Aptos made big news this week with its long-awaited airdrop that rewarded 110,235 early adopters with 20 million APT tokens. At the time drop took place, the airdropped coins were valued at about $200–$260 million, and eligible participants were reported to make somewhere between $1,500 and $7,000 depending on their level of engagement with the network.
Not too bad for free money, right? “That could be me,” you think, imagining how you would spend such a sum. But don’t worry — there’s plenty of fish in the sea, and Sui may be the most rewarding catch right now, so keep reading to find out how to claim SUI tokens.
What is a crypto airdrop?
Before we go on with the SUI airdrop opportunities, let me remind you what are crypto airdrops and how do they work. Obviously, seasoned crypto investors can safely skip ahead to the next paragraph, but if you have never participated in crypto airdrops before, a quick recap is a great way to catch up.
A crypto airdrop refers to crypto projects distributing tokens to the public, usually for free, in a bid to build awareness and encourage adoption. Obviously, giving away free coins isn’t an act of charity — but a carefully curated marketing strategy that aims to attract long-term users instead of tourists. You should keep that in mind when participating in crypto airdrops — while it’s unclear how exactly algorithms calculate the number of tokens for a particular user, it would be safe to assume that the most rewarded activity is a genuine usage of the project over a longer period of time. In the eyes of developers, it increases the odds that the user would stay, not just dump the token and move on.
There’s also a downside to crypto airdrops you should be aware of — namely, there’s always a chance that you’ll spend more money in fees while toying with the platform than you will receive in a drop. This is especially true for the lesser-known projects that failed to attract investments from some of the big names in the industry.
What is Sui blockchain?
Just like Aptos, Sui is a Layer 1 network that emerged from the ashes of Diem, Meta’s failed crypto project. This highly scalable blockchain runs on a proof-of-stake model and uses Move programming language, specifically developed for writing secure smart contracts.
According to Crunchbase data, Mysten Labs, a startup behind Sui, closed a $300 million Series B funding round in September, bringing its total valuation to more than $2 billion. The round was led by FTX Ventures, an investment arm of FTX exchange, with participation from other big names in the industry, including Binance Labs, Andreessen Horowitz, Jump Crypto, Coinbase Ventures, and Circle Ventures — quite an impressive VC backing.
“Sui is the first permissionless Layer 1 blockchain designed from the ground up to enable creators and developers to build experiences that cater to the next billion users in web3,” the project’s website boldly reads.
How to get SUI airdrop?
SUI token is the Sui platform’s native asset, which will be used to reward PoS validators, pay gas fees and participate in on-chain voting. According to the Medium post by Mysten Labs, a share of SUI’s total supply will be liquid at the mainnet launch, and that is also when the airdrop will most likely take place. However, at the time of writing, there are no solid timelines for both the token and mainnet launches, and the development roadmap on the startup’s GitHub repository seems to be inaccessible.
However, a Twitter user Sui Station promised to release a list of all airdrop opportunities for the Sui ecosystem “very soon,” which may indicate that the mainnet is not far off. Previously, the account hinted that SUI testnet token may be essential for future airdrops.
Since Sui isn’t EVM-compatible, the Ethereum-based wallets like MetaMask and TrustWallet won’t let you interact with its testnet — you need to install a Sui wallet first. And users have plenty to choose from — there are Sui Wallet (by Mysten Labs, works from browser extension), Suiet Wallet, Ethos Wallet, and Wave Wallet.
Upon creating a wallet, you need to get Sui tokens from platforms that have built-in faucets — applications that help users earn free crypto rewards. Such a platform on Sui is BlueMove, an early NFT marketplace where you can claim SUI by connecting your wallet. You can also get testnet tokens from Sui Discord server, simply by typing in “!faucet”+your Sui wallet address in devnet-faucet channel. And finally, SUI can be claimed directly from Suiet and Wave wallets.
However, simply holding testnet tokens is unlikely to get you an airdrop — you should use them to explore Sui ecosystem. “You may get potential benefits by playing with early-stage Sui projects,” Suiet Wallet hinted in its guide. So, what should you do to increase your airdrop eligibility?
- Buy NFTs from Clutchy and BlueMove marketplaces
- Swap tokens on MovEX and Suiswap DEXes
- Get your POAP (proof of attendance protocol) NFT from suia.io
That’s all for now! I will be certainly keeping an eye on Sui and will inform you when new information regarding the airdrop becomes available.
