5 Powerful Strategies to Maximize Your Airdrop Rewards

Introduction

Sonic, the revamped high-performance EVM Layer 1 from Fantom, has emerged as a major player in the blockchain ecosystem. Recently surpassing the $1 billion TVL mark, Sonic is quickly approaching the top 10 chains by total value locked. Unlike most blockchains in the top 20, Sonic has experienced an impressive 118% TVL growth in the past month, joining only Berachain and Sei in positive growth territory according to DeFiLlama.

DeFi enthusiasts and airdrop hunters are particularly drawn to Sonic for three compelling reasons: the massive 190.5 million S tokens allocated to its airdrop, the lucrative yield opportunities, and feeVM which distributes 90% of gas fees to applications rather than MEV and validators—creating powerful incentives for ecosystem growth that benefit both developers and users.

As well as the reasons stated above, there’s also a cult following of Fantom’s technical advisor Andre Cronje. As a major figurehead in the DeFi ecosystem, Cronje is responsible for launching popular yield aggregator Yearn and introducing the ve(3,3) primitive, which has seen success with Velodrome and Aerodrome’s implementation. Cronje has now turned his focus to Sonic to introduce new financial primitives and innovations to the Sonic chain, with one such upcoming project being flying tulip – a new kind of decentralized exchange with leveraged liquidity to benefit LPs. With more innovations on the horizon, crypto participants are eagerly anticipating new protocols to interact with on Sonic.

With substantial tokens already in circulation and minimal future dilution from insider unlocks, farming Sonic points represents one of today’s most attractive airdrop opportunities. The first season of the Sonic points campaign concludes in June 2025, coinciding with the first airdrop becoming claimable. Points will be distributed across multiple seasons.

How to Earn Sonic Points

Points can be earned through three primary methods:

1. Passive points by holding whitelisted assets in your wallet.
2. Activity points by deploying whitelisted assets as liquidity on participating apps.
3. Sonic gems which are developer-focused airdrop points redeemable for S tokens, distributed at each dApp’s discretion.

The highest multiplier of 6x for whitelisted assets apply to scUSD, stkscUSD, and wstkscUSD:

• scUSD: A stablecoin that’s mintable via Rings protocol without fees using stablecoins or ETH-based tokens on Ethereum or Sonic. Your deposited collateral generates yield from blue-chip protocols on Ethereum through Veda’s vaults.
• stksdUSD: Staked version of scUSD where yield is paid directly to you.
• wstksdUSD: Wrapped version of stksdUSD for use in DeFi protocols.

Additional whitelisted assets include:

• USDC.e (5x multiplier)
• S, wS, stS, scETH, stkscETH, wstkscETH, scBTC, stkscBTC, and wstkscBTC (4x multiplier)
• WETH, LBTC, SolvBTC, SolvBTC.BBN, and x33 (2x multiplier)

The following 5 strategies will help you to earn activity points, while you can also farm Sonic points by interacting with projects that have been allocated Gems as Sonic BOOM winners. The Emerald tier projects will receive the largest allocations of Gems, so it is recommended to interact with these projects for additional points.

Strategy 1: Looping on Aave for Maximum Points Yield

One of the most straightforward ways to earn Sonic points is through looping on Aave’s money markets. Looping involves leveraged borrowing—you deposit USDC.e to earn 10x Sonic points, then borrow USDC.e against your deposit and redeposit those borrowed funds to increase your points-earning exposure.

For example, with 500 USDC.e deposited, you can borrow up to 400 USDC.e. By borrowing 250 USDC.e (creating a 0.50 loan-to-value ratio), then depositing that amount, your total deposit becomes 750 USDC.e while maintaining a loan of 250 USDC.e (reducing the loan-to-value ratio to 0.33). You can then borrow an additional 150 USDC.e, bringing the loan-to-value ratio to approximately 0.53, and continue the process.

Important: Always maintain your loan-to-value ratio well below the liquidation threshold of 0.75 to avoid liquidation risks. This strategy can double or triple your effective deposit, substantially increasing your Sonic points earnings compared to a simple deposit.

