Ethereum’s Layer 2 network, Scroll, just announced its SCR token in a much-anticipated airdrop, but some beneficiaries are clearly lamenting the event.
According to the team’s blog post, the project’s first airdrop distributed 5.5% of SCR’s total supply (55 million out of 1 billion tokens) to early users who had already contributed to the ecosystem.
Of this, 40 million SCRs were awarded to on-chain participants who earned 200 or more scroll marks (points from using the Layer 2 scaling network). An additional 1% will be distributed equally among eligible wallets, and an additional 0.5% is intended as a “bonus” for those who meet the selection criteria, Scroll said in the announcement.
But some users aren’t happy, and Crypto Twitter (aka
“One of the worst airdrops in history,” pseudonymous tweeter and Ethereum user DYOR.eth claimed to have retired his tokens and abandoned Scroll completely. Twitter user Josie, who has amassed a sizable following for her posts about upcoming airdrops, called it “the worst airdrop ever.” Other tweets mocked claims about the expected size and value of the Scroll airdrop.
New projects use airdrops to attract users by distributing free tokens or coins in hopes of growing the community and rewarding early users and contributors.
However, some users try to maximize their rewards by using many different wallet addresses or repeating certain tasks or activities that seem to increase their token allocation. The practice of “farming” has become more common.
Some of these users and farmers are dissatisfied with the fact that they received small amounts of cryptocurrencies in airdrops despite being part of the project’s community. Players of Hamster Kombat, a Telegram-based tap-to-earn game, had exactly the same complaints when the game began its long-awaited airdrop in September. Some described the modest reward as being similar to “dust.”
Subsequently, the value of SCR tokens plummeted after the airdrop. According to data from CoinGecko, SCR has fallen 16% since the airdrop, with the price dropping to $1.17. This is common for newly launched tokens and can be very volatile, especially as airdrop recipients may cash out and traders may buy in the confusion.
Scroll did not immediately respond to Decrypt’s questions about Airdrop.
Scroll is one of the many Ethereum layer 2 networks. Such networks are used to improve the functionality of the chain by essentially piggybacking on the security of the main network, typically offering benefits such as cheaper and faster transactions.
Ethereum is the blockchain behind ETH, the second largest cryptocurrency, but the network can be difficult to use at peak times as transactions can be slow and expensive. Layer 2 networks have exploded in popularity recently, with some industry observers believing they are sucking value out of ETH itself, despite its other benefits.
Edited by Andrew Hayward
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