At some point way back in the early part of the Internet Crypto history there is rumored to have been a Bitcoin faucet that gave out 5 BTC or something similar. Obviously early on, even before BTC became useful for buying pizzas, this was probably when BTC was still pretty much an odd idea and concept only a few programmers knew anything about. In any case, that singular first offer launched what has since become a cultural phenomenon for bottom-dwellers, first-time entries into crypto, and basically anyone looking for a freebie and assuming it will come string unattached. It's also a thing of the past.
Faucets Today are Anything But...
Today's crypto faucets are pretty much one of three categories: advertisement-laden minefields, login setups that you have to join by providing information and then clicking tasks to win the faucet payout, or hacks painted as faucets that load malware or adware into your computer on a click. Even many of the the smaller no-name tokens and alt-coins are falling victim to the same, mainly because the amount of money made off of the advertising far outweighs any other option on how to run the site. Additionally, the amount of contributions people get running a viable faucet are minimal, so the owners need something else to generate the income needed to keep the faucet going. After, the crypto doesn't create itself (in most cases).
Why Bother vs Social Media?
In practice, there are other options that pay a lot better in terms of free crypto versus faucets. Social media platforms, particularly Discord and Telegram work far better and pay far more for regular visitors than anything on a faucet web page. Again, the model is the same, the free crypto is used as a teaser to bring people in and get them involved with a given project. That said, real air drops and freebies are far more common, and one can easily make a few dollars a week just regularly frequenting various channels daily.
More importantly, being part of the communities gives a person a chance to get in on the beginning of new projects, which typically tends to be the best opportunity for not only participating completely but also making a sizable amount of gain on any assets obtained as the first in line for that same project too, especially with NFT launches.
Give Up on the Past, Focus on Involvement for the Future
A good amount of faucets or giveaways or blabber about drops are bombarding Twitter at the moment, especially due to the fact that it's airdrop season in general with a few big coins in general. The urge to find free crypto is easily capturing lots of "fish," especially given the fact that there hasn't been much of anything for a while during the last few years of a crypto winter. The fact is, 99% of the Twitter chatter is essentially phishing or wallet trap scams. Instead of looking for a quick listing of ready faucets that don't exist anymore, get involved with project groups. It will save your wallet and, due to many of the platforms, give you a defense between your wallet and the party providing the drop in the first place. So, if you do end up clicking the wrong thing, it's only your platform wallet and not your primary crypto vault.
