Crypto Airdrops: A marketing strategy

Just as there are strategies in other marketing platforms, so there are in cryptocurrencies. This type of crypto promotion is what we generally refer to as crypto Airdrops. This is just a strategy of introducing new coins into the market.

In case you do not know, there are hundreds of coins in existence as more chains are being discovered and being added to the block. As the chain increases, so do developers increase. 

This puts traders in the confusion of which coin to trade on. The more confused they get, the more difficult it becomes for developers to sell their coins as traders are left with numerous options.

People who experience more challenges are blockchain startups.  So, to conquer the trading difficulty, they introduced a method known as " Crypto Airdrops.

What are crypto Airdrops?

Crypto Airdrops, as already discussed, is simply a marketing strategy employed by new blockchain startups to make a " front end" and also to make a coin known in the market.

The major aim of this is to create awareness about the cryptocurrency project and to boost trading of such currency when it lists on exchange as an initial coin offering (ICO).

With this promotional strategy, it is easier for such currency to project to get traders. This is achievable by releasing these coins for free to traders.

A common method of crypto Airdrops is what we see as the "Referral method". 

The referral method is an initiative to motivate traders to invite persons to a particular platform of crypto trading and afterward get coins for free.

This is a more effective way for a new currency project to gain popularity. 

Offering referrals bonuses, triggers them to spread the news about the new currency.

What developers stand to gain from Airdrops

Oh! Yes, blockchain developers stand to gain a lot from offering Airdrops. This is because it easily makes a new currency project gain traction. 

As a marketing campaign, it helps in generating an initial rush around a currency project, thereby building a community around such a project.

How can I benefit from Airdrops?

To benefit from Airdrops, you have to find them first. Initially, it wasn't easy to find Airdrops as it could only be found by constant visits to crypto sites, such as Bitcoin talk.

But today, it is very easy to find Airdrops as there is the emergence of multiple sites and social media channels that track Airdrops and post them daily. 

In fact, a lot of groups especially on Telegram exist for the sole promotion of Airdrops.

Benefits of Airdrops

Airdrop is highly beneficial to both traders and blockchain startups. An Airdrop that costs you little or nothing to get, will certainly give you a huge monetary value tomorrow.

For instance, someone receives an airdrop of oyster pearl worth 2400PRL, which eventually went up in value to over $5 per token.

Now let's do the maths;

$5 x 2400 = $12000

Convert this to your local fiat currency and you have so much. That is how Airdrops can be very beneficial.

Also for blockchain developers, giving out Airdrops simply means creating a community that will trade on this currency even when it rises a bit in value.

To be honest, genuine Airdrops can be highly beneficial to both traders and also coin developers.

Obviously, there are interest-oriented blockchain startup developers.

What do interest-oriented startups do?

Interest-oriented blockchain startups are not interested in building value or community– Their goal is to generate short term "rush" on a token, luring people into buying it when it hits exchanges. Once it does, the developers quickly sell all their tokens for a smart profit.

Even though traders oftentimes refer to this as a scam. But in the actual sense, it is not a pure scam, It is an interest-oriented action from developers.

Airdrop Risks

Not all airdrops are genuine. A lot of them these days are fake and scams. So be very careful of which airdrops you participate in.  First off, never send funds to receive an airdrop. Because if any airdrop requires participants to send any amount of funds, it is almost certainly a scam. Don’t do it. 

Secondly, some airdrops can be a way to gain access to participants' personal information. There are the 'dusting' attacks in which participants receive a small amount of a token into their wallet which reveals the public address to a potential scammer or hacker.

Airdrops when successful can be a huge win, but just remember to be mindful and stay safe when participating in one. There are few good ones and a lot of fakes and scams out there.