Original author: X-explore
Original translation: angelillu, Foresight News
The original English version is jointly published by X-explore and WuBlockchain
Since Uniswap started using airdrop strategy to reward early users in 2020, airdrops have caused a huge wave in Web3. As a result, the number of people looking for the next "free lunch" (looking for new airdrop projects) has increased significantly. Today, it has been almost three years since the Uniswap airdrop, and during this time, many large projects have followed suit, using airdrops to reward users or attract attention. According to X-explore's estimate, in the March airdrop of Arbitrum, over 20% of the airdrops were taken by so-called "free riders" who used Sybil attacks. Therefore, we hope to answer the following two questions through in-depth analysis of users who have successfully received airdrops multiple times:
Who are these "experts" in airdrops?
What are their next "targets"?
To answer these questions, we carefully selected 5 projects in Ethereum and its Layer 2, which have more than 100,000 "airdrop recipient addresses" and a total airdrop value of over $140 million. They are Uniswap, ENS, Optimism, Blur, and Arbitrum. The following text will delve into the users of these five projects, with special focus on the "experts" who have received multiple airdrops from them.
Note: The basis for calculating the token price is the data from CoinMarketCap as of June 7, 2023. Most of the screenshots in this article are from June 14, 2023, so the prices may vary slightly.
Who are the airdrop hunters?
We categorize the addresses that have received at least three airdrops from the five projects as airdrop hunters; those who have received three to four airdrops are classified as standard airdrop hunters, while those who have received all five airdrops are called advanced airdrop hunters. In this analysis, we found a total of 34,547 standard airdrop hunter addresses, with an average airdrop income of $9,384 per address and a median airdrop income of $6,497. As for the advanced airdrop hunters, we found a total of 932 addresses, with an average airdrop income of $18,935 per address and a median airdrop income of $14,288. Based on the average and median incomes, the term "advanced" indeed suits the advanced airdrop hunters.
X-explore address label analysis
In order to better reveal the characteristics of airdrop hunters, we have conducted a thorough analysis of the above addresses in terms of behavior, assets, activity level, and trading profitability, combining X-explore's proprietary on-chain tagging system. We found that both standard airdrop hunters and advanced airdrop hunters have far greater trading volumes on decentralized exchanges (DEX) and non-fungible tokens (NFT) than ordinary users.
Median DEX Trader: Top 10% of users in DEX trading volume
Median NFT Trader: Top 10% of users in NFT trading volume
Heavy Dex Trader: Top 1% of users in DEX trading volume or number of trades
Heavy NFT Trader: Top 2.5% of users in NFT trading volume or number of trades
These data suggest that airdrop hunters are more active in the cryptocurrency market compared to ordinary users, showing a higher enthusiasm for digital asset trading, especially in DEX and NFT trading.
Initial Activity Time of Ethereum Airdrop Hunters
By combining the airdrop time of on-chain projects and the earliest activity time of airdrop hunters on Ethereum, we found that most airdrop hunters are actually early users of Ethereum. During the Uniswap airdrop (September 2020), more than half of the airdrop hunters were already active on Ethereum. The earliest activity time distribution of advanced airdrop hunters is also significantly earlier than that of standard airdrop hunters.
Activity Level of Ethereum Airdrop Hunters
We randomly selected user accounts created before June 2021, chose over 30,000 addresses, and compared their activity levels with those of airdrop hunters. As shown in the figure, airdrop hunters are active users on Ethereum, with advanced airdrop hunters conducting over 50 transactions per month on average, and standard airdrop hunters conducting over 21 transactions per month. In contrast, the randomly sampled addresses on average only have 0.16 transactions per month on Ethereum. These results further highlight the enthusiasm and activity of airdrop hunters in the chain. They are significantly more active in terms of transaction volume than regular users.
Airdrop Hunter Behavior After Project Airdrops
Tracking the activity of airdrop recipients (including regular users and airdrop hunters) after five project airdrops, we found that the activity of all users tends to decrease, especially for regular users. At any given time, airdrop hunters are always more active than regular users.
