DeFi
Drop Hunters Not Giving Up As They Focus On Scroll And Linea After ZKsync
Even though some industry leaders say the airdrop meta is over, there is clearly still a lot of interest.
Airdrop hunters turn to Scroll and Linea.
Posted June 25, 2024 at 7:02 AM EST.
Last week, the crypto industry witnessed two major airdrops: ZKSync’s ZK and LayerZero’s ZRO, which now boast a combined fully diluted valuation of $6.1 billion.
Despite this, many members of the community, notably Bryan Pellegrino, CEO of LayerZero Labsexpressed that the “airdrop model is broken,” as many crypto projects have seen users come in for free money and leave shortly after being airdropped, sparking concerns about sustainability.
Learn more: Airdrops just don’t work anymore
However, on-chain data tells a different story. Users remain eager to look for new airdrop opportunities. After all, it’s free money.
Scroll and Linea attract farmers
After ZKsync and LayerZero, airdrop hunters have now shifted their attention to two other Ethereum 2 layers, Scroll and Linea, each of which saw a notable increase in their total value locked (TVL). Over the past 30 days, Scroll’s TVL measured in ETH has jumped 40% and Linea’s by 15%, according to data growththepie.
The popularity of Scroll, an Ethereum Virtual Machine-enabled Layer 2 that increases transaction throughput with zero-knowledge technology, can be attributed to its “Sessions” campaign.
This loyalty program rewards users with Scroll Marks for participating in the Scroll ecosystem. Users can earn these marks, called points in most crypto communities, by linking assets such as ETH, USDC, or USDT via the native bridge or LayerZero. The program also rewards users for providing liquidity on various DeFi platforms such as Aave, Ambient and Nuri.
“What I like about Scroll Marks is that they are primarily RETROACTIVE, so unsophisticated actors will only act once it is “, tweeted CC2, adding: “It’s their way of dealing with a massive influx of Sybils, without going on a public hunt, and I like it.”
Linea, another zkEVM rollup, has also seen considerable interest, with its TVL increasing by 15% in ETH over the past month. The increase in deposits indicates growing trust and participation in the Linea ecosystem as users search for the next potential airdrop opportunity.
Linea has also implemented a rewards program, allowing users to earn LXP intended to “recognize the extraordinary contribution of the community to the growth of the Linea ecosystem”.
Disconnect between Airdrops and loyal users
It remains to be seen how well these programs work for these protocols. Even ZKsync has already seen a drop in its ETH TVL (excluding its native token), which has fallen from 220,000 ETH to 210,000 ETH since its airdrop.
Before the snapshot announcement, LayerZero was logging around 300,000 total messages per day. A few days before last Thursday’s drop, when the drop could no longer be operated, it was recording around 40,000 per day. Since the airdrop, messages have increased, but these messages are mainly from people demanding the token.
Meanwhile, Starknet, which made its airdrop in February, saw a significant decline, with its TVL dropping 23% over the past month, from 287,000 ETH to 220,000 ETH. Although it has already completed its airdrop, Starknet ran a “DeFi Spring” campaign to incentivize users to provide liquidity by rewarding them with STRK tokens.
However, the network has been trending downward in recent times, perhaps due to users withdrawing from the platform after disappointing drops of DeFi applications within the Starknet ecosystem, such as Ekubo and Nostra .
On the other hand, Base, the Coinbase-incubated L2, which does not have a mineable token, continues to perform strongly, increasing its TVL by 20% over the past 30 days. Base now has a TVL of 2.1 million ETH, far surpassing Scroll’s 222,000 ETH and Linea’s 352,000 ETH. This growth is likely due to strong marketing efforts, but the activity there could also leave room for speculation that an airdrop could still take place in the future, even though there is currently nothing to cultivate.