What do you think about crypto airdrops? Are they profitable?

What do you think about crypto airdrops? Are they profitable?

 

If you are a fan of action movies just like myself,

then the first image that comes to mind whenever ‘airdrop’ is mentioned, may be airplanes dropping war machines or relief materials out of the sky. However, this is far from what it means in the cryptocurrency space. I bet you’ve been seeing the word [airdrops] attached to a lot of cryptocurrencies, and particularly ICO projects. So, what really is an airdrop, in relation to cryptos?

An airdrop is a distribution of pre-mined coins (cryptos) to early supporters of a project. Think of it, like free coins waiting to be picked up for doing close to nothing. Yes, that’s right. Getting free cryptocurrencies from airdrops requires little to no effort. As crazy as this may sound, many crypto enthusiasts are making money from airdrops. And while it may appear illogical for companies to throw some cash away in the name of airdrops, the entire process is actually a core marketing strategy. After all, nothing is free.

Blockchain-based businesses, new and old, often use airdrops as a means to create some buzz about their projects, or reward loyal HODLERS/supporters. The idea of getting some money for simply inputting your email, joining a Telegram group, and performing some basic tasks like twitting about a project sounds interesting. We all like easy money, don’t we? In the process of doing this, we unknowingly let out some of our details such as email, Facebook or Twitter username, and probably phone number. It’s a win-win for both parties.

Getting Airdrops

Airdrops are free money. To participate in them, you’ll need the following:

  • An active Ethereum wallet (most airdrops are ERC20 tokens, although they can come in other forms, so you may need another wallet as specified by the company)
  • Telegram/Twitter/Facebook account (basically, you will be required to perform an easy task, which could involve downloading an app)
  • Email address

That’s as simple as it gets. Next is to find out which projects are doing airdrops, join up, and perform the required tasks. Tasks typically range from just filing a user form (with your Ethereum wallet), twitting about the project, liking and commenting on Facebook, or performing a video review, amongst others. For a list of latest airdrops in the crypto space, visit All Crypto airdrops rated for you and join the mailing list. It’s as simple as ABC.

Article Produced By

Nadim Ahmeed

https://www.quora.com/What-do-you-think-about-crypto-airdrops-Are-they-profitable

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

An $8 Million Airdrop Ran Out of Tokens – What’s Next Is Anyone’s Guess

 

An $8 Million Airdrop Ran Out of Tokens – What's Next Is Anyone's Guess

"Scarcity" may be a crypto buzzword,

but "shortage" has hardly made the footnotes – until now. In early July, the developers behind U Network, a blockchain publishing protocol valued at around $8 million, abruptly announced that it had run out of its reserve of UUU crypto tokens, and that it planned to buy back some of the supply it distributed to early investors through its airdrop in February.

At the start of the project, U Network established a 10 billion UUU cap on its token supply (worth approximately $15.6 million), setting aside 40 percent of its total tokens (about $6.2 million) for the founding team and future development. Yet, due to a rising number of strategic partners and interest in its token, the project announced on Medium, "The demand for UUU tokens has exceeded our current designated holdings."

The post continued:

"The team now faces a problem: leaving our ecosystem tokens intact, how do we pursue these new opportunities to grow the U Network ecosystem?"

The result is a problem that seems to have little precedent. The structure of ICOs and airdrops varies widely across projects, particularly with regard to the number of tokens minted, distributed and maintained by a given company or non-profit. While some projects do not limit the number of tokens that can be created within their blockchain ecosystem, others, like U Network, choose to implement a cap on the total supply.

For U Network, the 10 billion limit was implemented because the content-centered project, which aims to "help online content platforms better align with the interests of their users," wanted to "provide sufficient incentives to community members." While U Network's dilemma is currently an outlier in the industry, other blockchains that have implemented hard caps on their ICOs and airdrops may soon find themselves in a similar quandary as they begin building their ecosystems. Likewise, U Network's situation may force similar projects to confront an even more difficult question: what happens when your startup runs out of its own tokens?

Method to the madness

Incentives are especially important in blockchain systems, and so far, there is no established methodology by which projects can determine how many tokens to issue and keep. That's according to Joshua Gans, a professor of strategic management at the University of Toronto, who told CoinDesk: "There is no metric." "If you want to use tokens for incentives, the amount of the incentive is dependent on the price of the token," he explained. "At the start, it is hard to predict that." Gans added that establishing the amount of tokens projects should keep is equally as unsystematic.