However, Optimism is an exception: before the Optimism airdrop, the activity level of regular users on the OP chain actually surpassed that of advanced airdrop hunters. However, after the Optimism airdrop, the activity of regular users continued to decline. In contrast, high-quality airdrop hunters experienced an increase in activity on the OP chain after receiving the airdrop. One month after the airdrop, their activity exceeded that of regular users. Through in-depth analysis, we found that this is mainly due to the airdrop rules on the OP chain considering the activity of addresses on Ethereum. The results show that many previously inactive high-quality airdrop hunters became interested in OP after receiving the airdrop and began actively interacting with different projects on the OP chain.
Summary
After sampling and analyzing the detailed on-chain behaviors of multiple airdrop hunter addresses, we found further evidence supporting the above analysis. The on-chain activity characteristics of airdrop hunters can be summarized as follows:
Most airdrop hunters are enthusiastic about DEX or NFT trading.
Airdrop hunters are primarily composed of early users.
Airdrop hunters have significantly higher activity levels than regular users.
Well-designed airdrop rules can have a positive impact on airdrop hunters.
What is the "next target" of the airdrop hunters?
After gaining some understanding of airdrop hunters, what is their "next target"? Which projects do they have confidence in? To answer this question, we have studied the projects they participate in and their behavior patterns when interacting with projects through on-chain data. While helping readers understand which on-chain projects are worth interacting with, it further reveals the methods of interaction between airdrop hunters and these projects. It is worth mentioning that we have included these airdrop hunters in our monitoring system. In the future, X-explore will continue to pay attention to the latest developments of these airdrop hunters and bring more valuable analysis to readers.
We divide the projects favored by airdrop hunters into several tracks, and each track is ranked according to the participation rate of advanced airdrop hunters, and we select projects with a participation rate of above 25%. If a project has multiple smart contracts, we will choose the one with the highest participation rate. Here are the tracks and project categories:
DeFi: Uniswap, SushiSwap, 0x, MetaMask Swap, Balancer, 1inch, Paraswap, Aave, Rarible, InstaDApp, dydx, Compound
NFT: Opensea, Blur, LooksRare, X2Y2, Foundation
Layer 2 solutions and cross-chain protocols: Arbitrum, Polygon, ZkSync lite, Optimism, HOP, ZkSync Era, Starknet
Decentralized applications (DApps): DeBank
Bold and red circle projects indicate that the project has not yet airdropped or issued tokens. We will delve into the behavior of airdrop hunters in these projects.
DeFi track: MetaMask, transaction routing
After our analysis, the total trading volume of Airdrop Hunters on Metamask is $191,438,051, with a median trading volume of $1255 per Airdrop Hunter. Additionally, we removed the Airdrop Hunters from a total of 1,811,782 Metamask Swap users and randomly selected an equal number of other Metamask users from the remaining 1,776,303 addresses. We found that their total trading volume on Metamask is $205,673,503, with a median trading volume of $474. Although there is not a significant difference in the total trading volume, the median indicates that the trading volume among Airdrop Hunters is more evenly distributed, with the majority of trading volumes being above $1000. Below is the trading pair information for Airdrop Hunters and other users:
We found that Airdrop Hunters have similar preferences for trading pairs on Metamask Swap and Uniswap. Compared to regular users, Airdrop Hunters are more inclined to trade stablecoins and mainstream cryptocurrencies such as USDC, USDT, WETH, DAI, and WBTC. These stablecoins and mainstream cryptocurrencies have higher liquidity and relatively stable prices, reducing trading risks. Additionally, stablecoins and mainstream cryptocurrencies are easier to transfer and trade across platforms, enhancing fund flexibility. This indicates that while pursuing returns, Airdrop Hunters also pay attention to risk control and flexible use of funds.
NFT Track: Foundation
We randomly selected three Airdrop Hunters who participated in Foundation and found that their interactions on Foundation were not frequent. Although two Airdrop Hunters actually made NFT purchases, most of the interactions were bidding for NFTs.
