SEC S19-W1 || Crypto Opportunities: Airdrops and Giveaways

Assalam O Alaikum

Hello, dear friends! Well, come to my post. How are you all? I hope you will be doing well, by the grace of Almighty Allah. I'm also fine and enjoying my day. Today I'm here to participate in this Steemit engagement challenge season 19 week 1 in this Steemit Crypto Academy. The topic of this challenge is "Crypto Opportunities: Airdrops and Giveaways." So let's start without any further delay.

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Explain what a cryptocurrency airdrop is and what its main objectives are. Give examples of projects that have used airdrops.

Friends, as we all know, the realm of crypto currencies is very vast, as it provides us with a lot of opportunities to earn through trading, investing, staking, and taking part in airdrop programs. Among the ecosystem of cryptocurrencies, the crypto airdrops hold great significance. Basically, the crypto airdrops are market stunts in which a large number of tokens are distributed to the various wallet addresses of the people who have taken an active part in this programme.

One of the main reasons behind the creation of crypto airdrops is to raise awareness among people in different regions of the world about this newly developed crypto currency. In this way, we can say that the airdrops help promote that newly developed crypto currency. This is because a large number of people take part in the airdrop programmes in order to get free coins and earn money, and after getting these coins, they can sell them, trade them, and hold them in their digital wallets.

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These airdrops programmes are based on decentralised technology and blockchain networks, which boost the productivity of networks and increase the trust of people on those tworks. But it does not happen all the time because sometimes people start taking part in airdrop programmes that provide nothing to the participants. Anyway, besides the promotion of newly developed crypto currencies, the airdrop comes with several aims. So let's have a look at them.

1. Marketing & Promotion:

As we know, the ecosystem of cryptocurrencies is very large, and a large number of digital currencies are present, so people start airdrop programmes in order to make their initiative notable among a large number of people. So when people know about the rewards, they start taking part in such airdrop programmes.

2. Building Community:

Through these airdrop programmes, a large community of people can be built easily within a shorter interval of time. This is because as their community increases, the quantity of users or participants in their programme also increases, which definitely provides them with a lot of benefits. When the community of a network is large, more people trust it easily.

3. Rewarding:

In most cases, the participants who succeeded in building their own team in those specific programmes get rewards earlier. In this way, they want to encourage them on the basis of their activities within the network, so that more and more people trust that project easily.

4. Increase Adoption:

When the airdrop programmes reward their users with their tokens, their tokens are adopted by a large number of people within the crypto space, which is definitely incredible for their circulation and adoption within the crypto market.

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Give examples of projects that have used airdrops.

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Actually, the experts are saying that 2024 will be a year full of airdrops, and somehow their saying has proved true as, in recent months, different types of crypto airdrops have rewarded their participants successfully, and many more are upcoming. So, as a result, these airdrop programmes have played a vital role in raising awareness among people in different regions of the world. Anyway, let's have a look at these programmes.

1. ICE (open network):

Ice Blockchain is one of the latest networks that has used an airdrop programme to gain the attention of people worldwide. In July 2023, the Ice Network launched their Tap to Mine app, and within the first week of their launch, more than 1 million people joined their network. At the end of their airdrop, that quantity increased to 9 million.

ICE is the native coin of that network, and its current value is about 0.004 USDt, which is basically a shit coin. Their coin is launched on famous digital exchanges like OKX, Getio, Kucoin, Bitget, etc. Also, its fame is increasing day by day as it provides a level of security, scalability, and viability to its users.

2. UniSwap:

UniSwap is a decentralised exchange that works on the Ethereum blockchain, where the buying, selling, and trading of digital currencies can be done. In September 2020, UniSwap used an airdrop programme in which they rewarded each of their participants with more than 400 Uni tokens in the form of an airdrop.

3. Decred (DCR) Airdrop:

In 2016, the Decred network proposed an airdrop programme to encourage their participants and increase the adoption of their coin within the crypto market. They rewarded the participants with DCR coins on the basis of their mined tokens within their network.

4. Not coin ($Not):

Not Coin is one of the latest projects that rewards its users with not coins. It is basically a telegram project based on the tap-to-earn strategy in which people can stake coins by tapping with the help of their bot. It was launched on Binance and other leading digital exchanges.

What is the difference between an airdrop and a giveaway in the field of cryptocurrencies? Explain with concrete examples, including similar initiatives with the Steem token.

Yes in the crypto space, an airdrop and a giveaway both are different things but the main aim behind them is to distribute tokens among the participants of that specific network. As in the above section we have discussed about the airdrops that it is the way of distributing tokens direct to the wallets of the participants of the platform in order to encourage them and as a reward at the end of the of airdrop program.

