Upcoming EOS Airdrops in June

Upcoming EOS Airdrops in June

 

June is proving to be a busy month for EOS.

First came their much anticipated mainnet launch and the 20% market growth which accompanied it. Then the mainnet launch stalled, and this was accompanied by the sudden global market dip of ‘Sunday Bloody Sunday’; which saw EOS lose 30% of its value. The mainnet launch attracted a lot of attention over the course of the last month, with much of it being positive. But now the headlines have soured, and questions are being raised about the team’s ability to clean up the hundreds of bugs still plaguing the platform; as well as the failure to reach a consensus among the platform’s block producers.

Regardless of the furore of the last couple of weeks, EOS remains a much hyped blockchain operating system, and it has a host of projects looking to launch themselves to success by starting on the EOS launchpad. EOS is host to 18 projects who have announced airdrops for the month of June alone. Some of these have already passed, while some have gone relatively unnoticed. But there’s still plenty to come, so let’s take a look at some of the tokens are going to be airdropping to EOS holders before the month is out.

Lab Ledger (LAB)

Lab Ledger aims to corner a very specific market – the scientific journal industry. According to Lab Ledger’s problem-statement, they are seeking to redress the imbalances of the peer-review journal industry, which have seen subscription prices rise 251% in under twenty years. At the same time, leading scientific journals have become unbelievably money-makers, and can afford to charge what are unreachable prices for many scientific researchers. This oligopoly which has emerged threatens to shut out serious scientific voices, simply because they can’t stump up the bribe required to have their research seen.

At least this is the picture painted by Ledger Labs, who aim to circumvent the ridiculous pricing of journal industry by moving the process over to the blockchain – in this case, the EOS blockchain. While the idea may seem incredibly niche, this is one of the few attempts to transfer an industry onto the blockchain that actually seems to have some merit. The main obstacle for Lab Ledger will be adoption. How many scientists will publish their papers on a platform which no one knows exists? But that’s the same problem which faces many blockchain services, so Lab Ledger isn’t alone on that front.

LAB airdrop date: June 21st

Atidium (ATD)

Atidium are airdropping 900,000,000 ATD tokens on a 1:1 ratio for EOS holders.This amounts to 60% of their total token allocation, with the rest being split among the team and the marketing department. Atidium aims to provide a cryptocurrency that will help users keep track of their finances, and includes a few unique features to help with general financial management.

One example is the proposed ability to ‘color’ coins – that is, to mark them as being for a very specific use. At the same time, Atidium proposes a shared wallet system, where you could allocate your son a token amount which could only be spent in a certain place. The Atidium roadmap is still a long way from completion, and their level of ambition would require untold amounts of work; both technical and social. For Atidium’s application to be worth anything, it would need to secure adoption by hundreds, if not thousands of real world vendors. It’s not impossible, but certainly ambitious.

ATD airdrop date: June 28th

HorusPay (HORUS)

HorusPay is an upcoming EOS project which aims to provide a platform for payroll services. According to HorusPay’s website, typical payroll vendors charge up to 40% for their services, and HorusPay wants to cut out the middle-man and provide an automated system for the management of payrolls.

Users would presumably benefit from the core blockchain values of security and decentralization, and while the transfer of financial services to the blockchain is a viable idea, there are also many crypto projects looking to invade this space.

Blockchain platforms which focus on purely financial services tend to miss out on much of the typical cryptocurrency hype. The average crypto investor can’t tell the difference between the hundreds of ‘decentralized payment and remittance platforms’ which pop up every year. For HorusPay to make an impact, one would think they’d have to either show up with some kick-ass technology in tow, or ramp up the hype train with some partnerships or similarly promising announcements.

HORUS airdrop date: June 30th

Prospectors (PGL)

Prospectors is what’s known as a Massive Multiplayer Online Real Time Economic Strategy (MMORTES) – a game which focuses resource management and economic strategy. The gameworld models the economic situation of the late 19th / early 20th century, and players must compete in the process of mining for gold.

The game has been alpha-tested for a while now and the team recently announced the transition to beta-testing towards the end of May. Gameplay videos can be found on YouTube, and Prospectors seems like it may have the potential to do well, even among the currently saturated blockchain-gaming ICO market. By all accounts, Prospectors appears to have more going for it than the many CryptoKitties knock-offs that appear on a daily basis. While the game does involve buying assets and selling them on (the entirety of CryptoKitties), it also involves the extra layers of strategy afforded by the requirement that you actually set up a prospecting business.

This means that before you get to the gold mines, you’ll need to get your tools, resources and team all in order. PGL tokens represent said gold and fuel the in-game economy. The marketing materials for the game claim that it operates on free-market principles; with in-game prices being reflective of the supply and demand of its user base. If previous blockchain games are anything to go by, this probably means that game items will be priced exorbitantly upon launch, when there are too few players to make up the economy. However this is speculation, and Prospectors could yet prove to be the blockchain game that bucks the trend.