Strategy 2: Leverage BTCFi Options on Sonic

Sonic’s ecosystem allows you to farm points while maintaining exposure to your BTC holdings through various BTCFi options. If you’re bullish on BTC and prefer to HODL, consider these protocols:

Lombard Finance

• Deposit LBTC to Rings protocol and mint scBTC to earn DeFi yield, Rings Points, Veda Points, Sonic passive points, and 4x Sonic activity points
• Deposit LBTC or eBTC to the Lombard Bitcoin Sonic vault for 4x activity points, Lux points, Babylon Labs points, and Veda points
• Use LBTC on Silo Finance for 4x activity points, Silo points, and Lux points
• Provide LBTC or scBTC liquidity on Beets.fi (Lombard’s Orbit pool) for Lux points, 4x activity points, and partner rewards

Solv Protocol

• Stake BTC on BuildOnBob to mint SolvBTC.BBN and bridge to Sonic
• Deposit SolvBTC.BBN to Silo Finance for 2x activity points, Solv XP, Babylon points, and Silo points
• For leveraged strategies, borrow SolvBTC, bridge back, and repeat
• Alternatively, LP SolvBTC and scBTC on SwapXfi

WBTC holders can deposit into Rings Protocol to mint scBTC, earning DeFi yield, Rings Points, Veda Points, passive points, and 4x activity points. Staking scBTC to stkscBTC provides additional yield and points.

Strategy 3: Trade Pendle Yield Tokens for Leveraged Exposure

Pendle creates liquidity pools that split yield-generating tokens like wstkscUSD into principal tokens (PT) and yield tokens (YT):

• PT holders can redeem for underlying assets after maturity
• YT holders collect generated yield until maturity but have no claim on the underlying asset

For optimizing Sonic points, yield tokens offer leveraged exposure to both points and yield without liquidation risk. While YTs trend to zero at maturity, they provide the highest points-to-capital ratio.

For example, a $1,000 deposit in YT-wstkscUSD can increase your Sonic points exposure by 41x—essentially earning points as if you held $41,000 worth of stkscUSD. The value decreases as maturity approaches (May 29th), so monitor markets and exit before maturity to recover part of your deposit.

A lower-risk alternative is this delta-neutral setup:

1. Buy S tokens from Binance and withdraw to your wallet
2. Hedge via 1x short in the S-USD market on Hyperliquid
3. Stake S for OS on Origin Protocol
4. LP OS on Pendle for 52% APY including Pendle incentives and Sonic points

Strategy 4: Funding Rate Arbitrage on Vertex

Funding rate arbitrage allows you to farm Sonic points with zero price exposure. Perpetual contracts use funding rates to keep prices aligned with oracle (market) prices:

• Negative funding rate: Traders pay to hold short positions, incentivizing longs
• Positive funding rate: Traders pay to hold long positions, incentivizing shorts

By creating a delta-neutral position, you can earn funding payments while accumulating Sonic points:

1. Get 500 wS and deposit onto Vertex
2. Open a same-sized short position (500 S) on S-PERP
3. Execute as a taker order to earn rebates of up to 100% on fees paid

Vertex’s cross-margin feature allows leveraging this strategy:

1. Enable Margin Spot on wS-USDC
2. Buy 500 wS
3. Open a 500 S short position on S-PERP

Your account will have three balances:

• 1,000 wS
• 1,000 S-PERP (short)
• 300 USDC (negative balance = borrowed)

This process can be leveraged up to 20x, though higher leverage requires closer market monitoring to avoid liquidation. The strategy can also work with any perpetual DEX, such as providing liquidity for S/stS on Shadow while shorting S-USD on Hyperliquid or Vertex.

Strategy 5: Automate Trading & Farming with RussFi

RussFi is launching an AI yield agent that automatically invests idle assets into the highest-performing Sonic protocols using AI analysis. This passive approach optimizes both yield and Sonic points with minimal effort.

To get started:

1. Sign up here with Privy via email
2. Set your trading style based on risk tolerance
3. Add your account name
4. Fund the address (S tokens only)

Currently, you can interact with the bot to buy/sell tokens, get AI research insights, and launch tokens on S.fun. Once the AI yield agent launches, it will serve as a powerful tool for effortlessly earning activity points for the Sonic airdrop.

Conclusion

As Sonic continues its impressive growth trajectory, farming for the upcoming airdrop presents a significant opportunity for DeFi enthusiasts. The strategies outlined above—from simple looping on Aave to sophisticated funding rate arbitrage and AI-powered yield optimization—provide various risk-reward profiles to suit different investor preferences.

The most effective approach may combine multiple strategies based on your risk tolerance, capital availability, and time commitment. Looping on Aave offers simplicity, BTCFi options allow continued exposure to Bitcoin, Pendle yield tokens provide leveraged points without liquidation risk, funding rate arbitrage creates delta-neutral positions, and RussFi delivers automated optimization.

With the first airdrop distribution approaching in June 2025, now is the ideal time to establish and refine your Sonic points farming strategy. By understanding the multipliers, carefully managing positions, and selecting the right combination of protocols, you can maximize your potential rewards while participating in one of the fastest-growing blockchain ecosystems.