Introduction

According to @CC2Ventures, 2024 is bound to be the ‘golden year‘ for airdrops. Given the sheer amount of airdrops we’ve seen this year already, this could very well to be the case.

Two months into the new year, and we’ve already seen airdrops from:

• ALT
• DYM
• JUP
• STRK
• PIXL

And probably a few more I’m missing..

With Wormhole, EigenLayer, Marginfi, LayerZero, Tensor, Hyperliquid, Friendtech, Parcl and many many more already more or less confirmed, it does seem 2024 is going the be the year you shouldn’t fade airdrops.

At On Chain Times, we had the pleasure of speaking with CC2 who is an experienced on-chain farmer and airdrop connoisseur. CC2, amongst other things, is one of the largest farmers of the LayerZero airdrop and has grown a large following from sharing insightful content on various strategies within DeFi and airdrops.

CC2 was kind enough to answer some questions regarding:

• General tips when it comes to farming airdrops this year
• Which airdrops that are over/underappreciated

..and much more. We hope you enjoy and find it as valuable as we did.

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Who is CC2 Ventures?

“I got into Crypto in 2020, after looking for alternate investments to diversify my stock portfolio. Crypto was a natural fit after doing superficial research on it. Bitcoin was trading around $9.5k back then, and ETH at $387, so I had quite a good entry and was immediately hooked.

Initially I was just focused on yield farming and DeFi; I quite enjoyed the 'gamification' and low barrier of entry aspect of it, as I’ve always had a competitive spirit.

I proceeded to lose most of my gains during the FTX/Luna/AC bear market, and qualified for $12.5K worth of ARB Tokens shortly after, while just using the chain organically.

This opened my eyes to the lucrativeness of airdrop farming, while possessing most of the skills required: Persistence, consistency, and weaponized autism to keep on clicking with no clear end in sight.“

What does the airdrop landscape look like today? How many opportunities are there relative to the amount of airdrop farmers?

“I still believe airdrop farming is not as diluted as people make it out be, as it requires consistency. This is most likely the easiest option for users with smaller wallets to go from 3 to 6 figures and beyond. Yes, a lot of farming bots and wallets for zkSync, LayerZero (4M+) and others are present, but upon closely inspecting their behavior, you'll notice that most of them lack a solid on-chain footprint akin to a genuine user (e.g. consistent transactions spanning over multiple months and chains).

I long predicted that 2024 will be the ‘golden year’ for airdrops - after which, upcoming campaigns might become more uncertain and diluted as result of successful airdrops garnering a lot of attention until ‘escape velocity’ is ultimately reached and mainstream adoption is ensured.”

What does an ideal airdrop distribution look like - linear or tiered?

“Entirely depends on the protocol. Large projects like zkSync and LayerZero simply can't go for a purely linear approach due to an overwhelmingly large user base, and wanting to distribute rewards fairly.

read: getting your tokens into the hands of as many ACTUAL individuals as possible

They'll have to bite the bullet here and include a ton of sybils as well, so they don't risk excluding real users. Just the nature of the beast.

So the correct approach lies somewhere in the middle.”

What are some general tips related to farming airdrops in 2024?

“As you may have already noticed, I'm a huge proponent of consistency. This is what matters the most. Consistent, organic usage over the course of multiple months is key. By organic usage I mean not frontloading hundreds of transactions on the same day, and then being ‘done for the next few months’. Generate some volume, as the biggest use case of crypto after all is — speculating on tokens.

If you focus on a chain, make sure to diversify dApp usage, and use at least 10 different dApps over the course of months.

If you engage with LayerZero, don't just bridge back and forth between the same 2 chains. If a project tweets about certain tasks multiple times (e.g. Manta and their Galxe campaigns), you should probably take it seriously and interact.”

One vs multiple wallets?

“Won't comment on proper sybil practices, as I'm not supportive of that behavior despite using more than one wallet, but a count that would’ve still been allowed by Arbitrum without being flagged.”

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What are some airdrops you have been pursuing lately? Are there any underrated airdrops right now in your opinion?

“Too many to count, and it's frankly getting out of hand. I’m glad that Starknet and Wormhole airdropped, as they took up a huge amount of time.

My main focus is currently: LayerZero, zkSync, Scroll, Hyperlane, Polyhedra, Linea, Zora, Tensor, Parcl and Jumper.

IMO the following airdrops are quite overlooked, and not mentioned often on CT:

• Aptos alongside dApps residing on it:

  • Liquidswap/Pontem

  • Amnis

  • Econia Labs

• Drift on Solana

• Superform (very new)

• Ambient

• Ekubo

• Orderly (more traction on Twitter nowadays, but Galxe numbers still indicate ‘underfarmed’)

And maybe Magpie and Bebop, albeit I have less conviction in those than the others I mentioned.“

Are there any overrated airdrops that people are wasting their time on?

“Hard to call airdrops overrated, given their unpredictable nature. Way back, many thought Arbitrum would be overfarmed, and it was the exact opposite.  I'm personally not too keen on farming tokenless Perp Number #31411 albeit a few exceptions like Drift and Hyperliquid stand.”

How much effort do you spend on EVM apps versus non-EVM: Solana/Sui/Berachain etc.

“Most of my effort is still on EVM Chains, considering that’s where most dApps simply exist. Non-EVM chains mainly include Solana, Aptos, and believe it or not, Starknet.”

Are airdrops a good mechanism for bootstrapping early usage (thats somewhat sticky) and distributing early token supply? Or should we go back to ICO’s?

“Yes, airdrops are still the best way to bootstrap your user base in my humble opinion. The marketing effect post-airdrop is unreal, and almost every single token trades higher afterwards.

Mercenary capital will move onto the next tokenless project, but some early users will stick around, and many fresh ones follow suit as they became aware of aforementioned project for the first time through large Twitter accounts claiming clout, and are keen to check it out.”

If you haven’t already, make sure to follow CC2 on X. While some airdrops might seem highly diluted, it’s clear that there are plenty of opportunities this year if you put in the effort.

Happy hunting 🔫

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