PGL airdrop date: 30th June

And a few more…

Many EOS airdrops are scheduled for the month of June, but some of them have undefined dates. CETOS, for example, is a blockchain project which aims to become a facilitator for day-to-day healthcare services. They’ve set an airdrop date of ‘June/July’. EOS Cafe aims to airdrop its BEANS tokens to users some time around June, but no clear date has been set. EOS Cafe has the long term goal of setting up EOS-focused coffee-shops and hack-spaces.

Another undefined airdrop date in June belongs to EOX – a proposed global crypto commerce platform where everything can be bought with cryptocurrency. While the ONO Social Network rounds off those airdrops listed for unspecified dates in June, and will release their tokens in a 1:1 ratio against EOS tokens.

Going, Going… Gone!

Many tokens have already dropped this month, with projects such as Tokena, Evolution, EOS Sports Bets, EOS Classic, and EON releasing tokens to registered EOS holders. Several are launching right now, or are due to launch in the next few hours, such as Chaince, Everpedia, KEOS and Scatter.

Article Produced By
Greg Thomson

4.5 stars on average, based on 9 rated posts Greg Thomson is a full-time crypto writer and digital nomad. He eats ICOs for breakfast and bleeds altcoins. Wherever he lays his public key is his home.

https://hacked.com/upcoming-eos-airdrops-in-june/

David https://markethive.com/david-ogden

ICO Marketing and airdrops

ICO Marketing and airdrops

ICO Marketing
Before going in details about ICO Marketing, let’s understand what is an ICO?

ICO:
ICO stands for Initial Coin Offering is a way for startups to crowdfund capital via selling their own token in exchange of either Bitcoin or Ethereum. In other words, ICO is primarily a fundraising process for startsups to build cryptocurrency businesses.

ICO Marketing:
ICO Marketing is a strategy used by blockchain startups to create awareness about the new token/coin to the people by using different advertising methods.

Airdrops:
Airdrops is a process of distributing tokens or coins to the current cryptocurrency holders for free.

How marketing is getting is more difficult for ICO?

In the last one year, there are lots of unusual things happened in the cryptocurrency market. Some of the most popular social media platforms such as Twitter and Facebook have banned the Cryptocurrency ads. Apart from this, search engine giant, Google has also banned the Cryptocurrency ads.

A lot of blockchain startups were using social media platforms in order to gain customers. However, as they are banning ads, now ICO marketing is getting difficult. Hence, these ICO’s need a new way of marketing. Apart from this, there are lots of regulations are being placed on the ICO in various countries worldwide. Also, some of the countries have also banned the Cryptocurrency completely.

ICO’s need a new way of marketing

There are still different ways to do ICO Marketing. Here is the list:

  1. Reddit: Build an amazing community on Reddit and engage with the users regularly. As soon as you win the trust of users, it will lead to ICO successes.
  2. Facebook Groups: Even if Facebook has banned the ICO advertising, there are plenty of Groups which are built for people having interest in cryptocurrency, ICO and Blockchain. Hence, you can build a strong community here also.
  3. Twitter: It is one of the fastest growing social media platform and large number of people are using it for advertising. Even if, advertisement are banned, you can still, create an appropriate page on Twitter and post regular updates about the ICO.
  4. Telegram: Another popular social media platform and used by various communities for marketing. On Telegram you can create your own channel and post regular updates about the ICO.
  5. Specialized Forums: Some of the well-known forums are being read by crypto enthusiast regularly. Hence you can list your ICO on various popular forms and gain audience.
  6. Linkedin Groups: There are large number of LinkedIn Groups on Cryptocurrency. Hence, you can provide details about your ICO on all of these groups.
  7. Quora Discussions: Quora is one of the most effective channel for covering ICO. You can post details on special threads meant for ICO.
  8. Email Marketing: You can also send details about the ICO to all of your potential customers via Email Marketing.
  9. SEO Strategy: Build a proper website by considering On-Page and Off-Page SEO Factors. Later, do proper SEO and get listed on various search engines like Google, Bing and Yahoo.
  10. Airdrops: You can also provide free tokens/ coins to the people in the beginning. This is one of the best way to get audience.
    Hence, you can follow all the above mentioned tactics to do appropriate ICO Marketing. By following all the tactics, you will lead your ICO for success.
  1. Bounties: With bounties crypto enthusiast can complete task to earn tokens. Similar to the “Wild West bounty hunter”, where a person had to catch a criminal to earn a bounty. Nowadays in crypto, people complete a job to earn tokens.

Trusted sources for Airdrops & Bounties are:

  • AirdropAlert
  • AirdropAlert Twitter
  • AirdropAlert TelegramBountiesAlert
  • Cryptocoin.news

  Article Produced By

Front Page » Business » ICO Marketing and airdrops
augustafreepress2@gmail.com

https://augustafreepress.com/ico-marketing-and-airdrops/

David https://markethive.com/david-ogden

Around a Dozen Airdrops are Coming to EOS Holders

Around a Dozen Airdrops are Coming to EOS Holders

The coming months will be crucial for all cryptocurrencies.

