In my hunt for potential upcoming airdrops, I recently stumbled upon the Sui Network in a handful of crypto-related publications listing their own speculations about airdrops. Sui Network recently launched their final testnet, and has a wide variety of projects building and interacting with the network. I found that it was easy to grab a Sui-compatible wallet (I use the official Sui Wallet) and start claiming my testnet $SUI (you can claim from within the wallet and through the official Sui Discord). Before too long, I had successfully snagged a handful of NFTs from a few platforms, and started staking some of my test tokens. All good starting activities for a potential airdrop, right?

Not so fast. As I started digging into the Sui ecosystem, I was surprised to find that official Sui social media profiles are vehemently denying that any airdrop is in the works:

In addition to the above tweet and a newer, rather exasperated reply from Adeniyi Abiodun (co-founder & CPO of Mysten Labs, the builder of Sui Network), I found that you can actually get the ban-hammer dropped on you for bringing up the idea of an 'airdrop' in the official Sui Discord server. From the Sui Discord FAQ channel:

So with this seemingly overwhelming evidence that Sui Network, in fact, has been clear that there is to be no airdrop - why are so many crypto enthusiasts and publications (such as CoinGecko and BoxMining) still predicting one? And why should users get involved in the testnet and other platforms with no hope of a reward in return for their time and efforts? Warning: I'm about to go into some wild speculations here, so that also means it's time for a...

Disclaimer: I am not a financial advisor. It's your responsibility to do extensive research and consult a professional before investing.

Speculation #1: Hopium

With such a large project on the eve of launching their mainnet, perhaps it's simply just too hard to believe that there won't be an airdrop for an ecosystem of this magnitude. More suspicious types might even wonder if the rallying against airdrops is a ploy by the Sui Network to stave off general airdrop hunters, and instead save whatever rewards might be coming down the line for users who are truly interested in the platform for its own merits.

Speculation #2: "Community Access Program" = Airdrop?

If you dive into Sui Network's documentation, you'll find various mentions of what they call their Community Access Program. In the SUI Token Allocation posting from this past December, Sui Network indicates that 6% of token allocation will be allotted to participants in the Community Access Program:

(Image source: sui.io.)

So what exactly is the Community Access Program? According to their website, it comprises five programs: developer grants, a SUI delegation program, an ambassador program, university outreach, and an educational program. To me, the last program seems the most likely to encompass testnet users who are extensively using the system and sharing their results with the Sui community specifically and the crypto community in general. But what do I know? Again, this is all me spit-ballin' here. (Sui has also posted a FAQ that goes into more details on some ways users can participate in the Community Access Program, including time-sensitive testing periods for specific apps. It sounds like more specific criteria for qualifying for the program is in the works, so perhaps we'll know more before the mainnet launches.)

Speculation #3: Who Needs SUI? We've Got NFTs and Project Tokens!

Many of the platforms and apps that I've interacted with on the Sui testnet so far are either for NFT creaters/platforms, or tokens built on the Sui network for specific projects. So even if we never see a $SUI airdrop specifically, there are currently many offers for NFTs or future project token airdrops built on the Sui network:

• Galxe has been offering a host of airdrop OATS for projects built on SUI. So while you're not technically interacting with the testnet directly while you're grabbing these on Galxe, there have been several OATS up for grabs offered by several projects on the Sui network that will deliver a share of various project tokens when the mainnet launches. I've recently grabbed OATS for future airdrops from Sui Ecosystem, Sui Whale, Betta, and Tocen so far. Of course, the potential worth of any token airdrop will only be known in due time, so it's up to you to (as always) DYOR.
• Tocen's launchpad has also been offering test NFTs via various IDOs and INOs using testnet $SUI. Since Tocen has also been offering OATs for future airdrops, I'm hoping there might be some other benefits/rewards for folks who are interacting with the Tocen platform during the testnet phase.
• Souffl3 is another NFT platform where I've been able to snag a test NFT on the Sui network. Like with Tocen, I'm hoping interacting with this platform will yield some benefit once the Sui mainnet arrives.
• I hope you're not tired of NFTs yet as there are two more NFT platforms I'm watching during the Sui testnet phase: BlueMove and Betta. I haven't been able to interact with either platform personally yet, but I'm hoping they (like the others listed above) might yield future airdrops or other rewards.
• Lastly, I'm keeping tabs on the investment platform SuiPad. SuiPad is launching their first campaign in the next few days, this one for Betta.

These are the projects I've been personally interested in over the last few weeks, but you can also peruse the Sui Directory to see an extensive list on a variety of projects that are building on the Sui network. Again, do your own research! :-)

Conclusion

So with all this in mind, what do you think? Will there still be a surprise airdrop for $SUI? Is the Sui Network just trying to avoid the word while essentially providing a similar reward? Or are you focusing on the projects and creators building on the Sui network for your potential airdrop windfall?

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Valdyr is a "crypto-curious" blogger living in Texas with her husband and their ancient dachshund, Henry. When she's not working as an audio/visual technician or stagehand, you'll frequently find her traveling, hiking or enjoying a good craft beer. For more reading, check out www.laurahofford.com/blog/