In this way the token which they received can keep in their wallets and can use tham accordingly. The main aim behind the crypto airdrop is to promote the specific network through the whole world in order to increase their users. As the quantity of users increase the engagement on their network also increase which can play a vital role in maintaining the integrity and making that project successful.

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In the recent years several types of networks has laughed the airdrop programs in order to promote their network and they gained a huge success in that projects and programs. So let's have a look at the concrete examples where the difference projects has used airdrops to promote their programs.

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Examples of Airdrops

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1. Tron (TRX):

• As we know the TRX is a famous crypto currency what uses an airdrop program to raise awareness about their own mainnet which was created in 2018. Also in that year they moved from Ethereum to their own mainnet so to promote that activity they launched an airdrop program in which they rewarded their participants.

2. Steem Token Initiative:

• Friends as we know the Steemit is a social platform which works on blockchain technology and it has its own crypto token name Steem. So during the early days of Steemit they have launched an airdrop program named byteball airdrop in which the users were rewarded on the basis of their reputation on Steemit. Here is the information about that airdrop.

If we talk about the giveaways I want to tell you that they are different from airdrops as in that initiative not every participant will be rewarded as only the giveaways are given to a few lucky users. It may like that winning a prize on the basis of your contributions towards a specific project. According to me the airdrop programs also use the giveaway initiative in which the set a criteria of giving rewards to specific users.

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So we can say that the giveaway can be given to these users who has a large team consists of more members from a specific country, regions or from an area. Furthermore the giveaways may given to those users who join the network from its starting perform different activities within the network, complete their tasks such as running a promotional campaign on different social media platforms such as on Twitter, Facebook and on Instagram too.

Then, as a result, when the people complete all the given tasks, they receive rewards in the form of giveaways. Just like airdrop programmes, there are several examples of giveaway initiatives in which different platforms have used that strategy to encourage their users. So let's have a look at them.

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Examples of Giveaways

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1. Binance Giveaways:

• As we know, Binance is the world-famous digital exchange that launches giveaway initiatives over specific periods of time in which they reward the participants with USDt and with their own native coin. The red packet is a giveaway of Binance in which they ask people to invite their friends to make an account on Binance, promote it, and then get their rewards.

2. Contests on Steemit:

• The contests and engagement challenges are a solid example of giveaways on Steem Blockchain, as only a few Steemians get rewards from steemcurator01 and SP from the contest organizers. The people who make excellent posts, follow the rules, and engage with others received that giveaway in the form of a surprise vote from steemcurator01.

What are the advantages and disadvantages of airdrops for project developers and participants? Use cases involving the Steem token if possible.

It is also a fact that the airdrops have a lot of benefits both for the developers and and for the participants and sometime even a single airdrop can change the lives of people. But we can't deny the negative side of airdrops in which they comes with a lot of advantage. So now let's have a look at them.

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Advantages for Project developers

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1. Increase Awareness:

• By giving free tokens through the airdrops to the people they can increase awareness of their project in this way they can gain the attention of people across different regions of the world.

2. Increase Adoption:

• By giving free tokens to the people the adoption of that specific tokens increase as more people have that tokens more their influence within the crypto space will increase.

3. Build Community:

• The airdrops can be helpful in building a stronger community around that project. As when the reward the people with tokens the interest and trust of people increase.

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Advantages for Participants

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1. Free Tokens:

• Through participating in airdrop programs the users can receive free tokens as a reward which can be used in trading, investing and earning money by sailing them.

2. Increase Portfolio:

• By taking a part in airdrops we can increase our portfolio on digital exchanges as when we take a part in different programs and receive different tokens our Portfolio increase.

3. Learning Opportunity:

• The airdrops provide us an opportunity to learn something new about that one specific network in which we are taking a part inorder to receive an airdrop.

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Disadvantages for project developers

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1. Financial Resources:

• Probably a large amount of money is required to establish a new platform with a new digital currency and then in proposing a airdrop program. Also money is required in promotional campaigns of that project.

2. Project Failure:

• When a project remain unable to gain popularity among the people due to weak basis and structure, it may fail which leads towards a huge financial loss.

3. Security Risks:

• Different types of security threats move around the airdrop project and due the attack of hackers and other malicious actors the project developers may face challenges.

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Disadvantages for Participants

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1. Scams & Frauds:

• Sometimes the airdrop ends with a scam which give nothing to their participants instead of time waste as they create fake accounts to gain popularity and the attention of people.

2. Price Volatility:

• Sometimes the tokens face volatility issues right after getting into the wallets of participants. So with low value of their assets they might get a very little reward.

3. Privacy Vulnerabilities:

• Many of airdrops get the personal information of their participants which may leads towards the leakages of personal data.

What are the security and regulatory challenges related to cryptocurrency airdrops and giveaways? How can these challenges be managed?