So far, the markets are not looking all that impressive, with little to no improvements in sight. At the same time, there is some good news for EOS holders. Various airdrops are coming to holders in the next few weeks and months.

The EOS Airdrops are Coming

One of the unusual benefits of holding specific cryptocurrencies is how one can be entitled to an airdrop. This issuance of “free coins or tokens” usually affects the major cryptocurrencies. In the past, Bitcoin and Ethereum users have seen their fair share of such tokens appearing out of nowhere. It now seems EOS holders will go through a similar phase. Raising awareness for new blockchain projects requires a unique approach.

Rather than raising money through an ICO, these projects are giving away value. It is a conscious decision which benefits all parties involved. EOS holders receive these tokens for exciting projects, and the project creators issue tokens to themselves as well. Later on, some of those tokens are sold across exchanges for additional project funding. It is a tried and tested business model which usually works out pretty well.

As such, the EOS user base will see a fair few new tokens make their way to the ecosystem. The list is growing steadily, with the first airdrops to occur in the coming weeks. Chaince will be the first project to do so, with 900 million of the 2 billion tokens being airdropped on June 15th. Having an active “stake” in a new asset trading platform for EOS projects will certainly appeal to some users.

The Value of Aidropped Tokens

One thing worth taking note of is how these EOS airdrops work. Most projects issue 1 token per user in exchange for every EOS in their portfolio. For “whales”, this means a lot of free money will be heading their way in the coming weeks. All of these tokens will still need to achieve some form of monetary value on their own accord. That will not be easy, albeit some of these airdrops are seemingly in a rather advanced stage of development.

With nearly a dozen airdrops on the horizon for EOS users, an interesting future lies ahead. It further confirms developers are building new products and services on top of this ecosystem. More competition is a good thing in this regard. As of right now, most people tend to focus on the Ethereum blockchain for such purposes. Additionally, NEO is also gaining some traction in this regard.

The big question is whether or not these airdrops bring additional value to EOS. The projects they represent seemingly are on the right track to success. However, they are all in an unfinished state, and without initial excitement, their chances of success will diminish quickly. An interesting year lies ahead for EOS at this rate. Airdrops will continue to be a big part of the cryptocurrency ecosystem moving forward.

Article Produced By
JP Buntinx

https://www.newsbtc.com/2018/05/28/around-dozen-airdrops-coming-eos-holders/

David https://markethive.com/david-ogden

What is a cryptocurrency airdrop?

What is a cryptocurrency airdrop?

What is a crypto airdrop?

A​ ​crypto airdrop​ ​is​ ​when​ ​a​ ​blockchain project distribute​s ​free​ ​tokens or​ ​coins ​to​ ​the​ crypto ​community. To​ ​be​ ​a​ ​recipient​ ​of​ ​an​ crypto ​airdrop often​ ​the​ ​only​ ​requirement​ ​is​ ​that​ ​you​ ​have​ ​coins from the relevant blockchain stored​ ​in​ ​your​ ​wallet. Examples of this format of airdrops are Byteball, Stellar lumens and OmiseGo. These airdrops required you to proof you were the owner of Bitcoins or Ethereums at a certain time ( snapshot) of the blockchain.

The​ ​format​ ​of​ ​these​ crypto ​giveaways​ ​is​ ​usually​ ​like​ ​this:​ ​At​ ​a​ ​pre-announced​ ​time​ ​the​ ​project​ ​behind the​ ​event​ ​will​ ​take​ ​a​ ​”snapshot” ​of​ ​the​ ​blockchain,​ ​​ anyone​ ​holding​ ​Ethereum or Bitcoin​ ​at​ ​that​ ​point​ ​will​ ​receive​ ​a certain number​ ​of​ ​free​ ​e-tokens.​ ​This can also be done on other blockchains, but Ethereum and Bitcoin are the most used for this airdrop format.

Other (often smaller) airdrops require social media posts or you need to contact a member of the team on the Bitcointalk forum. This form is gaining more popularity since September 2017. It's currently a hype to just fill in a google form with your email, telegram, twitter & wallet address to get free tokens. This format is often used for new crypto projects that are using airdrops as a marketing campaign. Another possible way to get free e-coins is a faucet. This means you get a small amount of free crypto for a longer period of time. Some wallets, crypto casino's or crypto promotion sites run this type of airdrop.

You might wonder, why would anybody give away free cryptocurrency?
                                   I have wondered the same and my thoughts on this are the following;

To offer coins for free the people are the product. With doing an airdrop the project creates awareness about their ICO or token. It brings people to the project that otherwise would not have owned or heard about it. It could lead to token price appreciation, since people value a token they own higher then a token they don't own. This is called the endowment effect: "In psychology and behavioral economics, the endowment effect (also known as divestiture aversion and related to the mere ownership effect in social psychology) is the hypothesis that people ascribe more value to things merely because they own them." In addition to that I think people are more likely to buy a token that they previously owned or still own, since they are already familiar with it.

