Scroll Airdrop Farmers Gripe Over Ethereum Layer-2 Token Launch

The project’s first airdrop dished out 5.5% of the total SCR supply—55 million out of 1 billion tokens—to early users who had already contributed to the ecosystem, according to a blog post from the team.

Of that figure, 40 million SCR was given to on-chain participants who earned 200 or more Scroll Marks—or points from using the layer-2 scaling network. Another 1% was split evenly between eligible wallets, and another 0.5% was intended as a “bonus” for those who met select criteria, Scroll said in its announcement.

Some users aren’t happy, though, and Crypto Twitter (aka X) is awash with memes and complaints over the purportedly meager amounts they received.

“One of the worst airdrops ever,” wrote pseudonymous tweeter and Ethereum user, DYOR.eth, who claimed that they dumped the tokens and ditched Scroll altogether. Twitter user Joshyy, who has amassed a sizable following with posts about upcoming airdrops, called it the “worst airdrop so far.” Other tweets mocked claims about the expected scale and value of the Scroll airdrop.

New projects use airdrops to attract users by giving out free tokens or coins with the hope of growing their community and rewarding early users and contributors.

But the practice of “airdrop farming” has become more common, as some users try to maximize their rewards by using a number of different wallet addresses, and/or by repeating certain tasks and activities that they think will boost their token allotments.

Some of those users and farmers have been complaining about receiving small amounts of crypto in airdrops—despite being involved in the community of a project. Players of Telegram-based tap-to-earn game Hamster Kombat had these very same gripes when the game launched its long-awaited airdrop in September, with some describing the modest rewards as being akin to “dust.”

The SCR token has since plunged in value following the airdrop: CoinGecko data shows that SCR has dropped by 16% since the airdrop, with the price down to $1.17. This is common for newly launched tokens, which can be highly volatile—especially as airdrop recipients cash out and traders potentially buy in amid the chaos.

Scroll did not immediately respond to Decrypt’s questions regarding the airdrop.

Scroll is one of many Ethereum layer-2 networks. Such networks are used to improve a chain’s functionality by essentially piggybacking off of the main network’s security while typically providing benefits like cheaper and faster transactions.

Ethereum is the blockchain behind the second biggest cryptocurrency, ETH, but the network can sometimes be hard to use due to slow and expensive transactions during peak times. Layer-2 networks have exploded in popularity of late—so much so that some industry observers believe they’re sucking value away from ETH itself, despite the other benefits.

Edited by Andrew Hayward