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 that, many in the community, including LayerZero Labs CEO Bryan Pellegrino, have expressed that the “airdrop model is broken,” since numerous crypto projects have seen users come for free money and leave shortly after their airdrop, causing concerns about sustainability.
Read more: Airdrops Just Aren’t Working Anymore
However, on-chain data tells a different story. Users remain eager to chase new airdrop opportunities. After all, it’s free money.
Scroll and Linea Attract Farmers
After ZKsync and LayerZero, airdrop hunters have now redirected their focus to two other Ethereum layer 2s, Scroll and Linea, each of which has seen notable increases in its total value locked (TVL). Over the past 30 days, Scroll’s TVL measured in ETH has surged by 40%, and Linea’s has grown by 15%, according to data from growththepie.
The popularity of Scroll, an Ethereum virtual machine-compatible 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, which are called points in most crypto communities, by bridging assets like ETH, USDC, or USDT via the native bridge or LayerZero. The program also rewards users for providing liquidity in various DeFi platforms such as Aave, Ambient, and Nuri.
“What I like about Scroll Marks is that they’re mainly RETROACTIVE, so unsophisticated actors will only take action once it’s <official>,” tweeted CC2, adding, “It’s their way to deal with a massive Sybil influx, without going on a public hunt, and I kind of like it.”
Linea, another zkEVM rollup, has also seen significant interest, with its TVL increasing by 15% in ETH in the last month. The rise in deposits indicates growing confidence and participation in the Linea ecosystem as users seek the next potential airdrop opportunity.
Linea also has a rewards program in place, with users earning LXP meant to “recognize the community’s extraordinary contribution toward the growth of the Linea ecosystem.”
Disconnect Between Airdrops and Loyal Users
How well these programs work out for these protocols remains to be seen. Even ZKsync has already seen a drop in its TVL in ETH (excluding its native token), which has gone from 220,000 ETH to 210,000 ETH since its airdrop.
Prior to their snapshot announcement, LayerZero was recording approximately 300,000 total messages per day. Days before the airdrop last Thursday, when new the airdrop could no longer be farmed, it was recording around 40,000 per day. Since the airdrop, messages are up, but those messages are mostly people claiming the token.
Meanwhile, Starknet, which had its airdrop in February, has experienced a significant decline, with its TVL dropping by 23% during the last month from 287,000 ETH to 220,000 ETH. Despite having already conducted its airdrop, Starknet has been running a “DeFi Spring” campaign to incentivize users to provide liquidity by rewarding them with STRK tokens.
However, the network has been on a downtrend lately, possibly due to users withdrawing from the platform after disappointing airdrops from DeFi apps within the Starknet ecosystem, such as Ekubo and Nostra.
On the other hand, Base, the Coinbase-incubated L2, which does not have a token that can be farmed, continues to perform strongly, growing its TVL by 20% in the past 30 days. Base now boasts a TVL of 2.1 million ETH, far surpassing Scroll’s 222,000 ETH and Linea’s 352,000 ETH. This growth is likely driven by strong marketing efforts, but the activity there might also be speculation that an airdrop could still come in the future, even if currently, there’s nothing to farm.