According to Catherine Tucker, a professor of management and marketing at MIT, projects face a doubly difficult situation in the highly scrutinized industry. Not only do they lack methodologies for determining token supplies and holdings, they must also consider the perception of their actions. "I think this case illustrates the huge trade-offs founders face," she told CoinDesk. "If they keep too many tokens in reserve, they are often accused of being greedy. But if they give away too many tokens then they lose a crucial lever they need to incentivize people to use their platform or service in the future."

The buy-back

As such, remedying a shortage of tokens looks to be a precarious task. Solutions such as increasing the token supply of the network could influence the token's price, angering investors and jeopardizing their trust in the project. So instead, U Network plans to refurbish its holdings by conducting a token "buy-back." In practice, this means it will re-purchase 1,000 ETH worth of UUU (about 284 million tokens at press time) from current token holders over the course of several stages.

"For the first stage we would be buying back 200 ETH worth of UUU between the price range of 0.004 and 0.005 USD," U Network told CoinDesk. At press time, one UUU token was valued at $0.001569. As for how the project determined the number of tokens to re-purchase, it explained, "We believe it's a reasonable amount. Not too high to affect market price, not too low to affect the expansion needs."

From Gans' perspective, the buy-back is "a good way to go." He went on, "You issue the tokens and retain some other currency to use for buy-backs if you make an error. The other option is to give yourself the ability to issue more tokens for incentive purposes but that is ultimately the same as retaining some tokens at the outset." And as for what the rest of the industry could do to avoid U Network's dilemma,

MIT's Tucker suggested:

"If I had to give advice to founders, it would be to think about the uncertainty involved with the project. In those cases of heightened uncertainty, it might be best to limit the initial distribution of tokens until the business plan has evolved and been tested."

Article Produced By
Annaliese Milano

https://www.coindesk.com/8-million-airdrop-cryptocurrency-run-out-tokens/

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

CryptoCurrency Airdrops: Where Could The SEC Stand on Them?

CryptoCurrency Airdrops:
Where Could The SEC Stand on Them?

We are all aware of the common practice in the cryptocurrency ecosystem called Airdrops.

These are essentially free giveaways of coins that are “airdropped” on a group of cryptocurrency enthusiasts. It is the quickest way to distribute your coins in the market short of doing an Initial Coin Offering (ICO). However, how do Airdrops fit into the current regulatory framework as laid out by the Securities and Exchange Commission? Could airdrops be a less burdensome way for the developers to fund their projects? We will take a look at the current regulatory environment and how cryptocurrency airdrops are likely to fit into that.

How Airdrops Work

The mechanics of an Airdrop is really pretty simple. A developer team will take a snapshot of an already established cryptocurrency chain. This will then give them an overview of the addresses that are currently on the chain. They will then release their free tokens to all of those holders. The developers of that token will “fork” their chain from the legacy chain and then build off of that technology. Some of the largest cryptocurrencies available right now are the result of these including Bitcoin Cash (BCH).

It is also really quite simple to initiate an airdrop. For example, you can head on over to Open Zeppelin and use one of their smart contract templates for the the Ethereum blockchain. You will then take a snapshot of the blockchain and you will distribute a certain number of the coins in some sort of a ratio to the ETH that they already hold. The developers will also hold onto a certain percentage of all available coins.

Why Airdrop Coins?

Apart from distributing your coins as widely as possible, there are other really important incentives for a project to airdrop coins. It is an easy way for the developer team to fund their project. Yes, they are not raising crypto or Fiat through an ICO or a seed round, but they are keeping a large stake in the coins that they have airdropped.

If the project keeps doing well and the public starts to take notice then the value of the tokens is likely to increase. Hence, the team funds will become valuable and they can then sell some of these tokens to fund the project in question. They are also a lot more cost effective than completing an ICO or trying to secure funding in a seed round. These methods of financing are now becoming incredibly expensive as investors are demanding much more than a simple whitepaper. Airdrops could also be less burdensome in terms of regulation.

Securities Regulations and Crypto

If a cryptocurrency asset is classified as a security then it falls under the jurisdiction of the SEC and hence will have to meet all the requirements. Whether it is classified as such depends on whether it passes the Howey Test. This is the rule of thumb that is used to determine whether an asset will be classified as a security. More particularly, an investment contract is

defined as:

A contract, transaction or scheme whereby a person invests his money in a common enterprise and is led to expect profits solely from the efforts of the promoter or a third party

Under this definition, it is quite clear that many of the ICOs today could be classified as such. In fact, there was even speculation that Ethereum may have been classified as a security when they did their ICO. Yet, how are the airdrops viewed by the SEC?

Airdrops And Securities

Not surprisingly, there is no legal precedent for giveaways.Airdrops are free giveaways of the coins and the ICO developers are not raising funds from the population. The investors are not putting any funds at risk and hence they cannot claim that they had expectations of a return on their investment.However, what about the cases when the tokens eventually hit the market and secondary investors buy the tokens on an exchange? Here they are indeed buying these tokens in the expectation of a profit.

