AirdropAlert Memories: How it All Started in 2017

In June 2017, when Bitcoin was experiencing its rollercoaster ride at $2,500, and Ethereum was sitting at around $200, the idea for AirdropAlert.com was born. Back then, the concept of crypto airdrops wasn’t as widespread as it is now. But let’s take a walk down AirdropAlert memory lane and see how this all started.

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Why Did We Start It?

At the time, we were deep into the world of cryptocurrency. We’d claimed a few airdrops, mostly for Bitcoin holders, such as Stellar Lumens (Rebranded to Stellar $XLM). But what caught our attention was the upcoming Bitcoin Cash fork in the summer of 2017. We knew a new wave of airdrops would be coming soon.

As the trend grew, we started getting messages from friends asking us to claim airdrops for them. For example, Byteball did an airdrop every month that year. If you sold the airdrop on the spot, it was worth about 8% of a Bitcoin each time. That’s like stacking 8% more Bitcoin every month just for claiming free tokens.

We noticed something interesting: many people, including our friends, were hesitant to claim airdrops on their own. The process seemed too complicated. They preferred sending their Bitcoin to us, trusting us to claim the tokens for them. This got us thinking—there was a significant information gap.

On the other side, projects couldn’t find enough users to claim their free tokens, and on the other hand, users were skeptical about airdrops. They feared scams, asking, “Why would a project give away tokens for free?”

Related: 13 reasons for FUD after completion of an airdrop campaign.

That’s when we realized something needed to change. The idea for AirdropAlert.com was born—to bridge that gap, offering a platform where users could easily find legitimate airdrops, and projects could distribute tokens to interested, engaged users.

Within a week, we registered a website and had our first version of the site online. I didn’t save a screenshot, but I found one online of a version that was pretty close to the one on launch day.

But Weren’t There Very Few Projects Doing Airdrops Back Then?

You’re right! When we first started, there weren’t many airdrops to list. We only had about six to eight airdrops available. But we knew we had to push the concept further, or else it would be all for nothing.

Our first steps were a bit unconventional. We started farming airdrops on Bitcointalk. They weren’t technically airdrops, but by placing a “signature” on our profiles, we could advertise projects and get paid in tokens per post. It wasn’t glamorous, but it showed us that projects and ICOs were beginning to think outside the box to promote and distribute tokens.

We were farming these with dozens of forum accounts, on the forefront of syblling strategies. Which reminds us, you can truly start your crypto journey with $0 to your name.

The ICO Era

As the ICO boom took off, we saw a huge opportunity. We began contacting ICO projects listed on websites like ICO Alert and ICO Bench. We emailed every ICO, explaining airdrops and why they should distribute free tokens to the community.

Most ICOs were skeptical. Their biggest concern was, “Won’t the community just dump the tokens?” That’s when we introduced the concept of the “Endowment Effect”.

Although we didn’t coin the term (it’s an actual psychological concept), we used it to explain how people tend to value something more once they own it. It worked! ICOs began to see the potential of airdrops, and they started agreeing to run them.

To this day, the term “Endowment Effect” still pops up in conversations about airdrops. Little did we know that this conversation, which started with a spliff on a beach in Southeast Asia, would influence an entire industry.

Running the Exclusive Airdrops

As more ICOs bought into the idea of airdrops, they didn’t just want a list of airdrops—they wanted us to run the campaigns for them. And so, we did.

Back then, the campaigns were very basic. We’d create Google forms, have people join Telegram groups, and encourage social engagement to boost the project’s visibility. It was simple, but it worked. In no time, we were growing communities by thousands within hours. We called them “exclusive airdrops”, and it worked. Not much time after, we saw dozens of other platforms copy the terms.

This approach caught the attention of the ICO world, and soon, airdrops were everywhere.

The First Airdrop Smart Contract

As the airdrop industry grew, so did the need for more efficient distribution methods. We could no longer manually send tokens to thousands of wallets. Early on, projects would typically get a few hundred investors over weeks or months, but now, we needed to distribute tokens to tens of thousands of addresses.

I called around and found a developer who was willing to create a smart contract for us. The gas fees were high, but fortunately, ETH was still relatively cheap back then. We could distribute tokens in batches of 500 addresses, so it would take a couple of hours to complete the task.

When the airdrop industry exploded, we knew we had to step back. Larger marketing teams were entering the scene with better tools and solutions. We stopped being hands-on and focused on what we did best—being a resource. AirdropAlert.com became a trusted source of information, helping users find new airdrops and projects find the community engagement they needed.

The Evolution of AirdropAlert

Looking back, it’s hard to believe how much the industry has evolved. We started with just a simple idea—to connect users with free tokens, and now, AirdropAlert.com is one of the most well-known resources in the airdrop space.

We couldn’t have predicted how far this would go. Once you roll a snowball down a mountain, it’s amazing how it grows, gathering size and momentum along the way.

What started as a small, dedicated project has now evolved into a full-fledged niche in crypto. Every project roadmap has an airdrop on it now. But throughout this journey, it has been exciting, challenging, and rewarding to be at the forefront of such a unique niche in the crypto world.

The Future of Airdrops

So, what’s next for AirdropAlert.com? We’re continuously working to expand, providing more valuable content and keeping users updated on the latest, legitimate airdrops. The world of crypto is always changing, and airdrops continue to be an important part of this ecosystem.

We’re proud of how far we’ve come, and we can’t wait to see what the future holds. Thanks for reading our little AirdropAlert memories story—it was fun to write, and maybe we’ll share more in the future.

Happy farming!

With this story, we took you on a journey from the humble beginnings of AirdropAlert.com to where it stands today. Hopefully, it gives you a sense of how the site evolved and the challenges we faced. If you’re still actively farming airdrops or interested in exploring new opportunities, remember that AirdropAlert.com will be your trusted guide through it all.