A crypto airdrop would create a community/network of people who own the tokens. If you would list the token distribution after an ICO in a pie graph, a large part of the pie is still owned by the Dev's or project. Another large part is owned by people who joined a pre-sale. And a reasonable part is owned by people who invested in the ICO. An airdrop adds a extra slice to the pie and that slice will have the most people in it. Decred still shows a pie-graph like this example on their homepage

An crypto airdrop also plants a seed. When you look at coinmarketcap you will see a list of thousand coins. Just on page one you can see 100 coins listed. However if you have or had a coin that name is still in your brain. The seed is planted and whenever you check coinmarketcap and scroll down, the name of the free e-Coin will jump out and people will check how it is doing. If they see an article that the free e-Token is doing well or bad, they are more likely to click it if they own it or previously have owned it. It's just like advertising!

Aren't there free e-Tokens worthless?

NO they are not! Byteball is distributing airdrops to Bitcoin holders every month. The price of Byteball surged to over $900 per Byteball in mid july 2017. OmiseGo gave away free OMG tokens to Ethereum Holders, the price of OMG tokens surged to $ 12 in September 2017. Most recent eBTC airdropped 2500 eBTC tokens per applicant, on day 1 of hitting the exchange the price rose to $0.80 cents per token, which means the airdrop was worth 2000$ ! The only requirement for this airdrop was to sign up with your email and wallet address. The easiest $2000 I ever made!

Of course the airdrops I mention above are the ones that stand out. Most of the crypto airdrops I apply to are worth between 1-50$. However this is all free money. You can either sell these tokens to collect more Ethereum & Bitcoin, or you hold them and hope for a price surge.

Article Produced By
Pokernomad

https://steemit.com/free/@pokernomad/what-is-a-cryptocurrency-airdrop

David https://markethive.com/david-ogden

Crypto Firms Turn to Airdrops to Boost Blockchain Projects

Crypto Firms Turn to "Airdrops" to Boost Blockchain Projects

Nothing in life is free. Or is it?

A blockchain project called Dfinity last week announced it will give away $35 million worth of digital tokens. The recipients can wait to use the tokens on Dfinity’s network—which the company is touting as a “Cloud 3.0″—or, as many will do, they can slip them to speculators and cash out in real money.

Welcome to the age of “airdrops,” where entrepreneurs disperse crypto coins to prospective users for no cost. The tactic has come to be seen as the most viable way for blockchain projects to get off the ground. They’re like the Initial Coin Offerings that were all the rage last year but, instead of selling digital tokens, the project’s masterminds simply give them away. In addition to Dfinity, there are murmurs the journalism-on-a-blockchain project Civil and Everipedia, a would-be competitor to Wikipedia, will soon conduct airdrops of their own.

It’s not hard to see the strategy here. In the wake of the fraud-a-palooza that accompanied many of last year’s ICOs, regulators are set to pounce on any outfit that starts selling tokens to the good people of the Internet. That’s why just giving the tokens away feels like a safer strategy. While it doesn’t bring the same cash windfall, it creates an opportunity to sell reserve tokens on the secondary market. Of equal importance, airdrops offer a way for blockchain projects to distribute tokens far and wide, and build up the network effects that are essential for success.

A harder question is whether the airdrops are legal. The answer, according to attorneys familiar with securities law, can be summed up as “not really.” Under the first prong of the legal test for determining whether something is a security (and must be registered with the SEC), regulators will look at whether there has been an investment of money—a term that is much broader than just cash.

“There’s a line of cases saying it’s not limited to money. It can be something of value, or goods or services. From the SEC’s perspective, the [token recipient] might be giving the issuer something of value by becoming part of network,” said Sam Waldon, an attorney with the firm Proskauer. And according to Blake Estes of Alston & Bird, the SEC has frowned in the past on companies’ attempts to juice investor interest through giveaways. In 1999, for instance, the agency cracked down on firms offering “free stock” as a way to attract investors to Internet ventures. The SEC itself hasn’t specifically addressed airdrops but, based on recent comments from the agency’s Chairman Jay Clayton, any U.S. venture dabbling in tokens had better tread carefully.

All of this puts blockchain projects in a bind: If they can’t sell or even give away their tokens, how can they get any traction? In the case of Dfinity, the company found a workaround by firmly excluding U.S. citizens from its airdrop. But excluding Americans may not be a viable option for the likes of Civil, whose blockchain journalism project is focused squarely on U.S. towns and cities. The project now faces a dilemma: Tokens are essential to its success and, for now, the group has no easy way to distribute those tokens to its target audience.

The upshot is the SEC’s recent crackdown is helping to shield gullible investors from token scams, but it could also hurt U.S. blockchain innovation if legitimate projects have no way of getting off the ground. Here’s hoping the agency’s gnomes are hard at work creating a safe harbor of sorts that will let U.S. companies and consumers join the age of airdrops. Or else that precious cargo will only end up in foreign hands.

