Airdrop

An airdrop is a free distribution of tokens to a set of wallet addresses, usually to reward early users or spread ownership of a new project. It matters because it can turn ordinary activity like swapping tokens or testing an app into a payout, though it also invites bots and requires care with scam links. For example, in September 2020 Uniswap gave 400 UNI tokens to every address that had used the protocol before that date, worth several thousand dollars at the time. Airdrops can be announced ahead of time or dropped as a surprise after the fact, and eligibility rules vary widely between projects.