Now a days the airdrop and giveaways mechanisms are increasing day by day which also increase the chances of attacking these platform by the hackers and other malicious actors. Due to that reasons both aridrops and giveaways face a lot of challenges regarding their security and regulations. These challenges may create difficulties for both developers and participants of these programs. So now let's have a look at them.

1. Security Risks:

The scammers try to play with the participants by creating numerous fake accounts to claim airdrops and also social media accounts and spread fake information regarding the airdrops and giveaways. By doing so they steal the private keys of their wallets and thus take the control of activities within the wallets. Also they receive a large number of coins in these accounts.

2. Smart Contracts Vulnerabilities:

Both the giveaways and airdrops may contain smart contract vulnerabilities which create significant problems for developers and for participants too. These vulnerabilities may allow the hackers to steal the funds and personal information of users and create several problems for them.

3. Privacy Concerns:

The sensitive information and data of people may misused such as social accounts, email ids and other information about the participants. When that kind of information is misused it create several problems for them.

4. Regulatory Challenges:

The participants of aridrops and giveaways can face numerous regulatory challenge this is because the rules and regulations about Cryptocurrencies and claiming airdrop may be different in different countries which can create problems in claiming airdrop and working on it.

5. Tax Implications:

Many countries charge tax on validating transactions through the cryptocurrencies. So the users need to have pay the tax during claiming their airdrop tokens and then doing further transactions through them. That amount of tax may vary from country to country.

6. Market Volatility:

As we know the crypto market is highly volatile and fluctuating so when a large number of tokens are distributed among the people which are present in the market may drop their value after getting into the wallets of participants. In most of the cases they depends on market conditions as the major Cryptocurrencies has a great impact on alt coins.

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How can these challenges be managed?

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Yes it is very crucial to deal with these challenges in a proper way so that we can overcome these challenges easily. In this regard before diving into the sea of airdrops and giveaways do your own research and collect information from authentic resources rather that project is fake or real. Also believe the information which is shared on the official account of the project development.

Also don't trust on the people who ask you about your personal information such when they ask you to about your private keys of your wallet. So never trust of that kind a people so that you can stay away from losses. Also never open any malicious links or email which they send you in your inbox and through any other way to keep yourself away from phishing attacks and other security breaches.

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When it comes to the tax implications and regulatory concerns then try to follow the rules and regulations which your country set for the crypto currencies and on receiving airdrops because in most of the cases the countries don't allow the people to utilize digital currencies. Furthermore during the smart contracts vulnerabilities stay informed about the latest updates regarding the network.

In addition to deal with the price volatility and other market conditions try to seek guidance from experienced people of crypto market and try to discuss with expertises while taking any step regarding your funds and tokens which you have received through the airdrops. In results by following these steps we can overcome the problems easily.

Propose a detailed plan to organize an airdrop using the Steem token. The plan should include eligibility criteria, required participant actions, implemented safety measures, and promotional strategies to maximize impact.

1. Eligibility Criteria:

• The user must have a verified Steemit account and at least the achievement 4 must be verified from newcomers community.

• Incase of a newcomer he must be active since the past 40 Days and posting, commenting and upvoting
  other users articles actively.

• The user's account must free of any kind of bidbots services and vote buying services.

2. Required Participants Actions:

• The users must following all the rules and regulations of the airdrop project to qualify for it.

• Also he will following the given social media accounts of the airdrop project so that he may remain up-to-dated.

• The users must have a team of at least 5 referrals who signed up through his promotional activity.

3. Safety Measures:

• The user must go through the KYC verification to prevent the platform from abusers, spammers and frauds.

• The user have to save his private keys of his wallet at a proper place to prevent them from thefts.

• The anti bot service will implant to prevent the platform those users who use bots to complete airdrop tasks.

4. Promotional Strategies:

• The promotional campaigns will run on different social media platforms to increase the participants.

• The participants has to promote the program to others and he will get some extra rewards on the basis of his team length

• Also the project will promoted will the collaboration of some major crypto holders in crypto space to boost the productivity of network.

So friends this is my plan through which we can organize a successful airdrop program using the Steem token. It is also a fact that running an airdrop program can never easy as different types of complications created for the developers and participants as well. Sometimes it becomes difficult to manage them Within a specific period of time. Anyway that was my plan and I hope it will worthy.

Conclusion

In conclusion we can say that the airdrops and giveaways has a crucial role in the world of digital currencies as they help to promote the newly developed crypto network. In this way it helps them to gain popularity among the other crypto currencies. On the other hand it is also beneficial for the people who take a part in such programs as they get free tokens of that project and earn money.

So friends that was my entry about that challenge and I hope you will enjoy reading it. Now it is a time to say goodbye to everyone and I want to invite my friends @chant, @suboohi, @mesola and @entity01 to take a part in this amazing challenge.

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Written by @abdullahw2

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Thanks All ❤️

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