Are airdrops killing the value of new projects?

[leonair]

Airdrops have become one of the most common ways for new crypto projects to gain attention, grow communities, and reward early supporters.

But I’ve noticed a trend a lot of these projects have massive sell pressure right after the airdrop claim period. Early holders dump their free tokens, and surely the price crashes, and the project struggles to recover.

Some people argue that airdrops are great for marketing and getting more users, while others believe they create a short-term hype bubble and hurt long-term value.

If a project is strong, selling pressure is not a problem. And the projects that are strong stay far away from airdrops and market themselves differently. All those projects promote airdrops that want to do cheap marketing. Because through airdrops, a very large community can be created very quickly. But they only get free coins by completing some simple tasks, so they don't care about them. As soon as they get those coins, they immediately jump to sell them at any price, which causes the price of those coins to fall quickly. And if there is no strong project, the price of those coins cannot recover.

[mich]

Well I do think the air drops today are not the same as air drops along time ago. If a project today does have a air drop there is a big chance we will not be able to sell the tokens on a exchange.
Or it can just become a 'rug pull'. If there is a new project I do not think they will need to have a air drop. And if they do well then the value of the tokens does always go down alot.

[GigaBit]

Airdrops have become one of the most common ways for new crypto projects to gain attention, grow communities, and reward early supporters.

But I’ve noticed a trend a lot of these projects have massive sell pressure right after the airdrop claim period. Early holders dump their free tokens, and surely the price crashes, and the project struggles to recover.

Some people argue that airdrops are great for marketing and getting more users, while others believe they create a short-term hype bubble and hurt long-term value.

Airdrops usually make projects easily accessible to people. People around the world quickly learn about them, many of whom try to use the project, which is a positive aspect for the project. There are also some negative aspects. Even if the project has a good purpose, it is not possible to do so later because hunters start selling their tokens as soon as they get them at a low price, which increases the selling pressure in the market so much that the project cannot turn around later.

The users who come to airdrops basically withdraw their profits quickly and leave without thinking much about the project. Which is why it is never possible to make long-term plans for projects with those hunters, whether good or bad.

[Abiky]

The massive sell is expected because many airdrop participants are not investors; they participate to earn income. This is essentially the price they pay for free promotion of their projects, which is considered a form of compensation.
If the project is that good, it can withstand the sell pressure and can maintain its presence in the market. Airdrops cannot kill good projects; it’s the utility.

That's why some projects raised eligibility requirements. To prevent airdrop hunters from cashing out and causing a huge "dump" in market prices. Now you're required to spend a certain amount of money in "De-Fi" protocols to be able to participate in the airdrop program. Other projects expect you to follow them on social networks and invite other people to their platforms.

Gone are the days where you could claim "free tokens" out of nothing. Back then, we could say airdrops "killed" the value of new projects. But things have changed as developers noticed airdrop hunters' schemes. I think this is good because it encourages utility above all else. Mainstream adoption will increase as people rush to meet eligibility requirements to receive "free money". The success of airdrops will depend on the regulators. As long as regulators don't mess this up, there should be nothing to worry about.

[Luchnix]

Airdrops have become one of the most common ways for new crypto projects to gain attention, grow communities, and reward early supporters.

But I’ve noticed a trend a lot of these projects have massive sell pressure right after the airdrop claim period. Early holders dump their free tokens, and surely the price crashes, and the project struggles to recover.

Some people argue that airdrops are great for marketing and getting more users, while others believe they create a short-term hype bubble and hurt long-term value.

I don't really think the airdrop participants are really into theses projects or interested in them.. all they want is a quick money and that also drives the whole market backward, in extension to the project it self

[beveryu778]

Airdrops have become one of the most common ways for new crypto projects to gain attention, grow communities, and reward early supporters.

But I’ve noticed a trend a lot of these projects have massive sell pressure right after the airdrop claim period. Early holders dump their free tokens, and surely the price crashes, and the project struggles to recover.

Some people argue that airdrops are great for marketing and getting more users, while others believe they create a short-term hype bubble and hurt long-term value.

If a project is strong, selling pressure is not a problem. And the projects that are strong stay far away from airdrops and market themselves differently. All those projects promote airdrops that want to do cheap marketing. Because through airdrops, a very large community can be created very quickly. But they only get free coins by completing some simple tasks, so they don't care about them. As soon as they get those coins, they immediately jump to sell them at any price, which causes the price of those coins to fall quickly. And if there is no strong project, the price of those coins cannot recover.

There is logic in your words. Users get a lot of free coins from a project for Airdrop, which does not make them hesitate to sell in any way. Because those people work on Airdrop who do not have any skills. They only want to get some free money by completing some tasks for the fee of Airdrop. And when they get a reward, they do not have the knowledge to analyze how much potential it can be if they hold it, which is why they want to sell them quickly and get cash. And thus, as soon as the coin is listed on the market, when the selling pressure increases, that coin falls.

[M47AK16]

The massive sell is expected because many airdrop participants are not investors; they participate to earn income. This is essentially the price they pay for free promotion of their projects, which is considered a form of compensation.
If the project is that good, it can withstand the sell pressure and can maintain its presence in the market. Airdrops cannot kill good projects; it’s the utility.

