The inequity of the protocols that manage "points" airdrops is reaching embarrassing levels. In recent weeks there have been several embarrassing releases:
1) Corn
2) KelpDAO/KernelDAO
3) Stakestone
4) Layer3 (S2)
Corn was released randomly and the team that sold before the airdrop distribution (for the few users who had received it). Many users were excluded even if they had deposited on the platform. Incredibly this Liquid Staking (BTC) platform had also given away 4.8M points to a list of active users in DeFi, too bad that even after the deposit and use of the platform, they were then excluded from the airdrop. One of the most embarrassing airdrops ever.
Even the Stakestone team dumped before the claim. The protocol rewarded pretty much everyone with 20 $Stone (at the time of listing they were worth about $1, but there were $1.30 claim fees on BNB Chain. Claim fee + gas fee! Basically $1 of Stone paying $1.50 fee). Then the $Stone increased based on the deposit but not much. I made the claim on only 1 address!
KelpDAO/KernelDAO has set a minimum eligibility requirement of 150 points, but in the range between 150 and 2100 points everyone received 100 $Kernel (basically if you used 0.04 $ETH or 0.60 $ETH it was the same thing. Distribution tiers are great choices for decentralizing a 'drop, but such a large range with a small amount is a clever trick). After 2100 points, the distribution was linear but quite random (not proportional to liquidity).
Is the meta airdrop over? No, but point protocols, especially Liquid Staking/Restaking, are not great deals. You give up a portion of your income (APY) in exchange for points, which very often leads to unfair airdrops.
Imagine staking your ETH at 6% but the protocol gives you 4%+points. You are giving up 2% in exchange for points that you don't know what they will bring you (very often for scam releases or crumbs).
Let me give you another example: Linea XP (for LP), not LXP (quests). There are no attractive returns on Linea: APY on stablecoins less than 1% and on ETH less than 2%. You are giving up part of your APY or income on other chains...in exchange for Linea XP!
ANOTHER RED FLAG
Finally I wanted to write my thoughts on expensive badges/NFT that simply turn out to be "cash grabs". This is the case of Scroll and Soneium (Sony Layer2) but also of the cubes of Layer3 (protagonist of an embarrassing release). Keep in mind that a protocol that creates inorganic traffic (NFT/Badge mint) will never repay you for the money you are spending. Why should it? If it is making you spend your $ETH why should it then give them back to you with airdrop? It makes no sense. It is a trick similar to "send 1 ETH and I will send you 2 ETH".
FINAL CONSIDERATIONS
As you know, I am a great airdrop hunter, there is nothing more profitable in the world in terms of risk/reward and time/reward ratio. Airdrops are lifechangers. However, I am honest and if there is something I do not like I have no problem saying it: I hope that the points narrative ends soon!
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