[2018-03-16] So Long ICOs: The Free Token Giveaway Craze Is Here

[Donationcoin]

Imagine getting $1,000 just for joining a newsletter.

Well, that's effectively what happened for those that subscribed to Onchain's mailing list early on in the project's lifecycle. The company, which is building a distributed network designed to connect real-world institutions, gave 1,000 of its "ONT" crypto tokens to people who signed up to receive its emails prior to a certain date.

Those crypto tokens were distributed earlier this month and are now trading for a little over $1 per coin, according to CoinMarketCap. As you may have noticed, there was no "sale" involved.

"Ontology just raised a private round and then didn't need to do a [public] crowdsale, so they just airdropped to eager NEO hodlers," Keld van Schreven, a partner at blockchain investment company Kryptonite1, told CoinDesk.

https://www.coindesk.com/long-icos-hello-airdrops-free-token-giveaway-craze/

[aso118]

This might be one giveaway which turned out well, but there are 2 problems associated with giveaways generally - loss of privacy (if you have to give your real ID - Full KYC) or campaign abuse (if you have to give just an email id). I personally would not be comfortable giving away my personal details to unregulated companies, even if they do offer me their shiny new coins for free.

[bbc.reporter]

Do you really believe that those tokens will maintain their $1 per token value? Who will carry all the costs? Because I am very sure the market won't. Who would be stupid enough to buy something that you knew was given for free?

Also, the giveaway is more like a promotional giveaway. I am sure there's a trap set here as projects in the cryptospace are always motivated by profit.

[entrepmind23]

There are many airdrops that turned out well because the developers of the project push through with the project but there is a higher percentage of coins losing their value over time because people just decide to dump their coins. I may not be able to participate with this Ontology airdrop but I have participated in airdrops before that has valuable coins after a few months. If ever there are some requirements that I need to give supporting documents to receive the coins or what is known as KYC then I would have doubts because as what I've known, investors are the only ones required to provide it.

[bbc.reporter]

@entrepmind23. Can you list the names of those projects that you said pushed through? I am quite sure that none of them has reached a level of adoption that could be considered a success. The tokens might have made some holders some bitcoins, but that's not success.

Also, I do reckon that not one of them are solving real world problems like most of the other projects.

[InvoKing]

This might be one giveaway which turned out well, but there are 2 problems associated with giveaways generally - loss of privacy (if you have to give your real ID - Full KYC) or campaign abuse (if you have to give just an email id). I personally would not be comfortable giving away my personal details to unregulated companies, even if they do offer me their shiny new coins for free.

Never give your identity or you risk to return the money earned at any time to the other party if they turned to be scammers, if not the money multiplied by two or three.
For the email, always use jetable/throwaway ones.
Those boys are lucky 

[orions.belt19]

Also, the giveaway is more like a promotional giveaway. I am sure there's a trap set here as projects in the cryptospace are always motivated by profit.

Airdrops are mostly made for promotional purposes. This is because airdrops attract a lot of attention and makes a token popular. I've had my fair share of airdrops and not all has went well. Most of the airdrops these days require more information such as an email address or proof of identification which poses a risk for the bounty hunters. Once the developers have made their profits, the tokens don't actually grow in value anymore.

Also, I do reckon that not one of them are solving real world problems like most of the other projects.

It's quite true that a number of the ICOs have marvelous roadmaps but in reality, they don't always push through. Some just suddenly disappear after making profits after their token sale. Others don't even make it to the exchanges. There are phony ICOs made just so that some people may profit.

[BitcoinPanther]

Do you really believe that those tokens will maintain their $1 per token value? Who will carry all the costs? Because I am very sure the market won't. Who would be stupid enough to buy something that you knew was given for free?

Also, the giveaway is more like a promotional giveaway. I am sure there's a trap set here as projects in the cryptospace are always motivated by profit.

Well the price of token is volatile, same with bitcoins, ethereum and other popular coins and tokens.  It is driven by speculation and when that speculation die, obviously it will go down but if the speculation is realized, fomo might kick in and price might baloon.  Airdrop is just a marketing strategy to make the ICO popular.

[Rodon]

Well, I think that it seems too beautiful to be real.. However, if there are no traps, those are lucky guys! But I stay really septic about that.

[hatshepsut93]

It's silly to say that ICO's are gone because there are some successful examples of airdrops. ICO's are popular because they let small investors to participate, you can invest $20 or $500 or $5000 - there are no limits. But with private selling this is not the case, they are usually for big investors. On top of that, so many airdrops are so worthless that they are not worth the time, so most people just don't bother with them - this example of $1000 airdrop is more of exception from the general rule.