Category: Airdrop

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Airdrop ETFs NFTs Regulation

VanEck Community Airdrop ‘NFT to Function Like a Digital Membership Card’

US asset management firm VanEck has announced that the first NFT of its upcoming collection is set to be launched and delivered via Airdrop. The collection will follow “Hammy” (Alexander Hamilton, the first US Treasury Secretary) and his journey through monetary policy’s past, present and future.

265 Alexander Hamilton Ten Dollar Bill Photos - Free ... https://www.dreamstime.com/photos-images/alexander-hamilton-ten-dollar-bill.html
US monetary policy pioneer Alexander Hamilton set to become an NFT.

For the first 1,000 of those who signed up for the project, the initial Airdrop takes place this week. At the end of the month, each purchased NFT will transform into a unique avatar that permits exclusive access to content produced by VanEck.

https://www.linkedin.com/in/mattbartlett1/overlay/photo/

The use of this NFT allows us to build an exclusive community where members who hold said NFT are invited to experiences and events where they can network with like-minded investors and crypto enthusiasts.

Matthew Bartlett, internal sales manager, VanEck

The major selling point of the collection will be the exclusive access it grants to in-person and digital events. It is intended to be an “NFT [that] functions as a digital membership card”, with the collection split into three tiers – common, rare, and legendary, with the latter tier having only 20 NFTs in circulation. The higher your NFT’s ranking, the more exclusive benefits will be available to you.  

Airdrops Gain Traction

Airdropping is now a popular method of dispensing crypto and NFTs to users. Last month, Ethereum scaling solution Optimism announced plans to utilise Airdrop to help its new token, OP, take off. It plans to feature several more Airdrop-based events, the next scheduled for a yet-to-be-announced date in Q2.

In other recent, less positive news regarding VanEck, November 2021 saw its rejection by the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) regarding ETF manipulation concerns. VanEck’s application for the Bitcoin ETF was denied as the fund allegedly did not meet its burden under the Exchange Act and the SEC’s Rules of Practice.

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Airdrop Metaverse NFTs Tokens

Controversial Pudgy Penguins NFT Collection Sold for 750 ETH

The Pudgy Penguins NFT collection has sold for 750 ETH (US$2.6 million), separating its inherent cuteness from its controversial roots. LA-based entrepreneur Luca Netz, of Netz Capital, is now leading the project and plans to use it to “spread love across the Meta”:  

Pudgy Penguins Eye the Future

Netz has purchased full control of the collection – totalling 8,888 Pudgy Penguins – from the four original co-founders, alongside future royalties. Full ownership of the project means that Pudgy Penguins can now release its own token, $PENGU, and investigate the option of potential airdrops to existing penguin holders:

This follows the ousting of the founders via a January Discord vote over their failure to meet project goals. Co-founder ColeThereum had promised a game, an educational book, and a token, all of which the project failed to deliver. With turmoil behind the scenes and threats issued regarding the project, controversy had been rife within the community.

The sale of Pudgy Penguins will offer a fresh start for the collection. While the originators will no longer be a part of the project, they acknowledge that Netz has the connections and experience to level up the collection in the future.

NFT Controversies and Acquisitions

Pudgy Penguins isn’t the only collection with a controversial history. In February, YouTube ‘Internet Detective’ CoffeeZilla helped to expose a US$20 million crypto scam. Thanks to the joint efforts of CoffeeZilla and the NFT community, the ‘Squiggles’ project was foiled before it came to pass.

In other big acquisition news, last month the creators behind Bored Ape Yacht Club (BAYC) purchased CryptoPunks – another highly successful NFT collection. Yuga Labs now owns the IP and commercial rights to BAYC, and the company’s first move after doing so was to give full commercial rights to NFT holders.

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Airdrop APENFT Bored Ape Yacht Club Crypto News Cryptocurrencies DAO NFTs Tokens

ApeCoin Surges and Then Dives 80% On Its Debut Trading Day

After Bored Ape Yacht Club (BAYC) holders received an airdrop of the new ApeCoin (APE) this week, it was promptly sold off with the token dropping significantly as a result.

On March 17, ApeDAO launched the new ApeCoin linked to BAYC, one of the most valuable non-fungible token (NFT) projects in the space. The launch had a bit of a rough start after the APE token fell nearly 80 per cent in the first few trading hours, though it now seems to be steadily climbing as the accumulation phase starts for those who couldn’t get the coins for the airdrop.

ApeCoin/USD price chart. Source: CoinMarketCap

The token fell from its high of US$39.40 to a relatively stable $14.75 at the time of writing. At one stage, the coin was trading for as low as $6.48, according to CoinMarketCap. The total market cap for the token now sits at around US$4 billion, making it the 33rd-largest coin on the day of its launch.

