Many airdrop hunters expect several Ethereum rollup solutions to release their crypto in 2024 and are preparing in every way to qualify as beneficiaries of the initial distribution phase.
ZKsync and Starknet are among the most prominent projects in Ethereum’s layer-2 landscape that will most likely release their own token, accompanying the launch with an airdrop to users of decentralized networks.
Data from the respective company valuations contextualized with the growth that the 2 ecosystems have experienced in the market over the past year suggest that in the case of an airdrop, the reward could be really substantial.
Then there are also “second-tier” projects that are less talked about than the first mentioned, but are still worth considering. These include the names Linea, Scroll and Fuel.
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Airdrop of crypto projects ZkSync, Starknet and LayerZero among the best for 2024
During 2023 many rumors suggested that several crypto projects would release their own tokens by the end of the year, considering the growth of a wide range of decentralized ecosystems, especially those of Ethereum’s ZK rollups.
Several months later, we find ourselves having to reconsider the timing of these events: unfortunately, the prolonged bear market after the brief crypto rally in early 2023 has prompted the postponement of plans by several companies working in blockchain infrastructure development that had planned to create their own cryptocurrency in the current year.
In this regard, the Starknet team, namely StarkWare, announced just this month that it has postponed the first unlocking of STARK tokens from November 2023 to April 2024 as an internal roadmap reorganization plan.
Many airdrop hunters expect that Starknet’s future crypto will be distributed via airdrop to all users who have contributed to the growth of the chain and the various dapps that have been built on top of it.
With a corporate valuation of $8 billion, an infrastructure TVL of $130 million, and a total of 17 million transactions in the past 30 days, it is very likely that in the event of airdrop the rewards to the community will be substantial.
As for ZkSync Era, one of Ethereum’s most important layer-2s using zero-knowledge cryptographic proof-of-concept technology, an airdrop of a token from the project was also expected to be announced by year-end.
Again, however, the plan to decentralize the sequencers and provers has taken a long time, having to postpone the eventual release of a coin for the zk ecosystem for next year.
Then there is the fact that right now the cryptocurrency world’s focus is on the issue of Bitcoin’s spot ETF and its likely approval soon. Launching a token in a situation like this could be counterproductive for the issuing company.
Several hints, such as a spoiler from the team about the feasibility of a reward to layer-2 users, attracted several airdrop hunters in 2023, with a huge impact on the growth of the chain.
ZkSync has a TVL of $432 million, an amount of 28 million transactions in the past 30 days, and a billion-dollar valuation from parent company Matter Labs.
All of these factors suggest that in 2024, when the airdrop rumour is confirmed, the rollup’s supporters will be rewarded with 3-figure sums.
The best layer 2 crypto airdrops: strong speculation on Linea, Scroll, and Fuel
Although the expectations of Starknet and ZkSync airdrops are very high, we should not forget that there are also other “layer 2” projects that could bring their tokens into the crypto market in 2024.
We are talking about 3 other Ethereum ZK rollups that have recently attracted public attention given the growth of their ecosystems.
The most prominent among them is definitely Linea, a second-tier scaling solution that in just 3 months since its launch has totaled a TVL of $72.8 million.
Linea is a product of software development company Consensys, which received substantial funding this year from Animoca Brands and Coinbase Ventures to develop its layer-2.
Having recently entered the mainnet, it is likely that it will be another few months before a utility token is actually released. Hence, logically speaking, during 2024 we may see the airdrop of Linea, with associated celebrations of the cryptographic network’s first contributors.
Another noteworthy infrastructure is Scroll, one of the crypto community’s most anticipated Ethereum rollups, which recently landed on the mainnet, opening the dances for airdrop farmers.
As with other ZK networks, an internal project token is expected to be created and distributed to early adopters in the chain.
Scroll has been under development since 2021 and has received several $80 million in private funding, which suggests that the project team will partially use it to remunerate their community.
At the moment the chain has a very small TVL but could see a very large capital inflow in the short term given the hype that is being generated on social media about a rumored airdrop of the crypto project.
Infinem we cannot fail to mention Fuel, one of the most important modular execution layers currently under development.
The network team has raised $81 million in funding and the growth prospects project the infrastructure as one of the fastest growing in the Ethereum layer-2 landscape.
It is currently still in testnet, hence before it is launched in mainnet and before a native ecosystem crypto is eventually created, it is likely to be a few months away.
Q4 2024 is the most likely timeframe for an airdrop of Fuel, for which, however, preparation is needed between now and the next 6 months.
How to earn crypto from these projects?
Earning crypto from airdrops is not an easy activity and requires a minimum of experience and ability to navigate the web3 industry.
In any case, it is not a complex practice to perform once you come to understand the key factors and moreover allows you to get decent rewards even if you are not really experienced in the crypto world.
First of all, to begin with, you need to be in possession of a non-custodial wallet, such as Metamask and Trustwallet.
If you have so far only used your cryptocurrencies through exchanges, it is best that before you delve into the world of airdrops, practice all the mechanisms of DeFi and web3.
In addition to the decentralized wallet, it is imperative to have at least a few hundred dollars in crypto in order to carry out transactions in the infrastructure with which you will be interacting.
In the case of airdrops to Ethereum’s ZK layer-2s, we can find many commonalities in the strategies used by so-called “hunters” to obtain gift tokens by making minimal effort.
In principle, it is essential to follow these 4 types of transactions to plausibly secure aidrop from ZkSync, Starknet, and other layer-2s:
- Bridge from Ethereum to rollup: each layer-2 has an interface where you can transfer your funds (ETH) from the Ethereum core network
- Provide liquidity and execute swaps on the reference DEXs of these networks. On the official Ethereum rollup websites you can find all the links to the platforms in the “Ecosystem” sections
- Interactions in general with the networks’ smart contracts ( at least 10 different protocols.
- Activities on the main Ethereum network: hold a minimum balance of $50 and carry out a few transactions occasionally even with small amounts of money
The criteria by which the teams of these projects decide to undertake an airdrop may vary and include different requirements, but they will likely consider, at least partially, the 4 points just listed
The larger your presence on these state-of-the-art rollups, both in terms of volume transacted and in terms of the amount of transactions, the larger the reward you are going to get.
If you would like to explore this topic further, we have created mini tutorials on which it is explained step by step how to qualify for ZkSync and Starknet airdrops.
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