to time, there are a few gems that may be uncovered.  And for that, it is worthwhile to keep track of, and monitor potential airdrops from existing and upcoming projects.  But how?

Interested individuals can take the normal route, and follow hashtags such as #airdrop on Twitter.  Additionally, sites like airdrops.live or airdropland also maintain running lists of upcoming and past airdrops which have taken place.

Regularly monitoring social media platforms and these sites will not only help keep users up to date on the latest crypto projects, but will also allow individuals to be amongst the “first to know” about exciting new blockchain use cases and ambitions.

After Signing Up for an Airdrop

Once registered for an airdrop with an exciting new project, users generally need to wait for the airdrop to take place.  In the meantime, users should stay close to the project, following their social media channels and following any announcements that may be released about the airdrop.

However, other more sophisticated tools can also be utilized here.  In particular, PARSIQ has a monitoring tool which can send alerts directly to Telegram accounts, informing users of when coins or tokens have moved from a particular wallet (e.g. from the project’s foundation).  This product, named Flashr, is a public and free to use monitoring system which provides real time alerts and information about the movements of a project coin or token.  In collaboration with CoinMetro and Cryptorank, Flashr provides real-time notifications on 17 different altcoins – all for free.

Staying Vigilant 

The cryptocurrency space is still in its nascent stages of growth, and with the number of ongoing projects out there, many organizations and parties are fighting to be the winners in the Web 3.0 world.  Through all of this excitement, there are many bad actors out there who will also be taking advantage of individuals who are trying to legitimately invest and learn in this complicated industry.  

Interested individuals who wish to participate in airdrops should take all the necessary precautions to safeguard their personal and financial information.  Serious red flags for airdrops include the request for wallet private keys, funds in advance (fiat, credit card, or crypto), or personal information, such as national ID numbers (e.g. social security numbers, passport numbers, etc..), personal addresses, bank account numbers, etc….

Individuals should also be weary about utilizing the same wallet for airdrops as they do for all of their other blockchain transactions.  As most blockchains are recorded on a public ledger, full visibility into prior transactions and account balances of a wallet are visible.  Individuals may be targeted more aggressively if their account balances of a particular wallet are known.

It is an incredibly exciting time to be in crypto – and there is a lot of growth and change up ahead in the blockchain world.  However, there are still many parts of the industry which are vulnerable for new entrants in the crypto space, and participants should be on high alert for the exposure of their personal and financial information.  Luckily, companies like PARSIQ not only provide monitoring services for project wallets, but also for personal wallets, and act as another form of control as users perform transactions on the blockchain.  Solutions like these, amongst others, should be seriously considered by all blockchain participants.