APE was airdropped to BYAC NFT holders after the announcement that it was part of a new campaign by ApeDAO. Each holder received 10,000 coins that could be collected for a 90-day period, but users quickly sold their coins, pushing the price down considerably.

ApeCoin Airdrop Follows Familiar Pattern

If previous airdrops are anything to go by, this one might just be following a similar pattern, according to Braindrops’ co-founder, who attributes its classic price movement to a large release of tokens. This, however, remains to be proved:

According to its official website, the coin will serve as “a decentralised protocol layer for community-led initiatives that drive culture forward into the metaverse”. The token was developed by ApeCoinDAO, a different entity from Yuga Labs – the creators of BAYC – and has some heavy hitters, such as the co-founder of Reddit and the Head of Ventures and Gaming at FTX, sitting on its advisory board.

Is Coin Launch Helping the Project?

When looking at the marketplace, a consequence of the asset’s launch could have helped the average price of the BAYC collection. The project floor price rose significantly across the past seven days from 76.11 ETH on March 11, with a total volume of 913 ETH, to an average price of 110.15 ETH and a volume of 9,583 ETH in the hours following the launch.

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Airdrop Blockchain Cosmos Crypto Wallets DeFi

Users Left Fuming After Evmos’ Cosmos Cross Chain Fails to Launch

Evmos, a layer-1 blockchain compatible with EVM (Ethereum Virtual Machine) built on Cosmos, is facing a community backlash after the protocol failed to launch this week due to numerous bugs found on the network.

The launch of the Evmos mainnet, which came with a rather ambitious token airdrop, was highly anticipated by the Cosmos and Ethereum communities as it allowed cross-chain transfer between the two blockchains.

Critical Security Bug Halts Network

But it seems the launch was riddled with gremlins. Two days before the launch, a “critical security bug” was found on the network, which rushed validators to implement a fix improperly and subsequently caused a network halt:

Users were reporting problems related to hardware and software wallet integrations, which were apparently higher than the network was able to handle. On top of this, some users were claiming a “lack of organisation” and numerous delays surrounding the launch of the mainnet:

The team behind Evmos said developers and validators were reportedly still working on the matter and unable to reach a consensus on the next steps for the protocol.

Launch Suspended Till Further Notice

The backlash forced the Evmos team to suspend the launch for an undetermined number of days to address the community’s concerns, and that the network would be reviewed internally via a postmortem:

Evmos Responds to Backlash

While the community backlash was rather harsh for Evmos, some other users were supportive of the response from the Evmos team to handle the issues and give clarity to its community.

Some other DeFi projects are the opposite, however. Such was the case in January with the cross-chain bridge Multichain when it lost over US$3 million through a security hack. The protocol was sending “mixed messages”, stating the issue had been fixed, but it later reminded users to revoke approvals of the token.

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Airdrop Crypto News Russia Scams

Ukraine Update: Over $56 Million in Donations, Airdrop Cancelled and Scams Aplenty

Over US$56 million in crypto donations have now been sent to support Ukraine in its ongoing conflict with Russia. This milestone comes amid the cancellation of a planned airdrop from the Ukrainian government and a spate of scams looking to capitalise on the crypto community’s generosity.

Crypto Generosity Providing Crucial Aid

According to the blockchain analytics platform Elliptic, over 100,000 separate donations have been made to the Ukraine government and supporting NGOs since the start of the conflict, totalling just over US$56 million. This is over 50 percent up from the US$37 million figure reported by Crypto News Australia reported just a few days ago.

The donations are made up of a variety of cryptocurrencies. Elliptic lists the approximate breakdown as:

  • 31.2 percent Bitcoin;
  • 33.7 percent Ethereum;
  • 17 percent stablecoins;
  • 14.5 percent Polkadot; and
  • 3.6 percent other crypto.

In addition to crypto donations from individual users, UkraineDAO auctioned off a Ukrainian flag NFT for US$6.5 million worth of Ethereum, proceeds of which will go to the NGO Come Back Alive.

Government Airdrop Cancelled Amid Spoof

A planned Ukrainian government airdrop – designed to reward users who had donated to the Ukrainian cause – was cancelled after the Peaceful World token (WORLD) was identified as a spoof of the official Ukrainian government airdrop:

The Ukrainian government decided to abandon its airdrop to avoid exposing users to potential phishing scams and spam attacks:

Scammers Seek to Take Advantage

Amid the wave of generosity, scammers have sought to take advantage by duping well-intentioned users into donating crypto to addresses not associated with the Ukrainian government or any registered NGOs.

A range of Ukrainian crypto scams have been reported, including phishing emails purporting to be from the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, fake websites, and dodgy forum posts. 

