Airdrop Hunters: Botnet Owners or Mere Enthusiasts?
X-explore's analytical team conducted a study into the behaviors of airdrop seekers, aiming to create an average portrait of these bounty hunters.
A major surge in interest surrounding airdrops is thought to have originated following Uniswap's iconic token distribution, during which numerous users managed to rake in over $1000 through various platform activities. This spawned an increase in engagement within other projects and led to the coining of the term "airdrop hunters", used to describe those relentless in their pursuit of free cryptocurrency.
Certain individuals have taken this a step further, creating scores of wallets, setting up automated trading volume increases, and even instigating Sybil attacks. X-explore's estimation suggests around 20% of Arbitrum's recipients breached the rules. Such behavior skews the image of airdrop hunters significantly, thereby necessitating a more objective attempt to delineate their average profile. The study was based on the statistics from the top five most financially lucrative airdrops: Uniswap, ENS, Optimism, Blur, and Arbitrum.
To this end, wallets having received more than three airdrops were singled out. X-explore proceeded to categorize them into two groups: traditional (3-4 distributions, 34,547 addresses) and premium (all five distributions, 935 addresses). On average, the first group pocketed around $9384 per wallet, while the latter brought in $18,935, based on the cryptocurrency prices on June 7. This disparity in income was found to be attributable to the heightened activity levels among premium hunters.
Number of wallets (%) falling into different categories. Source: official Mirror-account of X-explore
The table shows the breakdown of wallets into different categories. The "Median Trader" category consists of the top 10% traders based on trading volume, while "Heavy Trader" represents the top 1%. The statistics reveal that the most successful hunters carry out over 50 operations on Ethereum monthly, in stark contrast to average users who only clock in at 0.16 transactions. This considerable divergence in activity levels suggests a probable variance in financial capability, given Ethereum's hefty fees. It is also worth noting another aspect: all premium wallets came into existence well before the Uniswap distribution, meaning they are not your everyday "hunters". These individuals appear to have a genuine interest in advancing particular cryptocurrency technologies and protocols.
The percentage of hunter accounts that were created. Source: X-explore's Official Mirror account
However, most addresses markedly decrease their transaction count following airdrops. This was seen with Optimism. Before the airdrop, even premium wallets didn't exhibit high engagement, which could be due to uncertainty regarding the forthcoming giveaway of tokens.
Clearly, airdrop hunters are more than just opportunists. They're devoted crypto enthusiasts who adhere to the rules and shouldn't be villainized. They actively engage with platforms, frequently surpassing the activity of average users by hundreds of times. You could emulate the approach of these wallets to boost your own likelihood of securing airdrops. If a project is examined in detail, such efforts could yield returns many times the cost of network fees.