Article Produced By
fortune

A version of this article originally appeared in the The Ledger,

http://fortune.com/2018/06/04/blockchain-airdrops/

David https://markethive.com/david-ogden

Airdrops: Key Themes and Design Considerations

Airdrops: Key Themes and Design Considerations

A Tool for Network Adoption and Governance

 

If you’ve ever opened your crypto wallet and found tokens

that you didn’t knowingly purchase or accept, you’ve probably been the recipient of an airdrop — an event where free tokens or crypto assets are distributed to a group of prospective users. Why would the leaders of a project choose to distribute tokens for free? The thinking is generally that it is a tool for seeding network adoption — by giving people tokens for your protocol, it’s more likely that they will both learn about your protocol and participate in the network. Another reason is to achieve greater initial decentralization of token holders by making sure they don’t just start in the hands of the project team and folks who participated in a token sale.

While airdrops may seem on the surface to be a simple marketing tactic to boost awareness of a new cryptocurrency, they’re actually a complex tool with the potential to fuel more than just brand recognition. Looking ahead, we’ll likely see airdrops go through multiple evolutions as users play around with different elements and uses for them. There is a vast design space around airdrops, hard forks, and other methods of token distribution, which have only just begun to be explored. To try to get our heads around this topic, in December, IDEO CoLab and CoinList hosted 12 practitioners in the crypto asset field — including founders, engineers, designers, and investors — to discuss airdrops. What follows is a synthesis of some of the themes and design provocations surfaced in the discussion.

Key Themes

Airdrops as a way to bootstrap new networks and communities

Airdrops can enable easier and faster bootstrapping of new protocols and communities. Airdrops to large communities of existing token holders (e.g., ETH) can provide wide distribution and a new model for marketing to and acquiring users. Airdrops may also help narrow the gap between the distribution and usage of tokens, as compared to a token sale.

Questions:

  • How do you airdrop “fairly” and equitably, especially when it is easy to game if you know how the distribution will be done in advance?
  • How do you know who to airdrop to, and how much to airdrop to them?
  • How do you airdrop to future users of the platform, not just investors or speculators?

Potential to sidestep regulation

There is an assumption that giving away tokens BEFORE a market price has been established for them may enable a project to avoid many regulatory requirements of token sales. It is unclear whether this is actually the case, given precedents set by the SEC related to stock “giveaways” (see 1999 Wilmer Hale analysis), yet it is a frequently cited reason for pursuing airdrops as a distribution mechanism. [Update: some teams like Harbor and TokenSoft are rolling out products that explicitly take the stance that some or all airdrops will not be exempt from regulatory requirements.]

Questions:

  • How should issuers legally and financially account for airdrops? As a marketing expense? As a donation? Something else?
  • How might regulatory agencies (e.g., SEC, OFAC) view and respond to airdrops, especially as they increase in frequency.

Airdrops as a marketing interface and onboarding experience

 

For many airdrop recipients, receiving tokens may be their first exposure to that project. Currently, airdrops are done without any direct way for users to learn more about the project other than searching Google or Etherscan for the token’s name. This is a poor onboarding experience and one which has much room for improvement in terms of design.

 

Questions:

  • How do you communicate with the recipients of airdrops? Could airdrop transactions include an onboarding message and link to learn more in the Input Data field?
  • How should an airdrop’s onboarding experience be designed to reduce friction and optimize adoption and usage?
  • How might airdrops reimagine marketing and advertising?

Improve effectiveness of airdrops via better targeting

 

Airdrops to date have targeted all holders of an existing cryptocurrency (either BTC or ETH), but it may be more effective to target a subset of addresses based on their possession or use of other tokens. For example, when launching a token for machine learning experts, it might be more effective to target NMR holders, or more specifically those who have actively staked tokens in a Numerai competition. While the ethics are murky, targeting addresses that frequently interact with various gambling platforms may be a good way to seed adoption for a project like FunFair.

 

Questions:

  • How do you ascertain the ‘identities’ or ‘profiles’ of address holders to make better decisions on which users to airdrop tokens to?
  • What analyses can be performed to make better inferences for the purposes of targeting?

Incentives post-airdrop to use utility (or attach airdrop to usage)

 

Instead of giving out tokens and hoping recipients will engage, there could also be an incentive to use the tokens to earn the allocation (and/or a larger one). There was a lot of interest in this idea, which essentially amounts to an initial airdrop targeting a broad population with small amounts of a token, followed by a targeted airdrop with more tokens to those who actively engage with the platform after the initial airdrop. One framing of this is to think of the initial tokens as coupons, which could be “redeemed” for more value after a desired action is taken.

 

 

Questions:

  • How do you create airdrops incentives and/or contingencies based on user actions?
  • What is the range of post-airdrop incentive models that will exist?

