Proposal:
Let’s briefly analyze some previous projects that conducted airdrops to identify both positive and negative aspects:
Layer 2 Projects
Arbitrum:
Pros:
- Minimum allocation per recipient was substantial enough to make everyone who was “eligible” happy.
Community Reaction: Positive.
– Optimism:
Community Reaction: Positive.
– Starknet:
Key Criterion: Holding a balance above 0.005 ETH.
Community Reaction: Mixed, with significant negative feedback due to the balance requirement.
– Taiko:
- Testnet users received tokens.
- Despite completing many quests on Galxe, participants received nothing because it was deemed “just for fun.”
- The Trailblazers campaign in mainnet outlined clear criteria for earning tokens.
Community Reaction: Mixed.
– ZkSync:
Negative? Criterion: Liquidity provision (LP) requirement caused/mixed backlash.
Positive Criteria:
- Holding ZkSync-native NFT collections at snapshot.
- Holding at least $50 worth of ZkSync-native ERC-20 tokens at snapshot.
Community Reaction: Mixed but leaning positive.
– Scroll:
Key Points:
- Focused heavily on LP farming, awarding “Marks.”
- Introduced badges, which partially converted to Marks but had minimal impact overall.
- Airdrop distributed linearly with a minimum of 200 Marks.
- Bonus for owning an ENS domain.
- Testnet users received nothing.
Community Reaction: Mostly negative.
Layer 1 Projects
– SUI:
- Not a typical airdrop; instead, it was a sale.
- Main criterion: Discord membership before 01.02.2023.
Community Reaction: Generally positive.
– Sei
- Conducted a nearly linear airdrop.
Community Reaction: Generally negative.
Protocols and DApps
– LayerZero
Key Criterion: Transaction gas expenditures, which is fairly objective.
Positives:
- Sybil Hunting: Initially criticized but later appreciated as it filtered out large-scale farming.
- RFP Program: Rewarded dApp users (+10% bonus for developers).
Community Reaction: Mixed but leaning positive.
– Hyperliquid
Community Reaction: Positive.
Suggested Criteria for Linea’s Airdrop
Primary Criteria:
- LPX and LPX-L (earned through farming campaigns):
- LPX should have greater weight than LPX-L (e.g., LPX: 34–51%, LPX-L: 20–33%).
- Consider linear distribution for LPX-L with optional vesting for top 5% farmers.
- Tiers for LPX Distribution:
- Base tier for 1–499 LPX (minimal boost), 500-1999 - low boost;.
- Higher tiers (2000+) with increasing multipliers, rewarding significant time and effort.
Additional Multipliers and Incentives:
- Testnet participants (convert NFTs into LPX).
- Users of the official bridge (minor multiplier).
- Active participation in offline events.
- Ownership of a
.linea.ensdomain. - Holders NFTs: Dencun: Community Edition, “Cognitive Dissonance” by AnjolaDave, participation in Sovs.
- Exclude balance-based criteria (e.g., Starknet’s 0.005 ETH rule) or account for total portfolio value instead.
- Among the interesting criteria from ZkSync: holding NFTs and native tokens. This approach can also be adopted here, but more as a multiplier for the airdrop based on LPX:
Of course, this includes NFTs like eFrogs, Efroglets, Toad the Great, and the new BlitzBotz, Bunny Universe, Beaver Builder, as well as upcoming ones (if the snapshot hasn’t been taken yet): Froxy and Linpuss. - Similar criteria could apply to holding native tokens. I believe it’s essential to include all new and old meme coins, as they align with current narratives and can provide a great boost to the Linea community. This could range from $50 (or $20, or $100).
- For example: $NILE, $LYNX, $MENDI, $FOXY, $CROAK, $LPUSS, $LINUS, $FROXY, $DTC, $BEAVER, $CWC, $FOXX etc.
PS: Don’t forget to account for $FOXY and $CROAK which are stored in ZeroLand.
Developer Incentives:
Allocate 16–46% of the total airdrop to developers and projects building on Linea. Prioritize L2-exclusive projects while acknowledging the contributions of multi-platform ones.
Developers on Linea are crucial, as the ecosystem wouldn’t thrive without them. You’ve already initiated great audience engagement through quests (e.g., DeFi, Linea Park, etc.). However, those who continue building and enhancing products should also receive tokens.
Priority should, of course, be given to projects exclusively operating on the L2 Linea network, though multi-platform projects also contribute positively to the blockchain ecosystem.
This could follow a model similar to LayerZero’s RFP program, where 90% of tokens for a project are allocated to users and 10% to the developers. Alternatively, zkSync’s approach of directly distributing tokens to the team wallets could work, leaving the decision of allocation to the teams themselves.
Perhaps a hybrid of these approaches would be best, as projects often involve not just developers but also ambassadors, moderators, testers, and other users. These members could also be rewarded more substantially as part of the team’s contributions.
Other Recommendations:
- Reward OG communities from other L1/L2 networks (allocate 1–5%).
- Sybil with POH: I believe some users managed to bypass the system, so additional Sybil filtering will be necessary.
This strategy aims to balance rewarding loyal users, LP, incentivizing developers, and fostering community growth.