The airdrop rules of Blur can give us some inspiration. Some people can earn substantial airdrop income simply by swapping tokens or bidding, even without purchasing NFTs. So when interacting with projects, we can try different features of the project, which may bring unexpected benefits.
Layer 2 Track: zkSync lite, zkSync Era, Starknet
zkSync (lite): We randomly selected 4 Airdrop Hunters who have bridged to zkSync lite, and next, we will guide you through their behavior patterns on zkSync through screenshots and explanations. If you want to understand the complete behavior of Airdrop Hunters, please refer to the links we have provided.
The first transaction of the first bounty hunter occurred on November 1, 2021, when he transferred an amount from another address. It is worth noting that the interval between his subsequent two swap transactions was only 15 seconds. He first exchanged ETH for USDT and then exchanged USDT back to ETH. This rapid and continuous trading behavior appears to be an attempt to increase his activity on zkSync.
We have omitted several cross-chain and address transfer operations in between. Eight months ago, on October 20, 2022, Bounty Hunter 1 performed similar transaction operations again. This time, the stablecoin was switched from USDT to USDC, with an interval of approximately 30 seconds.
Two months ago, the address conducted a series of similar transaction operations (a total of 39 transactions), with an interval of approximately 20 seconds per transaction.
The behavior of the second bounty hunter is relatively simple. He bridged from the mainnet on November 10, 2021, and made his first transaction three months ago (exchanging ETH for USDC). After that, there was another transaction from the mainnet bridge, and there have been no further transactions since.
The behavior of the third airdrop hunter on zkSync lite is very similar to that of the first airdrop hunter. They both bridged from the mainnet to zkSync in late 2021, then used zkSync's Swap feature to convert ETH to stablecoins, and then exchanged the stablecoins back to ETH (ETH <-> USDT). Additionally, they both conducted multiple transactions with a time interval of around 20 seconds. This may indicate that they are trying to increase activity through frequent trading.
Ignoring several scattered transactions in between, Hunter 3 executed a similar set of operations on May 25, 2022, with a transaction interval of about 20 seconds.
After bridging to zkSync lite, Hunter 4 conducted some transactions and then bridged again after a certain period of time. This behavioral pattern may indicate that they are trying to maintain a certain level of activity on zkSync and perform fund transfers and distributions when necessary.
zkSync Era: Apart from zkSync lite, many airdrop hunters also choose to interact on the zkSync Era mainnet through cross-chain transactions. It is worth noting that during the first two days after the launch of zkSync Era, a large number of airdrop hunters started interacting, showing their high interest and active participation in the zkSync Era project.
Airdrop Hunter 1 has exhibited almost identical behavioral patterns on zkSync lite and zkSync Era. After zkSync Era launched on March 24, 2023, Airdrop Hunter 1 immediately bridged to zkSync Era the following day, demonstrating a high level of interest and quick response to this new project. Then, they executed token swap operations using the SyncSwap contract.
Airdrop Hunter 1 performed a similar transaction again after 7 days of initial interaction (April 2, 2023) to increase activity. This timing was quite clever and seemed to boost the activity level of the address in different weeks.
Airdrop Hunter 1 made their last operation on zkSync Era a month ago (May 19, 2023), which involved using SyncSwap to exchange ETH and USDC.
Hunter 2, like Hunter 1, bridged to zkSync Era on the day of its launch, demonstrating its high level of interest and activity in the project. Multiple transactions on zkSync Era were conducted through the Mute project. Unlike Hunter 1, which exchanged between cryptocurrencies, Hunter 2 conducted ETH to ETH swaps through contracts. This approach allows for lower fees, mitigating price fluctuation risks, and leaving an active footprint on zkSync.
Hunter 3 :
Hunter 3 bridged to zkSync Era on the same day (March 25, 2023) as Hunter 1, and its on-chain operations are very similar. The only difference is that Hunter 3 used SpaceFi for the ETH to USDC exchange.
One week after the first interaction (April 3, 2023), Hunter 3 performed another operation on zkSync Era, using SyncSwap instead of SpaceFi. This indicates that they are actively participating in multiple projects within the zkSync Era ecosystem.
