If you are interested about investing and trading in cryptocurrencies, you probably are aware of the concept of ‘crypto airdrops.’ However, if you are not, let me enlighten you.

Cryptocurrency Airdrops — What are they?

A cryptocurrency airdrop is essentially a free distribution of crypto tokens to a selected set of users. Why? For a few reasons. The main reason being onboarding new users to whatever the blockchain or application the team was building.

The second main reason is to reward loyal users who have been through with the team and project since beginning. When a new blockchain or decentralized application is being built, it costs, it takes time, and it requires rigorous testing. Users like you and me are the ones who make these goals possible — at a cost — either money or time or our energy.

So, it makes sense that the crypto project choses to reward these users with their tokens.

How much are these airdrops worth?

There’s no guarantee that any amount of token airdrops could be worth anything. A million tokens could be worth less than $1 or 100 tokens could be worth $10,000. It all depends on how much demand is there for the specific token.

Some airdrops have had valued upward of $100,000.

Free Crypto Airdrops I’m Farming in August 2023

‘Free’ is a term I use loosely here, because some of them involve spending transaction fees, a little hassle with slow and clunky dApps, and most importantly, your time.

Below are some of the highest conviction airdrops I’m farming right now.

One more thing before we jump to the list — When I say ‘farming,’ I don’t mean abusing the platform for the highest airdrop possible. I make continuous transactions and rigorous testing to provide valuable feedback for the team. I actually use their products as they are intended to be and provide liquidity when I feel like it.

1. zkSync Airdrop (ZKS token airdrop)

Zero-Knowledge or ZK in short is one of the frontiers of cryptocurrency innovations. This technology involves processing a transaction on the blockchain with zero knowledge of the content of the transaction thus truly preserving privacy.

zkSync Era is a Layer 2 solution on the Ethereum blockchain and it has gained much popularity for its speed, cost efficiency, and privacy preserving features.

zkSync has already passed its testnet stage, so time for actually free transactions has passed. It launched its mainnet in February 2023 and has seen an immense user growth and adaptation.

Matter Labs, the organization behind zkSync Era has raised over $400 million for the project. While this is no indication of the airdrop size, it shows that there are a lot of believers behind the project.

If you want to stand a chance for a ZKS token airdrop, get involved with their ecosystem projects such as Mute.io, Spacify.io, Syncswap, OnchainTrade, SynFutures, and explore other dApps on zkSync ecosystem.

2. LayerZero Labs (ZRO token airdrop)

LayerZero (L0) is a technology that enables asset transfer between different blockchains that inherently do not have direct communication channels between them. For example, Ethereum and Binance Smart Chain are completely two different blockchains that do not have interoperability. This is a big problem in cryptocurrency. It creates isolated clusters. This does not create a financial ecosystem.

So, LayerZero provides a solution to this with omnichain liquidity pools. This means, you can ‘transfer’ assets from one blockchain to another without much hassle and lesser risk than traditional crypto bridges.

LayerZero Labs has raised over $250 million with a valuation of $3 billion. And it recently crossed 50 million transactions. All big numbers with money and usage. No token airdrop is confirmed yet, but there are already signs of an upcoming token ‘ZRO.’

Interact on Stargate.finance, use LayerZero backed protocols to transfer assets across blockchains such as Plexus, OmniBase, L2Marathon, AngleMoney, mint and transfer NFTs on zkBridge.

3. StarkNet (STRK token airdrop)

StarkNet is a very promising project built on Ethereum as a Layer 2 solution. They also incorporate Zero Knowledge proofs as we mentioned above in zkSync Era. StarkNet went through years of testing stages with significant improvements throughout. It is running on mainnet now.

STRK token is already confirmed by the team, although no airdrop is confirmed. Below is the token distribution by the team;

Note below from the team about potential airdrop;

If you are an end user, use Starknet — but only as it serves your needs today. Use it for those transactions and applications that you value, not in expectation of any future reward of Starknet Tokens.

4. SCROLL (SCROLL token airdrop)

Scroll is another Zero Knowledge rollup on Ethereum focused on scaling, security, speed, cheap transactions and privacy. SCROLL is still in its testnet stage, so you can interact with their applications free.

SCROLL team has raised over $80 million in funding to further developments.

Use SCROLL’s native bridge to transfer testnet ETH from Georli to SCROLL here. Once you have ETH on SCROLL, explore their ecosystem applications and use them. You will be helping the team test the dApps and blockchain itself. This can earn you a potential reward.

5. Polygon zkEVM

Polygon zkEVM is an extension of Polygon — one of the OG blockchains out there. The zkEVM extension focuses on bridging Polygon with Ethereum and introducing Zero Knowledge proofs into the mechanisms. No token or airdrop is confirmed yet, but highly likely.

They have already begun a 6-week quest called ‘zkEVM Saga 2023’ which grants you several NFTs every week. These NFTs might an airdrop eligibility criteria as well as they help you make a transaction on Polygon zkEVM blockchain.

Also, use products such as app.0vix, Quickswap, and Balancer.

All of the above mentioned airdrops are of blockchains themselves. You will be interacting with different applications on these blockchains and most of them are new. So, you position yourself for potential airdrops from these applications on top of blockchains by interacting with the above.

Let us know what airdrops are you most looking forward to in 2023.