 

Unintended consequences (e.g., tax liability) of airdrops

 

Airdropping tokens may create unwanted tax and legal liabilities for recipients (and issuers). There may be more unintended consequences, as airdrops are delivered to large exchanges, custodians, and margin traders. Modeling for how different actors in the network will respond as airdrops become more prevalent will be important to an airdrop’s design and its ability to deliver on its intent.

 

Questions:

  • What is the cost basis and tax liability of an airdrop to its recipient? What if that recipient is an exchange, custodian, or margin trader?
  • Will people value or feel differently about tokens that they get for free?

New airdrop models

As airdropping becomes more common, new models will emerge for different strategies. For example, Stellar has done multiple airdrops to bitcoin holders which required proactive proof of ownership, while OmiseGo did a passive airdrop to Ethereum addresses over a minimum threshold.

 

Experimental models surfaced:

  • Hard spoons: Copying the balance/UTXO set from an existing blockchain network and using it as the basis for token distribution for a new protocol. Basically, you’re copying the economic distribution of tokens on one network and using that as the starting point for a completely separate protocol that is quite distinct from a technical standpoint.
  • Continuous distribution models with “central bank” and monetary policy: Models where tokens are not entirely sold/allocated up front, but rather made available over time through an issuance scheme that is laid out in advance but not necessarily governed through a process like proof of work or proof of stake.
  • Contingent airdrops: In which receiving tokens is dependent upon the user taking a desired action. See #5 above.

Airdrops for inter-protocol governance

Airdrops could be an effective tool for dealing with governance decisions that affect holders of multiple tokens. The simplest version is doing a protocol merger/acquisition, whereby holders of tokens for one protocol are granted tokens on another protocol as a way of combining the communities. This can be done via agreement of project leads and respective stakeholders of each project, but could also be done in a fashion akin to a hostile takeover, where incentives are given by one project for the holders of another project’s tokens to burn their tokens or sabotage the target protocol. See Andy Bromberg’s “What The First Token Hostile Takeover Could Look Like” for more details. Also discussed was the possibility of building “poison pill” terms into smart contracts to proactively counter such attacks.

Questions:

  • How might airdrops lead to greater collaboration? Competition?
  • For what other corporate strategy and/or finance actions could airdrops be used?

While the initial conversation took place under Chatham House Rule, the following people consented to being recognized in this piece for their participation in the conversation: Andy Bromberg, Arianna Simpson, Dan Elitzer, Gavin McDermott, Ian Lee, Jay Freeman, Joe Gerber, Joey Krug, Joseph Poon, Richard Craib, and Tara Tan. No assumption should be made about any individual’s agreement or disagreement with any of the observations above.

Finally, given the pace at which everything in this industry moves, obviously there have been further developments since the initial conversation in December. One is airdrops targeting folks who may not already be crypto users, such as the experiments Numerai is doing to target data scientists on Kaggle and university students; Earn.com rolled out a product allowing airdrops to be offered to over 100,000 users; and Merkle airdrops are an interesting proposal to enable a simple claim process while reducing blockchain bloat. While it’s clear that airdrops are a powerful tool for network adoption and governance, we’ve only just begun to scratch the surface with how they can be most effectively deployed. Let’s keep experimenting!

Article Produced By
Dan Elitzer  ( in IDEO CoLab )

https://medium.com/ideo-colab/airdrops-key-themes-and-design-considerations-efadc8d5d471

David https://markethive.com/david-ogden

As ICOs Get Compliant What Does That Mean for Airdrops?

As ICOs Get Compliant What Does That Mean for Airdrops?

ICOs Are Getting Compliant and Airdrops Will Have to Follow Suit

We’re approaching the halfway point of 2018 and so far over 340 ICOs have raised almost $9 billion between them. Even amidst concerns over regulation, scams, and hackers, those numbers are not to be sniffed at. In fact, while most people think of last year as the non-stop party for ICOs, 2017 saw just 210 of them raising under $4 billion in funds.

What gives? It seems that even with bearish market sentiment and the US SEC breathing fear into the hearts of blockchain startups, ICOs are still going strong. Of course, what happens after they raise the funds remains to be seen–as well as what direction legislation will take. So while many blockchain companies are still bullish on ICOs, others are finding themselves erring on the side of caution and evaluating their options. And as with everything surrounding this decidedly gray area, there’s some confusion as to what those options are.

What Are Compliant ICOs?

A compliant ICO, or STO (Security Token Offering), is regulated by the SEC from the start. There are four major paths open to a US blockchain company that wants to hold a regulated offering and they each have their pros and cons. One of the alternatives, for example, is a using an existing securities exemption called a Reg A+. You can raise up to $50 million and open your offer to anyone over the age of 18. The catch? You need two years of audited financials and significant time and money.

A Reg CF is an easier and cheaper way of raising funds, but you’re significantly limited to how much you can raise (less than $2 million). Fintech Merchant Accounts helps blockchain companies to hold compliant ICOs. CEO Edward Corona says, “keep in mind that they [compliant ICOs] still do not provide business owners the freedom and control of an unregulated ICO.” Right. But then, of course, they also don’t provide business owners with the possibility of ending up behind bars.

