[First Half of 2025] Top 10 Airdrops to Watch\! The Complete Guide to Conquering the New Era of Drastically Changed Earning Methods

In 2025, the world of cryptocurrency, especially "airdrops," has evolved into a more exciting and strategic space than ever before. The days of getting tokens just for having a wallet are over.

In the first half of 2025, a "point system" that rewards those who contribute to projects like a long-distance "marathon" became the mainstream, the "Sybil wars" to eliminate airdrop-hunting farmers intensified, and many were troubled by the "high FDV problem," where highly anticipated tokens experienced wild price swings immediately after listing.

In this article, we thoroughly dissect the top 10 airdrops that symbolize this turbulent first half of 2025!

• What kind of projects succeeded, and why?
• How could you have obtained those major airdrops?
• And what should you do to seize the next opportunity?

Get your hands on the "new winning formula" in this article to ride the wave of change and capture significant profits in the future!

Before looking at individual projects, let's first understand the three major shifts that occurred in the market as a whole. This will be the foundation for your future airdrop strategy.

1. "Snapshots" Are Old News! The "Marathon" of Long-Term Participation is the New Norm 🏃‍♂️

The once-mainstream method of using data from a single point in time (a snapshot) is now obsolete.

Systems that track activities like staking and dApp usage over several months to award "points," as seen with Zircuit and Linea, have become fully established. This is a mechanism to filter out short-term speculators who compete solely with capital and to reward genuine users who commit to projects long-term. Airdrop hunting has transformed into a form of "Proof-of-Work" that requires not just capital, but also time and effort.

2. The All-Out War with "Farmers"! The Escalating "Sybil Wars" ⚔️

Projects have gotten more serious than ever about eliminating "Sybil attackers" (airdrop farmers) who manipulate hundreds of accounts to sweep up airdrops.

The symbol of this was the "self-reporting program" implemented by LayerZero. It presented farmers with an ultimate choice: "Report yourself honestly and we guarantee 15% of your reward, but if you're caught, you lose everything." This sparked a huge debate, even raising philosophical questions about "what constitutes a true user," and a new standard for airdrop fairness was born.

3. No "Listing and Dumping"! The "Low Float, High FDV" Trap 📉

Have you seen it time and again? A highly anticipated major project gets listed, and its price immediately plummets.

This issue, faced by projects like Berachain and Starknet, is caused by a low number of tokens circulating in the market (low float) despite a very high valuation that includes future potential value (FDV). This structure creates a huge weight on the price, as the selling pressure from airdrop recipients cashing in their "free" tokens combines with the future selling pressure from tokens unlocked for the team and investors. Projects face the difficult challenge of having to continuously fight the headwind they themselves created.

• 💡 What kind of project? A Layer 1 blockchain with a passionate community, born from the "Bong Bears" NFT collection. It uses a unique Proof-of-Liquidity mechanism to align the security of DeFi and the network.
• 💰 Airdrop Overview
  • Date: February 6, 2025
  • Scale: Estimated over $630 million (approx. ¥94.8 billion)
• 🎯 How could you get it? A truly omnidirectional strategy! Rewards were given to every segment of the community, from testnet participants and holders of NFTs like Bong Bears to social media contributors and Binance users.
• 📈 The Key Point! Strategy and Results This is a brilliant example of translating the passion of a cult-like community directly into an airdrop strategy. However, the price plummeted from $15 to $7 immediately after launch, becoming a classic case of the "low float, high FDV" problem. Nevertheless, it succeeded in acquiring a large user base and established itself as a major Layer 1.

• 💡 What kind of project? An AI-powered "Information Finance (InfoFi)" network that organizes and analyzes vast amounts of crypto information. It rewards creators of high-quality information and content.
• 💰 Airdrop Overview
  • Date: February 20, 2025
  • Scale: Estimated $200 million (approx. ¥30 billion)
• 🎯 How could you get it? The main targets were Kaito NFT holders and users who earned points by sharing valuable content on X (formerly Twitter). Contributions to the "attention economy" were rewarded.
• 📈 The Key Point! Strategy and Results It embodied its philosophy of "rewarding valuable information" through its airdrop. While it succeeded in acquiring many new users, it also faced post-listing selling pressure. Interestingly, 43% of the airdrop went unclaimed and was reserved for future community incentives, signaling a commitment to long-term growth.