That's why some projects raised eligibility requirements. To prevent airdrop hunters from cashing out and causing a huge "dump" in market prices. Now you're required to spend a certain amount of money in "De-Fi" protocols to be able to participate in the airdrop program. Other projects expect you to follow them on social networks and invite other people to their platforms.

Gone are the days where you could claim "free tokens" out of nothing. Back then, we could say airdrops "killed" the value of new projects. But things have changed as developers noticed airdrop hunters' schemes. I think this is good because it encourages utility above all else. Mainstream adoption will increase as people rush to meet eligibility requirements to receive "free money". The success of airdrops will depend on the regulators. As long as regulators don't mess this up, there should be nothing to worry about.

Some even have "unlocking", had that in 2021 I remember. That means, you have the right to sell, but not all at once. So you would sell 10% per week, for 10 weeks, to sell it all. That did prevented some good ones from crashing down, but the bad ones would still crash even if everyone sold their 10% because there weren't any buyers.

You have to realize, a good project is a good project and people would want to buy into that project and when people do buy, then sellers do not matter. A bad project is a bad one, and even if you sell just a thousand dollars worth, it may crash.

So these prevention mechanics never really help with anyone, it is not the way to recover and we should always try to find a way to recover and be better.

[fikrett]

The massive sell is expected because many airdrop participants are not investors; they participate to earn income. This is essentially the price they pay for free promotion of their projects, which is considered a form of compensation.
If the project is that good, it can withstand the sell pressure and can maintain its presence in the market. Airdrops cannot kill good projects; it’s the utility.

That's why some projects raised eligibility requirements. To prevent airdrop hunters from cashing out and causing a huge "dump" in market prices. Now you're required to spend a certain amount of money in "De-Fi" protocols to be able to participate in the airdrop program. Other projects expect you to follow them on social networks and invite other people to their platforms.

Gone are the days where you could claim "free tokens" out of nothing. Back then, we could say airdrops "killed" the value of new projects. But things have changed as developers noticed airdrop hunters' schemes. I think this is good because it encourages utility above all else. Mainstream adoption will increase as people rush to meet eligibility requirements to receive "free money". The success of airdrops will depend on the regulators. As long as regulators don't mess this up, there should be nothing to worry about.

Some even have "unlocking", had that in 2021 I remember. That means, you have the right to sell, but not all at once. So you would sell 10% per week, for 10 weeks, to sell it all. That did prevented some good ones from crashing down, but the bad ones would still crash even if everyone sold their 10% because there weren't any buyers.

You have to realize, a good project is a good project and people would want to buy into that project and when people do buy, then sellers do not matter. A bad project is a bad one, and even if you sell just a thousand dollars worth, it may crash.

So these prevention mechanics never really help with anyone, it is not the way to recover and we should always try to find a way to recover and be better.

It helps the founders, more than anyone else, of course.

All the rest of the people can only settle for what comes next, the biggest dump or just a slow stagnation, or maybe a pump and then what was described previously.

[programmer3666]

Airdrops have become one of the most common ways for new crypto projects to gain attention, grow communities, and reward early supporters.

But I’ve noticed a trend a lot of these projects have massive sell pressure right after the airdrop claim period. Early holders dump their free tokens, and surely the price crashes, and the project struggles to recover.

Some people argue that airdrops are great for marketing and getting more users, while others believe they create a short-term hype bubble and hurt long-term value.

Me i would not  say airdrops are killing new projects lately, but they can definitely hurt if they are not planned properly because lately someone in the basement of his mom will just wake up and decide to come with one shallow platform in the name of a project with utilities no proper planning or any form of future progress. the honest truth is most people who join airdrops are just looking for quick profits no matter how small at the end!! they don’t really care about the project itself to begin with, so once tokens are claimable!!! They instantly dump as fast as they can which now creates that heavy sell pressure and if the team has not built a strong tokenomics or utility behind the project, then the price collapse looks like the project is failing even before it gets a chance to grow.
Airdrops still have their benefits though. Because they are one of the fastest ways to put a project on the map!! to bring in users and build that necessary digital hype. I think the difference lies in how they are structured from the beginning. If it is just a free giveaway that is disguise in form of a projectect, then it attracts dumpers. But if rewards are tied to actual engagements like staking, governance or long even term holding incentives i believe  people are more likely to stay involved rather than sell at the first opportunity they get.

Airdrops themselves are kind of not the problem. The problem is the poor planning and weak fundamentals... because projects that only rely on hype usually fade after the dump but the ones with real utilities, clear roadmaps and strong communities bounce back even stronger after the initial sell off take for instance Pi Network.

[TastyChillySauce00]

Some even have "unlocking", had that in 2021 I remember. That means, you have the right to sell, but not all at once. So you would sell 10% per week, for 10 weeks, to sell it all. That did prevented some good ones from crashing down, but the bad ones would still crash even if everyone sold their 10% because there weren't any buyers.