While they may be expecting a return on their investment, can they really be classified as investing in a “common enterprise”? Are these investors not just speculating on the price of an asset much like they will do when the purchase Forex, Commodities or even other cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin. Moreover, can this really even be considered investing? Tokens are not like equity in a company or debt securities. Many of them are “utility tokens” meaning that they have an underlying use case. Hence, one can realistically claim that they are buying the token for a purpose other than speculation.

Those who are buying the tokens on an exchange are buying it from other people and not from the developers themselves. Hence, you cannot claim that the developers are the main recipients of the investors’ funds. All this means that it would be incredibly nonsensical for the SEC to claim that an airdrop is a security. This could be akin to them claiming a free giveaway of any good on the street can also be considered a security. Moreover, what will the SEC do to those coins that have already been airdropped and have no central authority? Who will they target in any sort of enforcement action when the network is decentralised?

Conclusion

Airdrops are a quick and easy way for developers to get their coins out into the ecosystem and start work on the project. The SEC has still not given their judgement on ICOs yet but many think that it is only a matter of time. Indeed, it seems that they are getting that much more active with their enforcement. There have been a number of ICOs that have received cease and desist letters in operation “crypto sweep”.

So, should airdrops be the preferred option? Not quite.

While they are less burdensome, an airdrop is much less effective of an fundraising method as an ICO or other methods of seed funding. The development team will still have to wait before there is any sort of market for their coins before they can sell some and use the proceeds. Building ground breaking technology is not cheap and these developers still have to put food on the table. In the end, it will have to come down to the needs, preferences and risk that the developers are willing to take.

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Editorial Team

Editors at large. Posting the latest news, reviews and analysis to hit the blockchain.

https://www.coinbureau.com/analysis/cryptocurrency-airdrops-sec/

 

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

Why Waves is Best for Airdrops

Why Waves is Best for Airdrops

Imagine you’re building a house.

You could transport the bricks in small batches in the boot of your car. Or you can hire a lorry for the purpose. Either will work, but only one was designed to do the job quickly and effectively. Which do you choose? Airdrops have become an important element of the crypto landscape and for good reason. By distributing small amounts of tokens to many different users for free, you instantly gain a very large potential userbase. These recipients will generally want to find out more about the project. They may become larger buyers in due course, as well as some of your first testers, end user, ​ and advocates for the business. All of this can be gained in return for allocating a small proportion of your token supply in advance, plus the cost of airdropping them to hundreds or thousands of blockchain addresses. All you have to do is distribute them. But that’s the thing. Distribution. And it’s not as easy as you might think.

Big airdrops, big headaches

Here’s the thing: you can conduct an airdrop on any blockchain — just as you can theoretically transport your building supplies with any mode of transport, whether that’s a car, lorry, bike or SegWay. There are just good reasons why you might not want to. There are a few factors to consider. Obviously,​ it needs to be a platform that supports custom tokens. No major problem there: even bitcoin supports assets (via the Omni protocol, for example). But then you’ve got to send them all out to different addresses, using whatever criteria you choose for recipients.

Naturally,​ you want your send process to be fast and as low-cost as possible. You don’t want to be competing for block space, and you don’t want to be paying high transaction fees. That makes something like bitcoin/Omni a non-starter — imagine having to pay many tens of thousands of dollars or more to get the job done. And if you’re sending thousands of transactions, you can forget it: they’re going to be stuck in mempool until you’re grey-haired. Ethereum’s a better option, and plenty of airdrops do occur on the platform. But fees are still comparatively high, and the network is not designed for large throughput (just ask the Crypto Kitties).

Then there are some of the other problems that can occur if you misuse a blockchain that’s not really built for the job. A few years ago there was an initiative to pay dividends to stakers on BitcoinDark (a privacy coin that was built on a proof-of-stake clone of bitcoin). The first time a large number of transactions was submitted via a script, the network forked. Oops.

Waves-NG

So this is where Waves comes in. You can conduct airdrops on any blockchain. A handful of them can cope with that reasonably well. But there’s only one that has specifically been designed to support the kinds of transaction volumes that a large airdrop requires. Waves’ consensus algorithm is Waves-NG, which is capable of processing an order of magnitude more transactions than most other blockchains — quickly and at low cost. Standard fees are 0.001 WAVES per transaction (around $0.005 right now) but it gets even cheaper thanks to the mass-pay function, which is purpose-built exactly for this reason.