Another major advantage of holding a compliant ICO is that you can solicit your deal and advertise it anywhere, making it far easier to raise awareness for your token sale. With Facebook, Twitter, Google and Bing all banning ICO adverts, taking the regulated route will allow you to use these channels for greater exposure. You’ll also ease the troubled minds of many would-be investors rattled by the recent bad press.

What Does This Mean for Airdrops?

Several ingenious ICO teams have taken to creative ways of marketing their projects by using airdrops. Effectively, distributing free tokens to interested parties and creating buzz for their sale. We’ve even seen some incredible physical airdrops, with tokens falling out of balloons.

In this herculean effort to circumvent securities laws, airdrops have gained momentum. Who doesn’t love free money, right? You can even sign up to be alerted to up-and-coming airdrops and revel in all the free cash. But if your Mom ever told you nothing in life comes for free, sorry to say she was right.

Websites alerting people to airdrops

Just as there’s no such thing as a free lunch, there’s no such thing as free stock. That’s not just Momma talking, that’s the Securities and Exchange Commission, as well. So, if you thought that airdrops were an excellent way of getting around the ad ban, or marketing your ICO, you should probably shelve that idea too.

Airdrops are not compliant either.

And they will likely be regarded as security transactions, which presents quite a problematic scenario. Darren Marble, CEO of CrowdfundX, a marketing firm for STOs, points out, “You can’t just send shares of stock to people. The problem with an airdrop is that it’s generally incongruent with US security laws.” So, that great marketing tactic for creating awareness and even escalating FOMO? Not such a good idea after all. “My general advice for STO issuers,” he continues, “I would put that airdrop concept on hold. I would advise anyone in the US not to do it. I get it, it’s a good marketing tactic, but there’s too much risk and uncertainty.”

This Isn’t Fun Anymore

Regulation seems to paint a gloomy picture. Just utter the word and it sends the crypto markets quivering. But the purpose of regulation seems to be two-fold. To give blockchain companies a legal framework from which to work, and to protect investors from ICO scams. According to Marble, blockchain companies shouldn’t get too downhearted. Even though it feels as if their wings are being clipped, there are still plenty of ways of getting funding. He says: “I don’t think real teams should be that concerned. If you have a real blockchain concept or team and you’ve got some skill or differentiation or an incredible vision, the fact that you can’t advertise on Twitter should not deter you or stop you from raising money.”

Hedge Fund Funds

So, you can’t (or don’t want to) hold an ICO, you can’t drop free stock into investors’ wallets and you can’t wow users on social media. But there are still other ways to raise money and they may sort the wheat from the chaff. “If you look at what’s happening in the space, there was obviously a huge rush of retail investors into the market in 2017 and now that’s largely subsided. The Google searches for Bitcoin have dramatically decreased. The conversation about Bitcoin at the dinner table was last Thanksgiving. Now there’s a rush of crypto hedge funds.”

We’re talking about small hedge funds that have anywhere between $5 million to $500 million to invest. And they’re waiting to hear about your project. “Innovative companies,” says Marble, “even if you’re a small team, you can go out and find a page that lists all these funds and then contact these people. The best deals in the space are being funded by a small group of passionate crypto hedge funds that aren’t necessarily impossible to reach.”

Closing Thoughts

The future of fundraising may look a lot different, but it doesn’t have to be gloomy. As ICOs and airdrops start to subside, so too, should the deluge of shitcoins and hollow white papers selling nothing but air.

Article Produced By

Christina Comben

Christina is a B2B writer and MBA, specializing in fintech, cybersecurity, blockchain, and other geeky areas. When she's not at her computer, you'll find her surfing, traveling, or relaxing with a glass of wine.

David https://markethive.com/david-ogden

A token airdrop may not spare you from securities regulation.

Blockchain token based projects need network effects.

There needs to be a mechanism for fairly and widely distributing tokens to in order for the project to function well upon launch. A popular method thus far has been to sell those tokens in advance to prospective users of the network that are interested in crowdfunding its development. Another, lesser known, strategy is an “airdrop.”

In an airdrop, a project’s creators can take a snapshot of a public blockchain, such as Bitcoin’s or Ethereum’s, and send tokens to all wallet addresses containing some number of bitcoin or ether at the time the snapshot was taken. This requires no action on the recipient's part other than to take whatever steps are needed to take control of the tokens once they have been gifted. It can be a way to jumpstart a community by instantly putting tokens in the hands of a lot of people with a proven level of cryptocurrency savvy. This seems like something totally new and unique to token projects, right? Not really. It turns out people have tried airdropping before, but with stocks. And the SEC did not look favorably

upon the tactic.