Airdrop Hunter continued to engage in activities such as transfers after Airdrop Hunter 3, and also participated in the iZUMi project for transfers between ETH and ETH. It is worth noting that there were multiple outgoing transactions from this address on May 15, 2023.
StarkNet: Due to the limited number of Airdrop Hunters bridged to Starknet and the similarities between the transaction behavior patterns of Airdrop Hunter and zkSync, we selected a representative address for analysis and explanation.
Approximately two months ago (April 12, 2023), Airdrop Hunter crossed over to Starknet and conducted transactions between ETH and USDC using the myswap project on the same day.
On Starknet, he also minted some NFTs.
25 days ago (June 1, 2023), he again conducted transactions between ETH and USDT via myswap.
Dapp Track: DeBank
DeBank is a decentralized finance (DeFi) data analytics and asset management platform that provides users with a comprehensive view of investments and debts across different DeFi projects. It offers real-time project data, transaction records, and risk assessments to help users make informed investment decisions.
Recently, DeBank has been expanding its DeFi services, including trading functions. The community is eagerly awaiting the airdrop from DeBank. However, unlike community members who follow the airdrop tutorial and use DeBank's Swap function, most airdrop hunters simply register on DeBank. They did not follow the advice in the airdrop tutorial to use DeBank's Swap function. Below, we give an example of how airdrop hunters interact with DeBank:
From the behavior of these high-quality airdrop hunters, it seems that they are more like registering on DeBank to enable its analytics function, rather than using DeBank's Swap function to increase the potential for airdrops.
Summary
Through in-depth analysis of the airdrop projects chosen by airdrop hunters, we have identified the key driving factors behind their choices:
Industry influence: Most hunters tend to choose projects with wide-reaching influence and reputation in their respective fields. Apart from DeBank, these projects have seen an astonishing 700,000+ contract interactions on Ethereum.
Preference for Layer 2 solutions: Airdrop hunters clearly prefer Layer 2 projects such as Arbitrum, zkSync lite, and zkSync Era. Layer 2 solutions offer faster transaction confirmation times and lower transaction fees, which is crucial for hunters who frequently participate in DeFi and NFT projects.
Through in-depth analysis of X-explore, we have found that although airdrop hunters on Arbitrum and Optimism exhibit high-quality interaction behavior, they seem to artificially increase transaction volume and activity on zkSync and Starknet. This is closely related to the integrity of the on-chain ecosystem. Optimism and Arbitrum had some development and solidification time before the airdrop announcement, while zkSync released airdrop information before the Era mainnet launch. These findings force the project team to rethink: what is the true meaning of airdrops? How can we identify truly valuable users when formulating airdrop rules, instead of those who only engage in meaningless interactions for the sake of airdrops?
Views on Airdrop Hunters
Airdrop hunters are primarily genuine high-quality users: They actively participate in various blockchain projects, engage in cross-chain transactions, and maintain consistent activity across multiple platforms. Although there is heated discussion about "Sybil addresses," we have not found obvious "free-riding" behavior among airdrop hunters. On the contrary, their behavior patterns reflect deep involvement in the project and enthusiasm for the blockchain world, rather than just short-term airdrop profits.
Successful examples can be referenced when setting airdrop rules: When analyzing the traces of airdrop hunters on Optimism, we found that many high-quality airdrop hunters received a significant amount of OP airdrops due to their activity on Ethereum and eventually became loyal users of the OP chain. Therefore, when formulating airdrop rules, project parties can consider the behavior of airdrop hunters to ensure that airdrops are more effectively distributed to such high-quality users. This also helps project parties use airdrops as incentives to increase project participation and user loyalty.
A good airdrop needs to meet two core conditions: Well-designed airdrop rules and a robust ecosystem. Under carefully designed airdrop rules and a strong ecosystem, we have witnessed how high-quality users on Arbitrum/Optimism continue to stay active. However, if airdrop information is released hastily before the ecosystem is fully developed, it may lead to superficial prosperity. Even high-quality airdrop hunters may engage in "intentional boosting activities" on zkSync/Starknet.
IOS
Android