That makes Waves an incredibly efficient and low-cost way of conducting huge airdrops. The proof? Waves processed over 330,000 transactions in a single day on 26 December 2017. 170,000 transactions were confirmed within just 20 minutes, and it is theoretically possible to process up to 10 million transactions per day. Job done in one go.

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Waves Platform

The fastest blockchain platform with real-world solutions for storing or exchanging tokens, trading (DEX) or running business logic (Waves smart contracts).

https://blog.wavesplatform.com/why-waves-is-best-for-airdrops-cebc260232d4

 

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

What is a Cryptocurrency Airdrop by Cryptocurrency Facts?

What is a Cryptocurrency Airdrop by  Cryptocurrency Facts?

What the Term “Airdrop” Means in Cryptocurrency

In cryptocurrency, the term “airdrop” is used to describe a type of distribution event for a cryptocurrency where tokens are distributed to existing wallets. Or more simply, an event where “free coins” or coins purchased during a pre-sale are “dropped” in existing wallets. In other words, the term “airdrop” describes a distribution event that occurs when a cryptocurrency decides to distribute tokens to users for any reason. For example:

  • A distribution event that occurs after an ICO goes live and the smart contract for the ICO sends new tokens to the existing addresses of users who participated in the pre-sale. For example, one buys into an ethereum-based ICO, then on the airdrop date the token is sent to user’s wallets and they can then “add the token” to their Ethereum wallets (see the KIN and UKG ICOs for example).
  • A distribution event after a hard fork or the creation of a new token which results in existing coin holders getting “free coins,” but where the platform being used requires the distribution of tokens. For example, a fork on the Ethereum network that creates a new token on the Ethereum network or another coin’s network (see fork-airdrop hybrids like the Ethereum Classic Callisto Airdrop and the Loopring Airdrop for example).
  • A distribution event where tokens are given to existing holders as a reward for sticking with the cryptocurrency or as an incentive to get people to hold the cryptocurrency or a related token (see the WAVES Bitcoin Cash airdrop for example).

With the above in mind, we can say then that the term “airdrop” refers to an event where tokens not associated with addresses become associated with them, generally due to a person participating in a pre-sale (like with an ICO) or holding existing coins (like with some forks). However, with the above noted, sometimes the term “airdrop” is used loosely to describe distribution events regardless of the specific mechanics (like in the case with some forks that use the term “airdrop” in their PR).

Since there is a little bit of disconnect between how the term is sometimes used (especially factoring in how it is used on social media) and what the term means in a more pure sense, it is helpful to understand the different definitions. That is the gist.

Airdrop Snapshot Block Height and Airdrop Distribution Date:
An airdrop may include either/or 1. an Airdrop Snapshot Block Height, a block height that one has to hold an existing cryptocurrency during to qualify for the airdrop (a snapshot of the existing ledger is taken at that block height), and 2. an Airdrop Distribution Date, a date upon which the tokens are airdropped to existing wallets. Airdrop snapshot dates would be be used with fork-airdrop hybrids, Airdrop Distribution Dates are common to all airdrops and simply describe the date on which the airdrop occurs.

The Semantics of Airdrop:
Airdrop has become somewhat of a PR term here in 2018 and that has led to some questionable usage of the term. As noted, sometimes the term is used to describe a distribution event that occurs after a hard fork goes live and coins can be claimed… even in cases where nothing is technically being airdropped. In cases like this, the term “airdrop” is being used loosely. The slightly confusing thing here is that, as noted above as well, a fork can have an airdrop. For example, in the case where a snapshot of the ledger is taken, the software is forked, but the distribution after the fork occurs on another coin’s network (like with the Loopring example above).

I think part of the confusion is due to the fact that there is no good word to describe the distribution date after a fork where the whole of the software is forked (and of course, that distribution is the exciting part where people get “free” coins)… Thus, sometimes the term airdrop gets borrowed to describe distribution events that aren’t actually airdrops. The General Meaning of the Term Airdrop: If you want to airdrop a file from your iPhone to another iPhone, you take your file, share it over WiFi or Bluetooth, and then it appears on the other person phone. The person didn’t have the file, now they do. It was “dropped,” through “the air;” “airdrop.”

Article Produced By
CryptoCurrency Facts

https://cryptocurrencyfacts.com/what-is-a-cryptocurrency-airdrop/

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

Beginner’s Guide to Cryptocurrency Airdrops

Beginner’s Guide to Cryptocurrency Airdrops

As you’ve delved into the world of cryptocurrency,

you may have come across the term “airdrop” a couple of times. No, this isn’t the file transferring feature that comes with Apple devices. In cryptocurrency, airdrops mean free money. Seriously.

What Is an Airdrop?