In each of the four cases, the investors were required to sign up with the issuers' web sites and disclose valuable personal information in order to obtain shares. Free stock recipients were also offered extra shares, in some cases, for soliciting additional investors or, in other cases, for linking their own websites to those of an issuer or purchasing services offered through an issuer. Through these techniques, issuers received value by spawning a fledgling public market for their shares, increasing their business, creating publicity, increasing traffic to their websites, and, in two cases, generating possible interest in projected public offerings.

So, since the SEC has found that some tokens can be securities, if you are considering using an airdrop token distribution be warned that even giving away tokens is not necessarily free from scrutiny under securities law.e briefed Congress on tracking illicit cryptocurrency use and moderated a convening on ICO regulatory uncertainty.

This was a big week for cryptocurrency in DC.

On Tuesday, members of Congress and over 50 representatives from the crypto industry convened at the Library of Congress for a roundtable entitled “Legislating Certainty for Cryptocurrencies.” The event was organized by Rep. Warren Davidson and also attended by Reps. Tom Emmer, Ted Budd, and Darren Soto. Coin Center executive director Jerry Brito moderated the event, and entrepreneurs voiced their concerns about the lack of clarity around when exactly a cryptocurrency token is or is not a security.

Following the roundtable, 14 members of Congress, led by Rep. Budd, sent a letter to SEC Chairman Jay Clayton echoing the concerns of cryptocurrency innovators and asking for more clarity around the regulatory treatment of these networks. In another event in Congress on Wednesday, in conjunction with the the Congressional Blockchain Caucus, Coin Center put on a briefing about the tools law enforcement has to track illicit use of cryptocurrencies. Blockchain forensics company Elliptic presented how their product works with real-world examples of illicit funds being traced by law enforcement. Reps. Emmer and Schweikert also gave remarks highlighting the importance of getting the regulatory approach to these technologies right and preserving a fertile climate for innovators in America.

Article Produced By

Peter Van Valkenburgh

https://coincenter.org/link/a-token-airdrop-may-not-spare-you-from-securities-regulation

 

David https://markethive.com/david-ogden

All About Airdrops

All About Airdrops

What is an airdrop?

An airdrop is simpy a marketing tool that many companies are using to drum up press for new blockchain projects. The concept is simple: You help a company with some of their initial marketing efforts by following them on social media, and they reward you with free tokens once the project launches. In many ways, airdrops represent free money. Using Quarry, you can apply for most airdrops in just a few minutes, and the rewards can range from a few dollars in value all the way up to hundreds in rare cases.

What do I need?

The first thing you need is an ERC20-compatible ETH wallet. If you’re using Quarry, don’t sweat it, because this has already been made for you. Airdrops will ask for your public address (not your private key!) in order to send you the tokens.

Beyond that, the majority of airdrops require:

  • an email address
  • a Telegram account
  • a Twitter account
  • a Facebook account

Rarely, a small number of airdrops may optionally require:

  • a Reddit account
  • a Medium account
  • a Discord account
  • a LinkedIn account
  • an Instagram account
  • a Steemit account
  • a Bitcointalk forum account
  • an Altcoinstalks forum account
  • a VK account
  • an AngelList account

If possible, you might want to consider using alternate social media accounts, instead of your personal pages. This will avoid cluttering your feed with too much token-related news, but it’s up to you. In Quarry, we even highlight on the airdrop page what accounts you will need ahead of time, so that there are no suprises on the page. Note that you never have to give any information that you aren’t comfortable sharing.

Are Airdrops Scams?

No. It’s a very fair trade. For one, having a lot of people following and reposting a project’s content on social media helps a company with brand awareness, much like advertising. Ideally, by the time the project launches, there are already thousands of people aware of the concept and excited to see it in action. Additionally, distributing airdrop tokens to participants actually helps the economics of the token on public exchanges, since the tokens are not concentrated in just a few locations.

In the past, a small number of scammers have pretended to run airdrops in order to steal information from unsuspecting partipants. One of the advantages of using Quarry is that we screen all airdrops before they enter the app to ensure that they are legitimate. However, just in case, please be vigilant. No airdrop should ever ask for:

  • your wallet’s private key (note: your public address is fine to share)
  • any kind of password
  • any amount of money

As long as you don’t hand out this information, you have nothing to fear.

When do airdrops pay out?

In general, an airdrop will pay out several weeks after completion. In some cases, it could take a few months. If you completed an airdrop and don’t see the coins yet, don’t panic! Most likely, the airdrop will distribute when the token crowdsale is complete.

What do I do when the tokens are paid out?

That’s up to you. Because projects doing airdrops are in very early stages of development, it is possible that the tokens will increase in value over time (remember when Bitcoins cost $5 each?), so it might be worth it to hold onto them for a while. However, if you would prefer to sell them once they hit the market, there are many token exchanges available online and on the Quarry “Discover” menu.

Article Produced By
Token Block Friends

We’re Token Block Friends, your buddies in the world of cryptocurrency and blockchain applications.

https://tokenblockfriends.com/all-about-airdrops/

David https://markethive.com/david-ogden