Malware Hunter Team has reported a rapid increase in phishing websites with domains such as “Ukraine-donate” and “Ukraineglobalaid” since the start of the conflict.

To avoid falling victim to a donation scam and to ensure your funds go where you intend, it is recommended you only donate to wallet addresses released by officials from the Ukrainian government or supporting NGOs.

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Airdrop DeFi Markets NFTs Tokens

New NFT Marketplace X2Y2 DeFi Token Up 225% Despite Bumpy Start   

X2Y2, a new non-fungible token (NFT) marketplace, has seen its token soar 225 percent after launching a ‘vampire attack’ airdrop to attract users from OpenSea.

Following technical difficulties with the drop, the community has had some negative reactions to the way it was handled.

On February 16, X2Y2 launched its Ethereum-based NFT trading platform aiming to rival leading NFT marketplace OpenSea. In also launching a vampire attack airdrop, users from OpenSea who had spent more on their collections were eligible for more rewards and were thus lured away from the top platform.

To be eligible for the drop, users needed to have listed their NFTs on the X2Y2 marketplace:

A vampire attack is a strategic move from new marketplaces to airdrop their coins to users after they complete a set of requirements that increase attraction to their platform.

Since its launch, the X2Y2 token pumped 225 percent but is now trading at lower than its launch price:

X2Y2 price performance. Source: CoinMarketCap

Troubles with the Airdrop Cause Delay

X2Y2’s launch went through a bumpy start after some technical problems with claiming tokens stopped the airdrop for a few hours:

During this time, users criticised the platform’s decision to pause the airdrop, which could have alleviated downward pressure on the X2Y2 price. One user commented: “You have fixed the problems but you don’t resume the airdrop right away? It’s not a good look to wait around for more people to buy in to increase the price before they get dumped on prior to resuming the claiming.”

The project planned to hand out 120 million tokens, but on the day of the launch only 7 percent had been claimed before the airdrop went offline, with users who had already claimed tokens allowed to stake at a massive APY:

X2Y2 is not the only upstart NFT platform launched to challenge OpenSea. Last month, in another example of a vampire attack, LooksRare pitched its LOOKS token to reward users of the platform and hopefully attract existing users from OpenSea.

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Airdrop Crypto News Ethereum Giveaways NFTs Tokens

OpenSea Users Can Claim a Free Airdrop of SOS Tokens

SOS, an airdrop from OpenDAO distributed to people who have spent money on OpenSea transactions, has surged 1,000 percent in two days as a result.

Although OpenDAO is not affiliated with non-fungible token (NFT) marketplace OpenSea, any user who has ever spent money on OpenSea could claim the Ethereum token SOS, with the amount determined by exactly how much users have spent.

Up to 240,000 Users Claim SOS Token

Since Christmas Eve, the popularity of the project has led to about 240,000 people claiming the SOS token, which pushed its value up 1,000 percent.

Tokens were dropped by OpenDAO, an independent decentralised autonomous organisation (DAO) that has pledged to use some of the tokens it had earmarked for itself to compensate users of OpenSea for past scams, and to support the ever-growing NFT industry.

On Christmas Day, SOS was the largest gainer on CoinMarketCap, and by Boxing Day the token had risen to a market cap of US$321 million. The project’s Discord had about 50,000 members, and 100,000 people were following OpenDAO’s Twitter account.

How to Claim Your SOS

The more a person has traded, the more tokens that person is able to claim. OpenDAO calculates how many tokens are allocated based on transactions conducted prior to December 23. Any OpenSea transactions concluded after that date would not factor in the calculation.

For a short tutorial on the claims process, watch this informative video on YouTube:

OpenSea Thrives Following a Flurry of Issues

Amid the NFT boom, OpenSea appears to be thriving despite experiencing some issues. Earlier in 2021, the marketplace managed to raise US$23 million in a Series A round of funding to scale its NFT marketplace. Following a significant period of growth in the NFT market, OpenSea started experiencing some issues during September. Early that month, a bug was found on the marketplace that destroyed at least 42 NFTs worth around US$100,000.

Just a week later, OpenSea’s product lead Nate Chastain was accused of insider trading of NFTs promoted on the front page of the platform. The allegations were confirmed by the OpenSea team, and Chastain has since resigned from his position.

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Airdrop Crypto News Hackers NFTs Solana

Twitch Co-Founder’s NFT Drop Went Badly, Users Lose $154,000 in Discord Scam

Fractal, a Solana-based NFT marketplace created by Twitch co-founder Justin Kan, has lost roughly US$150,000 worth of SOL after suffering a security breach this week.

