WHAT IS A CRYPTOCURRENCY AIRDROP?

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Introduction

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What's an Airdrop

An Airdrop is a free coin/token distributed by the developer of a coin to the community. A lot of project has done this and has been successful. E.g DeepOnion, NEM etc.

Airdrops can be gotten through several ways, including forks,

1. Through Fork: Fork here means a split from a digital/crypto currency. Examples of forks bitcoin cash, bitcoin gold gotten from bitcoin

2. Through ICO purchase: Some ICO's give airdrops to investors to promote the platform (Raiden Network, Savedroid etc)

3. Freebies: Freebies in form of airdrops can be giving to loyal customers for patronizing the platform (Binance gifting customers with 500 free TRX)

Airdrops usually occur when a team behind a blockchain project decides to give away “free” tokens to the cryptocurrency community. A very known airdrop was Bitcoin Cash(BCH), it occurred in August 7, 2017 by miners through the Segregated Witness(Segwit). Bitcoin Cash is a hard fork of the famous Bitcoin. Bitcoin holders were given an equivalent amount of Bitcoin Cash.

Why Do Airdrops Occur?

So many may be wondering why a platform/team of developers will decide to give some of it's valuable token/coin to the public for free. The answer simply is, It is done to build the community around it's project and draw it's support.

In marketing, awareness is often one of the initial steps in a buyer’s journey

There are lot competitors out there, a buyer is more likely to go for a product which he/she is more familiar with compared to something he/she knows nothing about. Airdrops are often a more effective approach to showcasing coins.

What Wallets Do I Need?

Most Airdrops require you to fill in your wallet address in the process of registering. They most time require an ERC-20 wallet address.

An ERC-20 wallet simply means any wallet that supports the Ethereum blockchain system

Erc-20 compatible wallet include Myetherwallet wallet, Imtoken and Metamask. For Signing up to an Airdrop, I'll recommend you open Myetherwallet wallet(Mew) .

How to Step Up An Account with Myetherwallet (Mew)

What is Mew?

Mew or MyEtherWallet is an open source interface where you can generate your Ether private address. You can use it as a wallet to store your Ethereum.

Steps to create an Ethereum wallet

1.Visit myetherwallet.com

2.Enter a password and Click on Create New wallet

3.Save your Keystore, Download Keystore File. Click on I understand. Continue.

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4.Save your private key. Print paper wallet and save multiple copies safely.

NB: Remeber, your private key is the key to your wallet. If you lose your private key, you will never be able to access your My Ether Wallet account

5.After Clicking Save for Your Address. A screen will appear like this. Select private key

6. Enter the private address and you should now be able to access your Ethereum wallet.

Ongoing Airdrops

You can register and follow the Instructions required to get these airdrops :

• Syntheticsai

• Cappasity

• Viberate

• Apollo

• Cashbet

• Klancer

• Savedroid

• Synapse

• To get more info about upcoming, past and active airdrops, Visit airdropalert or icodrop

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Closing Remark

Before Signing up for an airdrop, make sure you visit the official site of a project when researching for an airdrop. A good way to detect a fraudulent or scam sites is to visit the official social media pages and find a post and verify the links.

As you know, in the Cryptocurrency market there's high cases/risks of scam. So always watch carefully the site you visit to avoid phishing and also try safeguarding your wallet at all cost. For those using the MEW wallet, try your possible best to keep away your private keys or any form of security you use from scammers and hackers reach.

Also see Securing your wallet and exchange from hackers

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