• 💡 What kind of project? A modular blockchain built on Cosmos. It aims to connect the often-fragmented blockchain world through interoperability.
• 💰 Airdrop Overview
  • Date: April 24, 2025
  • Scale: Approx. $37.25 million (approx. ¥5.6 billion)
• 🎯 How could you get it? The main recipients were incentivized testnet participants (89%!). Additionally, users of partner projects like LayerZero and MilkyWay were also targeted, rewarding cross-chain contributions.
• 📈 The Key Point! Strategy and Results By involving not only its own testnet users but also users from related ecosystems, it formed a diverse and high-quality community from day one. It was also listed on Binance Launchpool, gathering significant anticipation before its launch.

• 💡 What kind of project? A leading restaking protocol on Solana, often called the EigenLayer of Solana. It allows users to earn additional yield by restaking their SOL.
• 💰 Airdrop Overview
  • Date: February 11, 2025
  • Scale: 12% of the total supply distributed to over 250,000 people
• 🎯 How could you get it? The strategy was simple. Users who restaked SOL on the protocol were rewarded based on the amount and duration. There was also a surprise drop for Binance users.
• 📈 The Key Point! Strategy and Results A very straightforward, classic strategy of "rewarding the users who support the core service." The partnership with Binance helped reach a wide audience, but the price fell sharply after launch. This showed that an airdrop can be a catalyst for user acquisition but also a source of significant market selling pressure.

• 💡 What kind of project? A security-focused ZK-rollup that features AI-powered "sequencer-level security." It preemptively blocks malicious transactions.
• 💰 Airdrop Overview
  • Date: June 3, 2025 (Binance Alpha)
  • Scale: 21% of the total supply to the community
• 🎯 How could you get it? The main method was a staking program that attracted over $3 billion. But the most notable part was the "Fairdrop" for EigenLayer (EIGEN) holders. In a revolutionary move, it distributed an equal amount of ZRC to everyone, regardless of how much EIGEN they held.
• 📈 The Key Point! Strategy and Results It secured immense liquidity through staking while capturing the hearts of the community with a fair distribution via the "Fairdrop." It was a brilliant marketing strategy that earned a lot of positive feedback and became one of the defining strategies of 2025.

• 💡 What kind of project? A privacy-preserving network with "blind computing" technology that allows computation on encrypted data. It aims to become the foundational privacy layer for Web3.
• 💰 Airdrop Overview
  • Date: From February 3, 2025
  • Scale: Estimated $54.5 million (approx. ¥8.2 billion)
• 🎯 How could you get it? The target was crystal clear. Prioritizing "quality over quantity," it rewarded users who were deeply involved technically, such as Discord contributors, GitHub developers, and testnet operators.
• 📈 The Key Point! Strategy and Results An advanced strategy of solidifying a core group of experts who truly understand and can contribute to the project's value, rather than distributing to everyone. It succeeded in filtering out short-term farmers and forming a strong community of long-term believers.

• 💡 What kind of project? A major Layer 2 scaling solution for Ethereum. It uses STARK technology to enable high-speed, low-cost transactions.
• 💰 Airdrop Overview
  • Date: Starting July 1, 2025 (DeFi Spring 2.0)
  • Scale: A total budget of 90 million STRK (approx. ¥13.5 billion)
• 🎯 How could you get it? Not a one-time drop, but a continuous campaign called "DeFi Spring." You can continuously receive STRK by providing liquidity to or using services on participating DeFi protocols (like DEXs).
• 📈 The Key Point! Strategy and Results A highly innovative model that prevents "farm and dump" behavior. It gives users a reason to stay in the ecosystem and encourages sustainable growth. It's a prime example of airdrops evolving from a simple user acquisition tool to an "ecosystem development grant."

