Bankless: 5 NFT airdrops to watch in the future

Author: William M. Peaster, Bankless; Translator: Deng Tong, Golden Finance

Some say the airdrop meta-theory is outdated. But in reality, there may be quite a few high-profile token issuances next year.

This is especially true in the NFT space, where multiple well-known projects are about to (or appear to be about to) launch native tokens.

Below, let's take a deep dive into the top 5 projects I'm following here and the current dynamics of their token plans to bring you up to speed.

Abstract

Originally named Frame, Abstract is a Layer 2 (L2) for NFT users, focusing on built-in liquidity and royalty systems. Subsequently, in June 2024, Igloo Inc., the parent company of Pudgy Penguins, acquired Frame and renamed it Abstract. The upcoming L2 emphasizes a smooth user experience through account abstraction, and has expanded its focus to all areas of consumer cryptocurrency, from decentralized social to on-chain games.

Why You Should Care

The Frame team originally aimed to launch their network mainnet and FRAME token airdrop on January 31, 2024. Those plans have apparently been put on hold, but if you were one of the original FRAME claimers, then according to the builders, those “pre-existing rewards will be cashed in Abstract’s native incentive system”. This suggests that the Abstract token is coming soon, and given the quality of talent in and around the Abstract team, it should be one to keep an eye on.

Magic Eden

Over the past year, Magic Eden has emerged as a serious challenger to OpenSea in the NFT marketplace space, with impressive user, revenue, and transaction volume figures. While it initially started out as one of the top choices for Solana NFT trading, much of the platform’s recent growth can be attributed to expanding and becoming a leading hub for emerging scenes like Bitcoin Ordinals and Foundational NFTs.

Why You Should Care

In August 2024, Magic Eden announced the evolution of its non-fungible DAO and $NFT efforts into the ME Foundation and $ME. The upcoming token will facilitate governance of the Magic Eden protocol and incentivize users to try Magic Eden’s products. It’s worth noting that $ME can only be claimed on mobile devices through the Magic Eden wallet, and a test token will be launched within the app this month to give users a feel for how the claiming process works. That being said, if you haven’t downloaded the wallet yet, now is a good time to do so.

Nifty Island

Nifty Island is a multiplayer virtual world designed to provide the NFT community with player-created games, from battle royales to car races. Users can upload and rock custom 3D avatars, or use some of the popular NFT-backed templates like Pudgy Penguins, Miladies, and Mad Lads.

Why You Should Care

Nifty Island has launched a Play-to-Airdrop (P2A) campaign for its upcoming $ISLAND token in January 2024. In a recent announcement announcing support for Solana Wallets, the Nifty Island team confirmed that the P2A window will close on November 1, 2024, so there are still a few weeks to dig in before then. Additionally, Magic Eden and Nifty Island just released some collaborative tasks for Magic Eden Wallet users, so this is a double-whammy opportunity to increase your $ME and $ISLAND eligibility.

Shape

Shape is a new L2 for artists and collectors. Built by the team behind NFT curation platform Deca, Shape aims to incentivize creators to use its network through its Gasback system, under which artists and applications receive 80% of the L2 collator fees generated by users using their smart contracts.

Why You Should Care

It’s no secret that most L2s are eventually distributed to the community via token airdrops. While there are no officially announced plans, it looks like Shape will follow this popular trajectory. The network also has its custom Stack NFTs that evolve over time based on your activity on Shape. These NFTs have the potential to be used as an anti-Sybil attack mechanism to determine the airdrop eligibility of future real users.

Zora

Zora is a media and marketplace protocol for creating and collecting NFTs, designed as a superstructure that runs on-chain indefinitely. Both the zora.co platform and the Zora mobile app can be used without the need for a cryptocurrency or wallet, acting as a social network frontend for Zora. In June 2023, Zora also launched the Zora Network as an Ethereum L2 built specifically for NFT creators, and since then, the chain has garnered 250,000 daily active users and over $3 million in creator rewards.

Why You Should Care

When Zora Network was first launched, Zora co-founder Jacob noted, "I think that's probably going to have to wait until more breakthroughs happen, and right now we're just going to keep our heads down and build the best products and tools possible." Is that a little over a year away? That remains to be seen. There were rumors that a "Zora Foundation" domain was recently registered, but they appear to be fake. That said, Zora will release a token when it's ready, and as one of the best NFT applications and the best NFT chain today, I'm excited to see what they come up with when they're ready.