It seems that every day a company launches an Initial Coin Offering (ICO). It is much harder to stand out with how many are out there. Instead of ruthlessly promoting themselves all over the internet, the team behind the new ICO will look at the blockchain of an already established token and gather up every person who has that coin in their wallets. They will then distribute an amount of their token in proportion to the amount that you hold. A fork of an existing coin can also grant you an equal amount of the new coin, a recent example is when BitCoin Cash was created and all holders of Bitcoin received the same amount in Bitcoin Cash.

Why Would A Company Give Me Free Tokens?

As mentioned, the market for ICOs is over-saturated beyond belief. Most people are more likely to roll their eyes when they see a new cryptocurrency rather than invest. That said, if the team behind that new currency gives out free tokens for attention, they are much more likely to get it. In marketing, first impressions are incredibly important. How could you not think highly of a company that pays you upon meeting?

If a company sends some of their token to your wallet and you notice it, it might prompt you to look into their project more and if you like what you see you might decide to invest in them. It’s free marketing for the token sale or coin launch really, it costs the company nothing to provide these tokens to you but could help them with brand recognition. Another reason companies give out free tokens, is to help decentralization of their currency. A recent example of this was Omise Go who airdropped large numbers of their tokens to Ethereum holders shortly after their successful ICO,

Stating :

At OmiseGO, we believe that tokens are most useful when they are as widely distributed as possible. In the case of a permissionless proof-of-stake (PoS) network, especially one running a very economically valuable decentralized exchange trading both cryptocurrency and real-world money, a wide distribution is also critically important for network security.

How Can I Learn About Future Airdrops?

Airdrops aren’t always a surprise. Some companies announce their intentions via press release, while others will “reward” you for joining their social following within a limited time frame. These teams are more selective as to who gets their free currency, rather than giving it out to the whole blockchain.

Various groups on Telegram or Facebook keep track of upcoming ICO’s and announce any relevant airdrops. Websites like airdropalert.com are always tracking new giveaways as well. Some companies will use an airdrop to promote their wallet or application, stating that the first 50,000 downloads will receive the respective currency. Other projects will even ask you to promote them on a forum or website in exchange for tokens. There are no “official” rules on how an airdrop should occur. Everyone does it their own way, and it’s up to you to decide if you want to get involved.

Staying Safe in the World of Airdrops

Sometimes you may see a currency that asks for your private key or to send them funds before they initiate the airdrop. Do not do this. No proper airdrop will ever need that information from you, let alone ask you for money in exchange. The cryptocurrency industry prides itself on being unregulated, don’t let it get the best of you as their are scammers who will hear about an upcoming airdrop and try to take advantage by creating fake “phishing” websites designed to take your cryptocurrency keys.

To be clear :

Never Give out Your Private Key for Airdrops

Of course, just because an airdrop is legit, that does not mean you’ll make money off of it. Most airdrops are done when a currency is at a low value in hopes that people will invest. The chances are high that these tokens will never raise enough be worth anything. You never can know for sure, so it’s always in your best interest to research any coins you receive before making a decision. Scope out a dev teams social media pages. Are they interacting with their fans and answering questions? They’re probably legit. If an airdrop is real, someone somewhere will have reported on it.

Do I Need a Specific Wallet?

The most popular blockchain for airdrops by far is Ethereum, and many of the tokens created with be ERC-20 tokens. The Waves platform also has a lot of airdrops of new tokens so to make sure you have the highest opportunity to receive free airdrops you should create wallets for both and hold some coins in there.

You’ll see most airdrops require an “ERC-20” compatible wallet, which means any wallet that supports the Ethereum blockchain that you own the private keys for. If you use an exchange to hold your tokens ( which we dont advise ) then you will need to withdraw them to a your own wallet to receive airdrops. You can also use a Hardware wallet such as the Trezor or Ledger which interacts with the MyEtherWallet website, this is the safest way to store your cryptocurrency as your private keys are never exposed to your own computer which means even if you are infected with a virus or malware, they are unable to steal your keys.

Conclusion

Before interacting with any new cryptocurrency, it is always essential that you do your research and believe in the vision behind the technology. Keep an eye out for scams and remember that a legitimate project has no reason to ask for your private information. Airdrops can be an exciting way to learn more about a project, and may even be your next big investment. Just make sure to be smart about your involvements, and always go the extra mile to keep your data safe. And we will repeat one last time …   ""Never Give out Your Private Key for Airdrops""

Article Produced By
Max Moeller

I'm a freelance writer with experience in the games and technology industries. Now I'm breaking my way into cryptocurrency.

https://blockonomi.com/airdrops-guide/

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

All You Need to Know About Airdrops

All You Need to Know About Airdrops

Everybody likes free things, although we are usually suspicious of them.

