2024 Potential Airdrop Opportunities Overview (Part 1)

Author: Jian Shu

Overview

2023 is a season of harvest, not only as the entire crypto market warms up, but various projects are also riding the bullish wave to reward their supporters with airdrops. The airdrops from Ethereum L2 Arbitrum, modular public chain Celestia, Jito in the Solana ecosystem, game L3 XAI, and the blockchain game Big Time show that many sectors have opportunities to receive airdrops.

From the chart made by @WAGAMEeth, it is clear that there are many projects confirmed for airdrops in 2024. This is just a list of projects that have already confirmed airdrops for 2024, and as the market warms up, more projects will also conduct airdrops in 2024.

Thus, we have sorted out some sectors and some projects worth paying attention to, to help readers capture the next big airdrop.

I. Solana Ecosystem

The Solana ecosystem is undoubtedly one of the most watched opportunities by airdrop hunters. We previously wrote a research report on Solana, explaining the explosion and potential projects within the Solana ecosystem, so we will not elaborate further here, but will provide updates and supplements on some projects.

For detailed reports, see:

“Why Solana Can Be Reborn, and How Should We Participate?”

“Solana Ecosystem Interaction | Marginfi Points and Cost Testing”

Marginfi

Marginfi launched its points system in July last year, but there has been no news of an airdrop. We speculate that it should be one of the earliest projects to airdrop among these.

Kamino

Kamino has officially launched the first season of its points activity, retroactively counting previous rounds of points, and has updated its airdrop plan on its official website and Doc, with a genesis airdrop scheduled for April. The Solana liquidity pool Meteora announced the launch of MET points tracking on January 31, and providing liquidity to pools with the Meteora symbol in Kamino can earn points for both.

Drift

Drift's first season points ended on February 2, and the official stated that the points activity would run for a maximum of three months. Users' past trades have been retroactively counted for points, and there is a high probability of an airdrop in April. Note that retroactive points will be distributed after the points activity ends.

Parcl

Parcl's second season points activity is ongoing, and the points activity will last for three seasons. The official hinted that an airdrop would take place after the season ends. Based on the pace of one and a half months per season, it is likely to conclude in the first half of the year and initiate an airdrop.

Zeta Market

Zeta Markets' second season points activity started on January 10, and the higher the ranking on the profit leaderboard, the greater the points multiplier, making it very attractive to traders. Recently, Zeta launched a $JUP trading event, where trading $JUP can earn a threefold multiplier.

Magic Eden

Magic Eden launched a multi-chain wallet, and throughout February, users of the Magic Eden wallet can mint some NFTs for free within the wallet. Additionally, users of the Magic Eden wallet can enjoy 1.25 times Liquidium points on the Ordinal lending platform and increase their chances of receiving the $MOON airdrop on Saturn.

II. Cosmos Ecosystem

In the Cosmos ecosystem, Celestia is undoubtedly the most eye-catching project this year, with its token price rising steadily and $TIA stakers receiving airdrops of $DYM, $ALT, and more. Moreover, airdrops in the Cosmos ecosystem are relatively low-effort; staking not only has the potential for airdrops but also offers substantial staking rewards. Of course, we also need to be aware of the risks of token price declines and the opportunity cost during the lock-up period.

Recommended Staking Tokens

The main tokens worth staking are $ATOM, $TIA, $OSMO, and $INJ.

Here are the reasons for choosing these tokens for staking:

1. $ATOM: $ATOM is the governance token of Cosmos Hub and is usually the first stop for Cosmos airdrops.

2. $TIA: Celestia is a highly anticipated modular blockchain that provides DA (data availability) services for several other public chains, so $TIA stakers indirectly contribute to these public chains. Additionally, the Celestia team collaborating with other projects to airdrop to $TIA stakers is also a marketing strategy.

3. $OSMO: Osmosis is the DeFi gateway and liquidity hub of Cosmos, and it has already received airdrops from $TIA and $SEI.

4. $INJ: $INJ saw an impressive increase last year, rising more than forty times from its lowest to highest point. However, the Injective ecosystem is just getting started, with some projects confirmed to airdrop in Q1 and Q2 of this year, while many others have yet to confirm their airdrop timing, making this a good entry point. Projects that have confirmed airdrops for $INJ stakers include Black Panther and Talis Protocol.

Staking Strategy

1. First, you must have a Keplr wallet.

Download link: https://chromewebstore.google.com/detail/keplr/dmkamcknogkgcdfhhbddcghachkejeap?utm_source=ext_app_menu

2. Then, we open the staking dashboard of Keplr and select the chain of the tokens we want to stake.

Staking dashboard link: https://wallet.keplr.app/?modal=staking\&chain=cosmoshub-4\&step_id=2

3. When selecting a staker, it is best to choose those outside the top twenty, as they generally charge lower fees. Also, avoid choosing CEX validators, as they are usually excluded from airdrops.

4. It is recommended to stake at least around 100U, as some protocols filter out addresses with very low amounts.

III. Bitcoin Ecosystem

Last year, due to the explosive popularity of inscriptions, people began to pay attention to the development of the Bitcoin ecosystem. However, due to Bitcoin's Turing incompleteness and high gas fees, it cannot meet the development and usage needs of projects, highlighting the importance of Bitcoin L2. Our previous research reports have introduced some Bitcoin L2s, and here we will only introduce some interaction methods. Previous related reports: “Five Questions to Understand Bitcoin L2”.

B² Network

B² Network is a BTC Rollup that uses zero-knowledge proof technology and is EVM compatible. Currently, there are two activities: the testnet Odyssey and Buzz deposits to earn points. Note that Buzz deposits cannot be withdrawn until April, similar to the Blast mechanism.

For detailed tutorials, see: https://x.com/jianshubiji/status/1749355351361929597?s=20

Merlin Chain

Merlin Chain is an L2 built on Bitcoin's native assets, founded by the BRC420 team, and is currently in the testnet phase (non-incentivized testnet). According to the official team’s disclosure in Space, Merlin Chain will launch its mainnet as early as February, at which point a series of incentive activities will be introduced. On February 5, Merlin Chain's partner Particle Network launched an inscription platform that opened the Launchpad for Merlin Chain tokens, with more staking activities to follow.

For detailed interaction tutorials: “Introduction to Merlin Chain and Testnet Interaction Tutorial”

BounceBit

BounceBit is a BTC staking chain created by Bounce Finance using a dual-token PoS mechanism, where one token is BTC and the other is its native token. BounceBit provides staking yield opportunities for Bitcoin and its wrapped assets, activating Bitcoin assets.

Currently, BounceBit's model is similar to Blast, also using a deposit assets to earn points model.

Official website: https://bouncebit.io/

Conclusion

That concludes this issue. There are many opportunities, and you don't need to pursue every single one; just allocate according to your time and assets. In the next issue, we will continue to sort out airdrop opportunities for 2024 from sectors such as the Sui ecosystem, Sei ecosystem, unlaunched public chains, and re-staking, etc.