Ahead of its debut, Fractal had around 100,000 users on its platform waiting for the NFT airdrop, but someone managed to hack the startup’s Discord channel, specifically the announcement bot, causing it to send out fraudulent links to a website that used the ‘i’ instead of an ‘l’, as in “Fractai” – prompting them to pay for non-existent NFTs.

Kan acknowledged the situation on Twitter, urging users to not follow any link in the Discord channel.

On the other hand, Fractal said it was working to “make things right” and will reportedly reimburse affected users.

Discord Scams on the Rise

Fractal users can only be patient and hope to be reimbursed sometime soon. Some protocols have had to reimburse their users after their platforms were attacked – such was the case with Animoca, which had to repay users 265 ETH after its Discord channel was hacked last month.

A few hours prior to the Fractal incident, another Solana-based project was hacked for over 1.3 million worth of SOL. The project, called Monkey Kingdom, suffered a similar security breach on Discord.

One of the biggest and most frustrating rugs for the Solana community occurred in October when an alleged 17-year-old artist promised to deliver 8000 NFT artworks on the project’s Discord channel but failed to deliver and instead absconded with US$500,000 worth of investors’ funds.

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Airdrop Crypto News Gaming Tokens

Axie Infinity’s AXS Token up 100% After Launching Staking Rewards Feature

Axie Infinity’s ASX token has reached all-time highs of above US$135 following a huge airdrop to early supporters and the launch of a new staking service, where holders saw returns of up to 385 percent APY for staking their tokens.

The team behind Axie Infinity’s monster-battler NFT game airdropped US$60 million to early users and sales of the NFTs for the game also saw 50 percent gains.

Axie Infinity (AXS) is a blockchain-based battle game that has become insanely popular this year as gamers embrace play-to-earn (P2E) gaming models. The Axie project’s monthly users peaked in weekly volume in August at US$220 million.

Axie Infinity is Also Planning to Launch a DEX

Axie Infinity is set to release its own decentralised exchange, bridging the gaming world with DeFi. The new DEX, to be built on Ronin, an Ethereum-linked sidechain purpose-built for Axie Infinity, will facilitate users to trade tokens within the Axie ecosystem without having to move their tokens off the platform.

Investors in Axie Infinity, which received US$7.6 million in its last funding round, include the likes of billionaire entrepreneur Mark Cuban. In the three-month period since June, AXS gained a stellar 934.35 percent against the US dollar and 840.61 percent against bitcoin. 

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Airdrop Blockchain Crypto Art Crypto News NFTs

DC Comics Set to Drop Free NFTs at FanDome Online Event

American publisher DC Comics has officially dipped its toe into the non-fungible token (NFT) space along with Marvel and other major names in the entertainment industry.

The major competitor to Marvel has officially stepped into the blockchain space with the drop of its first collection of NFTs on October 16. The DC FanDome 2021 streaming event will be the key to the free drop for those registering for the event from October 5.

According to the announcement, DC publisher and chief creative officer Jim Lee “hand-selected” the artwork used for each collectible. Featuring superheroes Batman, Superman, Wonder Woman and more, the premier drop offers fans the opportunity to collect one of three covers for each character in three levels of rarity.

Registrants will also have the ability to unlock a second, free NFT by sharing the event on social media.

DC FanDome NFT drop.

Fans Want More Access and a Deeper Connection

As more major names in the entertainment industry join the blockchain revolution, it is becoming apparent that fans want more access and a deeper connection to their favourite publishers and brands.

This drop pays homage to our 87-year history while visualising a future in which NFTs play a foundational role in novel ways of interacting with DC content and unlocking new experiences.

Jim Lee, DC publisher and chief creative officer

DC’s FanDome 2020 streaming event pulled in a reported 22 million viewers to learn about the brand’s upcoming comic books, movies, TV shows and video games. By adding the NFT experience, the publisher is aiming to draw in even more viewers and spread the word about the stream.

Given the size of the viewer base for last year’s streaming event, DC suggests that this will very likely be “one of the largest NFT drops ever”, according to Palm NFT.

This news comes one month after Marvel also dropped its first NFT collection on VeVe NFT marketplace.

DC Using Palm NFT Marketplace

DC has partnered with Palm NFT to create its new line of NFTs for the entertainment company that helped shape today’s fan culture. By using sustainable NFT initiatives, DC says it is trying to redefine the industry by giving fans unprecedented access, and the ability to own and be a part of the future of DC digital collectibles.

https://twitter.com/PalmNft/status/1443263377573298193

It’s immensely rewarding to work with a partner like DC who understands that blockchain is more than a technology – it’s a sustainable storytelling tool that can reshape the relationship between creators and fans.

Dan Heyman, Palm NFT co-founder