Three Minutes to Get 99% of the Basic Airdrops in the Crypto World
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Three Minutes to Get 99% of the Basic Airdrops in the Crypto World
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Navigating Web3 tides with focused insightsAuthor: Biteye Xiao Shimei
Editor: Crush, Core Contributor at Biteye
Scroll's TGE in October essentially marked the winding down of L2 airdrops. After its airdrop criteria—using points as the baseline threshold—was announced, Xiao Shimei spotted a poor soul on Twitter with exactly 199.99 points hhh~
Indeed, the most watched aspect of any project’s airdrop is its basic “qualification threshold,” because it determines the difference between “$0 and hundreds of dollars.”
And if you consider multi-account strategies, it becomes the difference between “$0 and tens of thousands.” In this article, Xiao Shimei reviews the baseline qualification (“low-cost entry”) standards of major past airdrops to offer strategic insights for future campaigns.
01 Click-to-Claim
1.1 UNI
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Airdrop Date: 2020
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Baseline Standard: Anyone who used Uniswap before September 1 received 400 UNI tokens (~$1,000 per address).
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Xiao Shimei Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
UNI kicked off the airdrop era—the true "click-to-claim." Just one transaction entitled users to a thousand-dollar baseline reward.
1.2 DYDX
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Airdrop Date: August 2021
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Baseline Standard: Depositing funds on mainnet granted 310 tokens (~$2,000 per address). More trading volume (over $1) increased rewards.
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Xiao Shimei Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
If UNI was the big airdrop from DEXs, DYDX launched the Perpetuals sector’s farming era. Simply depositing funds (no trading required) secured the baseline. Trading over $1 boosted rewards.
However, note that users had to complete certain trading volume requirements *before* claiming the airdrop—this cost must be factored in.
1.3 EIGEN
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Airdrop Date: May 2024
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Baseline Standard: Users who deposited on mainnet received an extra 100 tokens; early LRT users (before March 15) also got 100 tokens (~$400 per address).
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Xiao Shimei Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Initially, Eigen did not set a baseline—tokens were distributed purely by score, leaving small depositors empty-handed and sparking widespread backlash.
The team quickly revised the rules. Under the new policy, all users who deposited on mainnet before the announcement received 100 guaranteed tokens on top of their earned allocation.
Additionally, early LRT users (e.g., Renzo) before March 15 also qualified for 100 tokens. We must acknowledge Eigen’s team demonstrated strong community-mindedness.
1.4 PIZZA
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Airdrop Date: June 2024
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Baseline Standard: Used Unisat wallet to send transactions or interacted with Unisat platform during snapshot period (Feb–May 2024), ~$600–800 per address.
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Xiao Shimei Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Pizza was another major BTC ecosystem airdrop—simple and straightforward. Just one transaction via Unisat sufficed. However, the snapshot began right after the inscriptions hype cooled down, so many users weren’t active with BTC wallets during that window.
1.5 ZIRCUIT
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Airdrop Date: August 2024
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Baseline Standard: Deposited ZIRCUIT on mainnet to receive 115 tokens (~$15 per address).
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Xiao Shimei Rating: ⭐️⭐️
Zircuit’s baseline reward wasn’t valuable, but ETH gas fees were extremely low at the time, making costs negligible—some accounts spent under $2. When scaled, this still offered decent ROI. It’s said Feng Wu Xiang (@0x0xFeng) deployed around 2,000 addresses.
02 Repeated Usage
2.1 Optimism
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Airdrop Date: May 2022
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Baseline Standard: Bridge via official OP Gateway or use OP network on two separate days (>24 hours apart), ~$800 per address.
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Xiao Shimei Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
OP pioneered L2 airdrops and kickstarted the multi-account farming era thanks to low L2 costs. The baseline was simple: use OP twice on non-consecutive days. Other eligibility conditions were also straightforward, such as using OP in four separate weeks.
2.2 Arbitrum
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Airdrop Date: March 2023
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Baseline Standard: Score-based system requiring at least 3 points. The easiest three: bridged to ARB, >4 TXs, used in two separate months. ~$800 per address.
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Xiao Shimei Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
ARB was a breakout airdrop—very low barrier to entry and simple execution. Many users hit A7 with single projects. Post-ARB, professional farming studios truly emerged.
2.3 STRK
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Airdrop Date: February 2024
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Baseline Standard: >5 TXs, usage across >3 distinct months, trading volume >$100, on-chain balance >0.005 ETH. All conditions must be met. Rewards exceeded $1,000 per address.
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Xiao Shimei Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Stark’s baseline followed a classic “repeated usage” model—moderate requirements on TX count, duration, and volume.
