2018 was the year of the crypto airdrops. While this phenomenon is in some sort of decline (it, of course, follows the global crypto trends), airdrops are still coming. Cryptocurrency airdrops are an efficient way of promoting the crypto project, building a community, and a great way of initial tokens distribution. Usually, projects are using these marketing methods to boost ICO results and to increase awareness of the project. Even if you have already participated in a bunch of airdrops it will be good to read our tips for safe airdrop participation.

Why be careful?

Scammers in the crypto world are everywhere. This is no news. You may ask a question if airdrops are free coins (tokens) what is there to be worried about? Well, technically, they are not free tokens. There is no free lunch. Blockchain projects are dropping coins for user actions, they want your attention, they want you to join their social media in most cases. And that takes time. One of our concurrent airdrop websites has made a scam airdrop to collect users on Telegram and Twitter, just to rename group/Twitter profile after it. You will not be happy to find that out, right. But more dangerous is when your data is compromised. That is when trouble can start.

1. Be aware of the KYC airdrops

Personal information on the dark web can be sold for $20 or more. Now you can see where scammers find motivation. In a combination of your wallet address that you have to provide, sharing this information can be very dangerous. You will have to do your research and validate if it is safe to do the KYC. In these kinds of airdrops is advisable to read whitepapers, check the team section on the website, find project reviews on the net and if there are no scam warnings make a decision if you want to do KYC. The danger is not only if the airdrop itself is a scam, but also with the data leak of the fully legit project.

2. Never share a private key

This is a common rule in the crypto world, but it is always worth to write it down. If you do not control private keys you do not control the wallet! Never share your private keys with anybody.

3. Create a new email address dedicated only to airdrops

Do not use your private email to participate in the airdrops. Create a new, dedicated email address that you will use only for airdrops. Pro tip will be to create email aliases for every new website you are registering to. For this, you will need to own a domain and have an email on it. For example, if you are registering to “Adobe” you will register with [email protected] You will not create that email address, but you will forward all emails coming to your domain to an actual email address.

4. Never use the same passwords for different website

This is a common rule in general, not only for crypto. Always use different passwords on the sites you are registering to. The best way is to use one of the free password managers. Encryptr is free and it is doing the job.

5. Create a new Ethereum address

Most of these projects are built on Ethereum (more than 90% of airdrops are on ETH). It is advisable to create a new Ethereum address that you will use only for airdrops. For most airdrops, you will need to provide your email and ETH address, and there is no need to share with everyone how much cryptos are you holding.

6. If it is not a holder airdrop, never pay for an airdrop

There are several types of airdrops. Sometimes you will need to hold a currency to automatically be dropped with tokens or coins. That is a legit and common procedure. But if you want to participate in a regular airdrop and someone from the project is asking you to buy tokens to participate in the airdrop just walk away.

7. DYOR!

Also, another common advice in the crypto. Most of the airdrop scams are easy to spot. Website is poorly built, missing info about the team, poorly written whitepapers, the project is not listed on ICO reviews sites (not most important, because now it is easy to buy a spot on most popular ICO review sites). If you are suspicious about the project search more, google it. Usually, on Bitcointalk you can find information with scam warnings with proofs.

That’s it, guys. Follow these tips and you will be safe while collecting sweet airdrop tokens.