Crypto Comics - What is Airdrop

I tried to explain what Airdrop is in comic strips.

TL;DR

I explained what Airdrop is and how it will be used in a particular situation.

Some Takeaway

An airdrop is a marketing tool for crypto projects to spread their awareness and broaden audiences. Airdrop is a free giveaway for users to use tokens or coins and boost its utility. Legitimate airdrops will never ask users to make any investment. However, with the recent crypto hype, there are more and more airdrops scamming people's funds.           

Why Airdrop

In crypto, an airdrop is a tradition for encouraging people to adopt their coins. Free giveaways make people use coins to exchange for something else. It is a way to raise branding awareness but also recruits more promoters. To be able to receive the airdrop, you need to have the infrastructure to accept coins. It pushes you to learn about their crypto project and test their functionality.  

Airdrop Scam

However, there are more and more scams in the crypto space. Airdrop is becoming another scam where your wallet forcibly receives unknown tokens and charges expensive gas fees when trying to exchange to other tokens. It can also lead you to malicious websites and trick you to connect your wallet and drain away from your funds. It then becomes part of a phishing scam.     

Due Diligence

You should suspect each airdrop. There will be no free tokens to give out without any cost. Particularly in the crypto space which is full of scammers and promoters, an airdrop is a phishing tool rather than a giveaway marketing tool. Research airdrops at first even though they appeared in your wallet. Don’t interact with tokens unless you are sure what they are. Many tokens are likely embedded with suspicious code in the smart contract that requires users' interaction to activate the action. Try to be as conservative as possible to approach those airdrops unless tokens are well known. But even with well-known tokens, you still have to do due diligence to verify their source.

Airdrop Conditions

If there are requirements to receive airdrops, you are likely to enter a phishing scam. Any request for an email address, name, social media accounts, or even private keys is a red flag. An airdrop should have no obligation to attach. It is a promotion to exchange for users’ interaction. 

In conclusion

An airdrop is a market strategy to interact with users and encourage them to use the products. Nowadays, an airdrop is part of a phishing scam to lure users to provide information to scammers to exploit.