However, the requirement of maintaining >0.005 ETH in balance sparked controversy. This “one-size-fits-all” rule excluded many DeFi users who deposited funds into lending or liquidity pools. Additionally, L2 networks don’t require large ETH balances for gas, disadvantaging another group of users.
03 Points-Based Systems
3.1 Zksync
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Airdrop Date: June 2024
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Baseline Standard: All eligible addresses received $ZK, but those below the 450-point threshold had tokens reclaimed. Minimum rewards were only ~$100. Based on real cases, long-term staking of >$100 in DeFi liquidity pools was needed to meet baseline.
Since 2022, most L2s have used “repeated usage” criteria for baseline rewards, attracting many farming studios.
Zksync took a different path with a points-based system using TWAB (Time-Weighted Average Balance)—the more funds you hold and the longer you hold them, the higher your rewards.
If you farmed Zksync like OP, ARB, or Starknet—bridging large amounts, swapping, depositing/withdrawing, then moving funds to another account—you likely earned nothing due to low time-weighted balance.
3.2 Scroll
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Airdrop Date: October 2024
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Baseline Standard: Must have >200 points. Badges add bonus points (up to +60).
Scroll openly adopted a points-based airdrop with TWAB mechanics. Most anticipated the 200-point baseline.
In Xiao Shimei’s case: she deposited 0.16 ETH into Stone in late May but didn’t stake in any DeFi protocol—final score was 190.
Staking in lending or liquidity pools yields higher scores. Conclusion: Staking ≥0.15 ETH in a DeFi protocol for over 4 months qualifies for baseline.
3.3 Puffer
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Airdrop Date: October 2024
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Baseline Standard: ≥1001 points.
Puffer initially offered 1000 points for registration, plus referral bonuses—making it possible to reach baseline without depositing funds.
04 Premium Account Rewards
4.1 TIA
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Airdrop Date: October 2023
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Baseline Standard: Early adopters of Ethereum rollups (active addresses on mainnet, OP, Gitcoin donations, ENS activity). Initial value ~$200 per address, with greater long-term benefits.
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Xiao Shimei Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Modular projects like Celestia focus more on infrastructure and have many partners. You may have unknowingly interacted with them. TIA’s airdrop highlights the importance of maintaining core activities: mainnet interaction, ENS, and Gitcoin donations.
4.2 AVAIL
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Airdrop Date: May 2024
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Baseline Standard: Active users on rollups (ARB, OP, Polygon zkEVM, Starknet, Zksync).
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Xiao Shimei Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️
The project didn’t clearly define “active rollup user.” In practice, competition was fierce. Neither Xiao Shimei nor her senior brother qualified on their EVM addresses, but her brother’s Starknet wallet (with higher balance) did qualify.
Some community members reported that interacting with zkEVM or minting ZKSync inscriptions made it easier to qualify.
05 Summary
5.1 Difficulty Trends and User Challenges
Historically, airdrop design evolved from “Click-to-Claim” ➡️ “Repeated Usage” ➡️ “Points-Based,” with increasing difficulty.
Certainly, 2024 saw generous “click-to-claim” drops like Eigenlayer—but this relied on the project’s strong financial position and broad vision.
It also helped that early Eigen pool openings had time limits and high gas fees.
In hindsight, even depositing $10 qualified for baseline, but deploying capital across multiple accounts amid high gas required boldness—most projects wouldn’t reward such effort.
I believe Babylon may still offer a “click-to-claim” opportunity, because:
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BTC-native addresses are naturally fewer, offering greater potential—precedents include Runes and PIZZA;
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Babylon pools have caps and short windows.
However, such airdrops will become increasingly rare due to growing competition.
Similarly, transparent, predictable airdrops like ARB will decline. While not explicitly signaled, future high-reward airdrops will likely be less obvious. Non-transparent drops face less competition and allow richer design—rewarding deeper user insight and strategy.
5.2 Strategies for Points-Based Projects
I recommend prioritizing baseline accounts for points-based projects, as platforms like Blast and Mode often lock top-ranked wallets’ rewards.
The ideal scenario for premium accounts is linear, proportional token release. But this makes insider allocations (“rat farming”) harder for teams, so relying solely on premium accounts isn't advisable.
A safer strategy: split funds evenly—half on premium accounts, half on baseline accounts.
Baseline accounts should aim to rank in the top 30%. Based on past data, this requires depositing $100–200 worth of assets into DeFi protocols (lending or liquidity pools) shortly after points tracking begins.
Additionally, some projects allow score boosting via circular lending (e.g., BOB)—but manage risk carefully. Note that Scroll explicitly excludes circular lending activity from scoring.
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