Where do airdrops come from? 3 key terms beginners should understand

In the community, it is often said to 'grab airdrops, interact, and brush the chain,' so what exactly is an airdrop?

An airdrop is essentially a way for project teams to attract attention and reward early users by distributing a portion of tokens for free to wallet addresses that meet certain criteria.

Common airdrop logic

You have genuinely used a specific chain or protocol

You have completed some actions: transferring, trading, providing liquidity, staking, etc.

The project team will later take a 'snapshot + scoring' based on your past behavior, and eligible addresses can claim tokens.

3 reminders for beginners:

1️⃣ Don’t just recklessly chase 'grabbing airdrops'

Some projects won’t distribute at all

Some projects distribute, but the tokens have no liquidity

2️⃣ Be aware of interaction costs and security

Gas fees, cross-chain bridge fees are real money

Be cautious of fake websites, fake contracts, and fake 'airdrop claiming portals' Sumsub

3️⃣ Treat airdrops as 'handy rewards,' not your main business

The core is still to learn and truly understand what the protocol is doing

The deeper your understanding, the easier it is to discern which ones are worth participating in and which are obviously fake.