This is because we have been used to thinking that free things serve as a bait to hook you on to something else. So, people would usually shy away from free things particularly free money. But in the cryptocurrency world, there is actually free money and it is referred to as ‘Airdrop’

What are Airdrops

Airdrops refers to a process whereby a  cryptocurrency enterprise distributes its  tokens to a user’s wallet, completely free of charge. Usually, airdrops are done by start-ups, although, established companies or platforms can do them as well. The airdropped coins usually are fairly low in value or used within the ecosystem of a particular platform, but they definitely have the potential to grow. Airdrops are like marketing campaigns organised by a cryptocurrency startup to raise awareness about their services or products. That way, they can generate more interest and exposure for their products. As information about the Airdrop and that particular token spreads among the community, raising the awareness, which in turn increases the trading volume of a particular coin when it gets listed on an exchange. There are basically two types of airdrops. The surprise ones and the ones that are announced prior to the time it is airdropped.

Airdrops are different from Initial Coin Offerings. While ICOs involve a private sale where investors purchase tokens in a private sale often followed by a public sale round where small investors purchase tokens. However, airdrops do not involve any purchasing and are just token giveaways.

How to get free coins

Now that we have established that airdrops are just giveaways, you need to know how to participate in one, in these simple steps. First, you sign up for an Airdrop by filling out a form. Next, you give out your wallet’s address for receiving coins, and free tokens land in your wallet at the speculated time. You can also sign up for online services that provide information about airdrops. These online services will send you an alert when there is an airdrop. Such as   Airdropalert.com or Airdropaddict.com. Also, there are telegram groups and twitter account of coins that announce new airdrops.

Beware of Airdrop Scams

There are many scammer out there ready to take advantage of every situation.  The cryptocurrency industry is not left out. It is still largely unregulated and still growing. For this reason, many scammers set up crypto projects for the purpose of scamming users out of their money. So one has to be very careful. Some airdrops are setup to hack into the wallets of unsuspecting users thereby stealing their private key. You should ensure that the airdrop is authentic before participating in it. You can also store your crypto in cold storage to prevent them from being stolen.

Article Produced By

Rebecca Asseh

I am a blockchain and cryptocurrency journalist fascinated with sharing the knowledge of this wonderful technology in the simplest language possible.

https://cryptotvplus.com/all-you-need-to-know-about-airdrops/

 

 

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

The Ledger: Free Money in the Age of Airdrops

The Ledger: Free Money in the Age of Airdrops

 

 

Nothing in life is free. Or is it?

A blockchain project called Dfinity this 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
Robert Hackett
Jeff John Roberts
Jen Wieczner

http://fortune.com/2018/06/01/crypto-free-money-airdrops/

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

3 Crypto Airdrops in Q3 2018 You Should Know About

3 Crypto Airdrops in Q3 2018 You Should Know About

As the general public’s interest in cryptocurrency has waned

since the beginning of 2018, there’s been a considerable amount of work put into blockchain technology across the board. New coins are being released into a bear market while the most enthusiastic “cryptoheads” are scouring the web for new blockchain projects and explosive ROIs. An increasingly popular method for marketing new cryptocurrencies is what’s known as an airdrop. While it’s a great way for investors to make “free” money, not all airdrops are created equally. We’ve pulled a few out of the fog offering the best reward-to-effort ratios. It’s worth noting the projects listed below were not evaluated as long-term holds. If you’re looking for ways to get into the consolidating crypto-sphere without sacrificing chunks of your paycheck, then airdrops are your friend.

                                                       FXPay (FXP)

                                                               

                                                                      What is FXPay?

FXPay is setting out to upgrade current Forex systems with blockchain technology, creating cheaper and faster transactions for banks, liquidity providers, brokers, and traders. For those who don’t know, Forex is shorthand term for the Foreign Exchange, which is a marketplace for trading international currencies. It’s similar to cryptocurrency in the sense that it’s electronically decentralized and deals directly with trading currencies. The Forex market is massive, seeing US$5.4 trillion in daily transactions. In comparison, the crypto market sees less than US$5 billion each day. When such a massive industry is forced to deal with a variety of international institutions and individual traders, there’s bound to be inadequacies built into the process.

There are 3 main issues outlined in the FXPay whitepaper that the Forex market currently faces. First on the list is “the fees incurred by the trader, broker, and liquidity provider when withdrawing and depositing funds.” Second, there’s a lack of consistency regarding said fees, and it stems from a “lack of standardization” in the Forex space overall. Lastly, the process of exchanging currencies is complex and can last multiple days in this space. By introducing blockchain technology to the Forex market, FXPay will offer traders and brokers low, stable fees with near-instant transaction times. This in-turn will increase profit margins and decrease costs, causing more money to enter the market with a lower barrier to entry.