• 💡 What kind of project? Farcaster is a decentralized social network protocol. DEGEN is a memecoin born on it that exploded in popularity as a currency for "tipping" between users.
• 💰 Airdrop Overview
  • Date: Continued through the first half of 2025
  • Scale: 70% of the total supply for airdrops
• 🎯 How could you get it? The mechanism is brilliant! ① Farcaster users get a daily "allowance" for tipping others. ② They tip interesting posts by commenting something like "420 $DEGEN." ③ The person who receives the tip is the one who actually earns the DEGEN tokens.
• 📈 The Key Point! Strategy and Results This is a genius growth hack. To get tokens, you have to create good content. And to give away your allowance, you have to check out other people's content. This mechanism created a vibrant, interactive economy within Farcaster and demonstrated a new potential for SocialFi.

• 💡 What kind of project? A massive Web3 social platform boasting over 55 million users. It merges financial services with social networking.
• 💰 Airdrop Overview
  • Date: Snapshot on July 14, 2025
  • Scale: A dynamic model linked to growth
• 🎯 How could you get it? The strategy was incredibly precise. It targeted the four groups that contribute most to growth:
  1. Influencers: People who promote the project
  2. PayFi Early Adopters: People who use the payment card
  3. NFT Holders: Premium members
  4. Partner Contributors: People who expand the ecosystem
• 📈 The Key Point! Strategy and Results Instead of distributing to the masses, it directly incentivized the core drivers of business growth: "promotion," "product use," "community," and "partnerships." This is a masterful example of a targeted growth strategy that uses tokens most efficiently.

• 💡 What kind of project? A foundational interoperability protocol that connects different blockchains. It's the infrastructure of the multi-chain world.
• 💰 Airdrop Overview
  • Date: Conducted in 2024, but its strategy had a huge impact in 2025
  • Scale: One of the most anticipated events of the first half of 2025
• 🎯 How could you get it? In addition to protocol usage, a historic "Sybil filtering" process was conducted.
  1. Self-Reporting: If farmers came forward, 15% of their reward was guaranteed.
  2. Bounty Hunting: The community could earn a bounty for reporting farmers.
  3. Internal Analysis: A final sweep by the LayerZero team.
• 📈 The Key Point! Strategy and Results LayerZero's strategy was a game-changer in airdrop history. The self-reporting system, based on game theory, created a rift in the farmer community and permanently changed the standard for "what is a fair distribution." After this, almost every project had to consider the LayerZero model.

Analyzing the fierce battles of the first half of 2025 has revealed a "new playbook" for seizing future opportunities.

1. "Diversify" Your Activities! Both On-Chain and Off-Chain Are Your Battlefields Just making transactions isn't enough. Comprehensive engagement with a project—like speaking in Discord, cheering on X (Twitter), participating in governance votes, and minting commemorative NFTs—is what gets rewarded. You are no longer just an address, but a "community member" with a personality.
2. Act Like a "Genuine User," Not a "Farmer" Projects can easily spot unnatural behavior. Don't act like a robot repeating a single task. Try out various dApp features, bridge a reasonable amount of funds, and provide liquidity for a few days—act like a user who is genuinely using the product.
3. Capital Is King, But Time Is Queen 👑 Large amounts of capital still have an advantage in many situations, like with staking points. However, the "marathon strategy" of engaging consistently over a long period, even with small amounts, can often yield significant rewards. Perseverance is your greatest weapon.
4. Manage Your Post-Airdrop Risk Claiming your tokens is the new starting line. What's the token's FDV (Fully Diluted Value)? When are the team and investor unlocks? Make a plan. Initial prices are often unsustainable. Taking some profit from your "free" assets to manage risk is a very wise strategy.

In 2025, the world of airdrops has evolved into a more complex and rewarding frontier. Only those who understand these new rules and act wisely will be able to ride the next big wave. Good luck!