Are airdrops still worth the chase in 2026

[Danekos]

Are airdrops still worth the chase in 2026?
A few years back, airdrops were the talk of the town. They were basically printing money here and there
Early users of projects like Optimism Foundation (OP), Uniswap Labs (UNI), and Arbitrum Foundation (ARB) made thousands of dollars just for interacting and following protocols early enough.
This was done without capital and insider connection. It only took performing activities and having patience.

Fast forward to 2026;
Farming has become crowded, bots dominating participation, projects eligibility criterias are stricter, rewards smaller, gas fees sometimes wipe out profits

So are airdrops still worth farming? Or is the golden era over?

What Seems to Have Changed?
-More Competition: Back in 2020–2022, fewer persons were farming airdrops. But today, millions of wallets are hunting every potential airdrop.
-Sybil Filtering: Projects now filter users aggressively. This causes many users to get disqualified.
-Higher Costs: Bridging, swapping, staking and NFT minting all cost gas fees. If no proper rewards come from the airdrop, that's a sunk cost.
-Delayed Rewards: Some projects take years before launching a token (that's if they launch at all).

Why It Might Still Be Worth It
-Asymmetric Upside
One successful airdrop may just be all it takes to cover months of farming cost and stress.
-Low Capital Requirement
In comparison to trading, you’re not risking large capital for transaction fees
-Bull Market Multiplier
Tokens distributed in a bull market can multiply 5x–20x quickly.
-Farming often causes you to explore new ecosystems early thus exposing you to hidden gems.

The Smart Approach in 2026
Rather than farming everything blindly;
-Focus on quality projects with strong backing
-Avoid obvious “airdrop bait” protocols
-Focus on using 1-3 solid wallets rather than numerous spam wallets
-Track costs vs potential reward
-Treat farming like a properly calculated investment with its risks, not a lottery.

My Opinion
The easy money era is long gone (like the stone age). But that doesn't mean smart selective farming still doesn't exist. This would be easier if you understand ecosystem trends (Layer 2, AI integrations, RWA protocols, etc.).
The big tie breaker now is strategy over spam.

What’s your experience?
Have you received any profitable airdrops recently?
Do you think farming is dead?
Or are we just evolving into a more competitive phase?

[AmaGold70]

Actually, airdrop is a smart way of accummulating cryptocurrency and in most cases involves little or no money to participate. However, it is necessary to know and understand the kind of airdrop you want to participate in, while some airdrop can be very profitable, some airdrop can be scam and a way of defrauding people.
While some of the  cryptocurrency airdrop in the past has done well, we are still anticipating to see some appealing airdrop in the year 2026, as good airdrop is worth giving a trial.

[Grace333]

Actually, airdrop is a smart way of accummulating cryptocurrency and in most cases involves little or no money to participate. However, it is necessary to know and understand the kind of airdrop you want to participate in, while some airdrop can be very profitable, some airdrop can be scam and a way of defrauding people.
While some of the  cryptocurrency airdrop in the past has done well, we are still anticipating to see some appealing airdrop in the year 2026, as good airdrop is worth giving a trial.

I personally have encountered some scam airdrop and the most annoying thing about these airdrops is the fact that you must have spent quite some amount of time to get to that stage where the coins are released and then they'll require a transaction fee for you to be able to withdraw your coins usually around $20
Na that one pain me pass after you don waste time wey you for use for something else finish. And since then I just dey see all airdrop coins as waste of time because even if the coin launch at the end don no still dey get enough volatility to push the market go satisfying position. Maybe na just me but I no like airdrops because e go consume your time with uncertainty because majority of airdrop coins no dey do well.

[ZeroVinsonN]

Actually, airdrop is a smart way of accummulating cryptocurrency and in most cases involves little or no money to participate. However, it is necessary to know and understand the kind of airdrop you want to participate in, while some airdrop can be very profitable, some airdrop can be scam and a way of defrauding people.
While some of the  cryptocurrency airdrop in the past has done well, we are still anticipating to see some appealing airdrop in the year 2026, as good airdrop is worth giving a trial.

I personally have encountered some scam airdrop and the most annoying thing about these airdrops is the fact that you must have spent quite some amount of time to get to that stage where the coins are released and then they'll require a transaction fee for you to be able to withdraw your coins usually around $20
Na that one pain me pass after you don waste time wey you for use for something else finish. And since then I just dey see all airdrop coins as waste of time because even if the coin launch at the end don no still dey get enough volatility to push the market go satisfying position. Maybe na just me but I no like airdrops because e go consume your time with uncertainty because majority of airdrop coins no dey do well.

Transaction fee to withdraw dust?
Sha speaking with sincerity there have been some really good airdrops that alot of people have actually benefited from, sure most people got dust out of them but that was not everyone story. The only reason we had that airdrop frenzy 2 or 3 years ago is because we actually saw people who benefited from previous airdrops so everyone else decided to pour into what was available which for the most part amounted go nothing except for a select few.