How to Participate

To participate, you’ll need to create an account with Telegram. Next, you’ll complete the entire process by interacting with the FXPay Telegram Bot. The bot is easy to work with and you can check your balance as you go. The tasks are listed within the interactive chat and you can always get human help in the community channel.

Completing the entire task list means you’ll earn 31 FXP, which has an estimated value of $50. FXP is an ERC-20 token, so make sure your ETH wallet is ERC-20 compatible. After entering your ETH address in the Telegram bot, you’ll want to add the FXP token to your wallet. For that, you’ll need the following information:

                                                                   BigBang Token (BBT)

 

                                                           

                                                              What is BigBang Token?

BigBang Token is the utility token that will be used for the loyalty program in the Bing Bang Platform. BingBang has created an entire ecosystem in the online casino and eSports industry, which is estimated to reach a volume of almost US$52 billion by the end of 2018. Since the advent of internet gaming, the market has seen tremendous growth while sustaining its fair share of growing pains.

The online gambling industry is currently facing limited transparency and regulation. This leaves little insight into gamer’s behaviour, which stifles the encouragement of positive standards and reported abuse. Since companies are often forced to outsource necessary infrastructure to countries with more lenient gambling laws, the result is a scattered and stigmatized industry operating in and out of a so-called “grey marketplace.”

By introducing a decentralized, public ledger to the space, there would be an instant increase in trust and transparency between actors. This increase in trust would naturally allow the system to self-regulate under the light of open public inspection. Since the current industry is spread out amongst different operators, insight is limited. With a decentralized platform allowing an array of operators, gamers could trust their loyalty points will transfer between different games. It’s akin to a franchise casino company offering a variety of games and locations while using the same chips.

How to Participate

Participating in the BigBang Token airdrop is fairly straightforward. There’s a list of social media accounts they’ll ask you to follow or like. It differs from the other airdrops in this article because all tasks are required to receive your tokens. It’s an all-or-nothing event. After completing 6 social media-related tasks, participants will be required to fill out a form with their account names and ETH address. This is an ERC-20 token so make sure your ETH wallet is compatible. After completing the tasks, you’ll have made a quick $75 worth of BBT.

                                                      HireVibes (HVT)

                                                                 

                                                                      What is HireVibes?

HireVibes is what happens when you put headhunters on the blockchain. The company plans to build a dapp that serves as an alternative to the traditional recruitment agency business model. Instead of relying on specialized recruitment agencies, HireVibes will create communities that empower crowdsourcing employment. The idea is that a crowd of people with an incentivized recruitment platform is more effective than whatever an individual recruiter can offer.

The HireVibes dapp allows businesses to pay their employees with cryptocurrency while saving money throughout their hiring process. In the case of a successful hire, employers are charged 7.5% of the job’s pay. Jobseekers are incentivized to find a job with the dapp because after being hired successfully, they’ll receive a 5% bonus in HireVibe Tokens (HVT) on top of their pay. Of the 5% HVT bonus, 1% is reserved as a donation amount to be allocated toward projects of the new hires’ choice.

What’s cool about the HireVibes process is that the 5% awarded to new hires is redistributed from the 7.5% charged to employers after a certain period of time (depending on the type of hire). If the jobseeker applies directly for the job and succeeds, they’ll see a 4% bonus in HVT with 1% being devoted to their donation fund. If the jobseeker is referred to the job by a recruiter in the crowd, 2% goes to the jobseeker, 2% goes to the recruiter, and 1% is devoted to the donation fund.

How to Participate

HireVibes was included in this article in order to address the interesting realm that is EOS airdrops. The dapp will be released using EOS.IO blockchain software and it’s not alone. The process for participating in EOS airdrops is unlike the two airdrops mentioned above. If you’re looking to get involved, you’ll need to have a minimum amount of EOS (usually 100 tokens) stored in a registered wallet. The more EOS you hold, the more HVT you’ll receive. The exact ratio hasn’t been announced and neither has the snapshot date. With a total token supply of 350 million, 71.4% (250 million) will be distributed via airdrop. To stay up to date on HireVibes, check out their website and stay tuned for new articles dropped on their Steemit page.