You have to realize, a good project is a good project and people would want to buy into that project and when people do buy, then sellers do not matter. A bad project is a bad one, and even if you sell just a thousand dollars worth, it may crash.

So these prevention mechanics never really help with anyone, it is not the way to recover and we should always try to find a way to recover and be better.

It helps the founders, more than anyone else, of course.

All the rest of the people can only settle for what comes next, the biggest dump or just a slow stagnation, or maybe a pump and then what was described previously.

These vesting mechanism only helps grifter developers who want to sell earlier than anyone else, basically got allocation unlocked even before TGE happens.

In a good project, these vesting mechanism can help reduce selling pressure at the first second but hardly I see any project doing this that got good growth over the long term so it comes back to the project again and its quality.
I personally don't really like this mechanism. It prolongs bearish sentiment because the sellers aren't done yet selling and everybody is afraid to take risk while other people are dumping on their faces over the vesting period.

[Abiky]

Some even have "unlocking", had that in 2021 I remember. That means, you have the right to sell, but not all at once. So you would sell 10% per week, for 10 weeks, to sell it all. That did prevented some good ones from crashing down, but the bad ones would still crash even if everyone sold their 10% because there weren't any buyers.

You have to realize, a good project is a good project and people would want to buy into that project and when people do buy, then sellers do not matter. A bad project is a bad one, and even if you sell just a thousand dollars worth, it may crash.

So these prevention mechanics never really help with anyone, it is not the way to recover and we should always try to find a way to recover and be better.

Yes, I remember. That was a smart move by the developers. The problem with this was that many people ended up leaving the project out of desperation. Everyone wants "free money" without having to wait. It prevents airdrop hunters/farmers from dumping all of their coins at once, though.

I think the days where quality projects gave airdrops are over. Most of the airdrops you see are not really worth your time and effort. Especially when the tokens or coins you receive have no real use cases (worthless). Real money in crypto can only be made by either mining, staking, or working for it. Hopefully, newbies realize this in the long run.

[Lanatsa]

Airdrops have become one of the most common ways for new crypto projects to gain attention, grow communities, and reward early supporters.

But I’ve noticed a trend a lot of these projects have massive sell pressure right after the airdrop claim period. Early holders dump their free tokens, and surely the price crashes, and the project struggles to recover.

Some people argue that airdrops are great for marketing and getting more users, while others believe they create a short-term hype bubble and hurt long-term value.

Me i would not  say airdrops are killing new projects lately, but they can definitely hurt if they are not planned properly because lately someone in the basement of his mom will just wake up and decide to come with one shallow platform in the name of a project with utilities no proper planning or any form of future progress. the honest truth is most people who join airdrops are just looking for quick profits no matter how small at the end!! they don’t really care about the project itself to begin with, so once tokens are claimable!!! They instantly dump as fast as they can which now creates that heavy sell pressure and if the team has not built a strong tokenomics or utility behind the project, then the price collapse looks like the project is failing even before it gets a chance to grow.
Airdrops still have their benefits though. Because they are one of the fastest ways to put a project on the map!! to bring in users and build that necessary digital hype. I think the difference lies in how they are structured from the beginning. If it is just a free giveaway that is disguise in form of a projectect, then it attracts dumpers. But if rewards are tied to actual engagements like staking, governance or long even term holding incentives i believe  people are more likely to stay involved rather than sell at the first opportunity they get.

Airdrops themselves are kind of not the problem. The problem is the poor planning and weak fundamentals... because projects that only rely on hype usually fade after the dump but the ones with real utilities, clear roadmaps and strong communities bounce back even stronger after the initial sell off take for instance Pi Network.

Airdrops are not the real issue the structure behind them and the type of audience they attract make the difference many participants only aim for quick profits so once tokens become claimable they rush to sell if a project lacks strong tokenomics or clear utilities the heavy sell pressure quickly pushes prices down giving the impression of failure even when the concept still holds potential.Airdrops can still play an important role they create visibility build initial hype and bring users onto a platform faster than almost any other method the challenge lies in execution when rewards are simply handed out without conditions the result is usually a community filled with short term speculators however when rewards are tied to staking governance tasks or long term holding incentives the community gains a reason to remain active and engaged.

Poor planning and weak fundamentals remain the true killers projects that rely only on hype without delivering genuine value fade quickly after the initial dump on the other hand projects with clear roadmaps utilities and strong communities often bounce back stronger once the early volatility passes pi network serves as an example of how long term vision and consistent engagement can keep interest alive even after heavy skepticism. Airdrops should be seen as tools not solutions by themselves their impact depends entirely on how they are structured and whether the team behind them has built a foundation that can weather the storm of short term profit seekers while still pushing forward with sustainable growth.

[Nwada001]

I don't really think the airdrop participants are really into theses projects or interested in them.. all they want is a quick money and that also drives the whole market backward, in extension to the project it self

Off a truth, what really drives people to do airdrops is to get the money and go off, but there are also afew among those participants who can see how good a project appears to be and decide to invest a few dollars into the project to hold the token and will even buy tokens from airdrop participants to sell their own holdings, but such a set of people are not much in the airdrop world.