Article Produced By
Matt Laxen

Matt is a copywriter and community manager working full-time in the cryptocurrency space, fascinated by the implications blockchain technology holds for individuals worldwide. When he's not writing in coffee shops overseas, he's probably making music, snowboarding, lifting weights, or on his way to the lake.

https://www.investinblockchain.com/crypto-airdrops-q3-2018/

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

Airdrops Explained

After their explosion in popularity and press in 2017,

most people know at least a little bit about cryptocurrencies and blockchain. However, there are many terms and phrases within the industry that many might not understand to the fullest extent. One of these terms is “airdrop”, which is one of the hottest things in the crypto industry. If you don’t quite understand what an airdrop is or why they’re important, don’t worry. This article will take an in-depth look at airdrops and explain all you need to know to understand them.

What is an Airdrop?

Before getting into the details of airdrops and why they take place, we need to first introduce you to the concept and idea. In the simplest form, an airdrop is free coins for certain individuals. They are essentially the process when a cryptocurrency enterprise distributes tokens to a user’s wallet, completely free of charge. Airdrops are commonly done by start-ups, but established companies or platforms can do them as well. The coins that are airdropped often are fairly low in value (at least initially), or are just used within the ecosystem of a platform, but definitely have the potential to grow. Plus, who is going to say no to free coins?

A recent example of an airdrop is the CLO (Calisto) airdrop for ETC (Ethereum Classic) owners. The airdrop took place at the 5,500,000th block of the ETC blockchain, which occurred about a month ago on March 5th 2018. This airdrop meant that each holder of ETC at the time the 5,500,000th block was processed, received an equal amount of CLO, for free. So if you had 15 ETC at the snapshot of the 5,500,000th block, you will automatically receive 15 CLO into your wallet, without any cost to you. In addition to this, some companies will airdrop their own tokens, while others will airdrop the token to holders of a more popular coin or token, to generate more buzz and get some eyes on their platform.

Types of Airdrops

In general, there are a few different kinds of airdrops and how they can come about. They can arise from forks, ICO purchases, or just random freebies from a company. Arguably the most well-known example of an airdrop is when Bitcoin Cash (BTC), the hard fork of Bitcoin, gave current Bitcoin holders the equal amount of Bitcoin Cash. So if you had one Bitcoin, you got one Bitcoin Cash for free. Currently, each BTC is trading at over $700 (but has reached much higher in the past), which is a pretty good deal to have gotten for free.

When it comes to finding out about different types of airdrops, a company will either announce it beforehand to generate buzz, or they will simply airdrop the coins as a surprise without any warning. If you are curious about upcoming airdrops and how to become involved, a good resource to follow is AirdropAlert. This website gives you times an information for past, previous and future airdrops and is a great and handy tool for keeping track of them. Of course, as we mentioned, sometimes airdrops will be done without warning, so not every airdrop that occurs will appear on the site.

Why Would Companies do an Airdrop?

You might be wondering why a company would simply give away tokens for free. Well, the decision is made for a number of different reasons. The first one related to marketing. An airdrop can be a way for a company or platform to spread awareness to interested investors and enthusiasts, without having to spend a lot of money on marketing.  There are so many cryptocurrencies in the space, so getting noticed and more awareness is always a positive.

And what better way to get people talking or interested in your platform than offering them something for free? It is a pretty sweet deal for investors as you don’t really have to do anything normally, other than hold a certain type of coin, to reap the rewards and benefits. It is a win-win for the cryptocurrency themselves (as airdrops often lead to a rise in coin prices and an increase in exposure) and for consumers (free coins are always a good thing).

Another reason for an airdrop is to reward loyal customers. Companies who have a large and active community, or who have been doing pretty well, might decide to reward their customers, users and token holders. This will not only excite the users, but also might lead them to continue using the platform and participating in the ecosystem. One last common reason for airdrops is for lead generation. Generating leads and gathering useful information is very important for marketing. In exchange for airdropping free coins, a company or platform might ask users to complete online forms that contain valuable information for targeted marketing purposes.

How to Participate in Airdrops

Participating in Airdrops is as simple as holding a certain token or coin in an Ethereum or Bitcoin wallet (depending on what the specific airdrop requires). Any wallet should do, though some might require a specific wallet such as a non-exchange ERC-20 compatible wallet. The wallet also needs to be active to ensure it is owned by a human and not one of 1000 randomly generated wallets with the sole purpose of getting more of the airdropped token.

Also, while airdrops are free coins, you still need to do your research and remain vigilant to ensure you don’t get scammed. This means you should never send any private keys, never send any money, and check official sources to make sure that the airdrop is legitimate and real. Safety is the most important thing, so ensure you are comfortable with any company or platform before investing in or using them. In conclusion, hopefully, this article has helped you understand everything about airdrops such as why they occur, why companies are okay with doing them, how to participate and more!

Article Produced By

Kale Havervold

https://www.allcrypto.com/guides/airdrops-explained/

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