Airdrop New Frontier: Trends and Opportunities from Ethereum Migration

Once upon a time, the Ethereum mainnet was a gold mine for airdrop hunters. However, by 2025, the situation had quietly changed – emerging public chains like Base, BNB, Sui, and Berachain have become the new hotbeds for airdrops.

We explored the logic behind this trend and tried to answer a core question: where should airdrop players focus their attention?

This article will discuss from the following aspects:

1. The decline of Ethereum Airdrops, the end of the "farming" myth.
2. Emerging public chains are becoming the main battleground.
3. Characteristics of emerging blockchain projects: large financing scale, familiar gameplay.
4. Recommended projects to watch and low-threshold participation methods
5. Airdrop not only requires diligence, but more importantly, it is about choosing the right direction.

Let us examine the logic behind this migration together and gain insight into where the next breakout point lies.

1. The era of high Gas fees is a thing of the past

Jason is a newcomer to the cryptocurrency field who entered in 2022. He once spent thousands of Gas interacting with a certain NFT trading platform. A basic authorization and sending operation cost him 120 USD, which was equivalent to half a week's salary for him. At that time he thought: "This platform has a high valuation, significant financing, and a strong investment background, so there will definitely be generous Airdrops! The Gas fees spent now are nothing compared to the future Airdrop rewards."

However, by 2025, Jason had been away from the crypto world for nearly a year. "I didn't make any money at all. Some Layer 2 project accounts were all deemed to be witch attacks. Buying fingerprint browsers and independent IPs was also a waste of money. In the end, I don't even know what went wrong, so I can only go back to work with my tail between my legs."

In February 2025, a certain NFT trading platform suddenly announced the issuance of tokens. After work, Jason casually opened the official website and saw the familiar routines: points, blind boxes, and an experience points (XP) system.

2. The Airdrop news of Ethereum ecosystem projects has been silent for a long time

Not only have the "myths" of those who became rich by "shearing wool" vanished from social platforms, but even the once-popular Airdrop opinion leaders have also shifted their focus. In 2025, a well-known Airdrop blogger even took action for multiple projects, paving a new path for a "rights protection persona."

Taking the airdrop projects during the good market period in January 2025 as an example, among the 14 projects launched, the proportion of Ethereum ecosystem native projects is almost zero. Most public chain projects choose to directly launch their mainnet and airdrop tokens, while other projects are opting for emerging chains that have lower Gas costs and stronger support from exchanges.

Compared to the glorious days of Ethereum in 2021, the current Ethereum ecosystem is vastly different. As Ethereum's Gas fees have dropped from dozens of dollars to just a few dollars, even falling below 1 dollar, the number of projects launching on the Ethereum mainnet has decreased rather than increased. The reasons may include other public chains becoming a paradise for new players, or certain chains serving as a springboard for project teams to enter large exchanges. However, more importantly, the innovation and development activity that once made the Ethereum ecosystem proud have gradually declined, and dissatisfaction within the community towards the Ethereum Foundation has been increasing.

3. The real "Big Hair" projects focus solely on rewarding users.

A certain protocol is an Airdrop project officially confirmed by the Sui Network. After a certain exchange announced the launch of the contract on March 28, it undoubtedly became the brightest Airdrop star of the first quarter. The Airdrop criteria for this protocol are very simple; even just the most basic "low guarantee number" requires only a minimum deposit of 0.1 Sui to receive approximately 15 times the return.

At first glance, this project is indeed unusual: it has raised as much as $140 million, with a valuation of $2 billion, and has attracted several top-tier institutions as investors.

In the past, such backgrounds usually only appeared within the Ethereum ecosystem, but now, an increasing number of star projects with similar backgrounds are starting to take root in emerging public chains like Sui and Berachain.

These projects share several obvious common points: the team is pragmatic, the coin price is steadily rising and attempting to break through historical highs.

4. Exploring New Airdrop Frontiers

In the business world, the blue ocean represents a market with abundant opportunities and little competition, while the red ocean symbolizes a market with fierce competition. In the past, Ethereum has always been the "noble chain" in the airdrop circle, with new players flocking to Ethereum Layer2 to seek opportunities, while experienced players steadily enjoyed generous airdrops on the Ethereum mainnet. However, the market situation has changed, and the airdrop track has become fully saturated; today, Ethereum has seemingly turned into a red ocean. To continue to obtain considerable airdrop profits, one must board the new generation of "ships" and explore new territories.

Where is the new land for airdrop players? At present, Sui Network and Berachain seem to have provided the answer. By carefully observing the ecosystems of these two emerging public chains, it is not difficult to find that they share the following common features:

1. The project has a high valuation and a large financing scale;
2. The native tokens of public blockchains have already been listed on mainstream exchanges;
3. The public chain itself provides ecological incentives and has strong financial support;
4. Projects within the ecosystem generally completed high-quality financing;
5. Following the traditional airdrop approach of "low threshold, high return", focusing on zero-cost participation, testnets, and simple staking activities.

Popular projects worth paying attention to include:

• Berachain ecosystem core protocols: KodiakFi, InfraredFinance, Beraborrow, GummiFi, etc.;
• Popular protocols on Sui: HaedalProtocol, AftermathFi, etc.

5. Choose greater than effort, dance with the market cycle

A well-known crypto blogger commented on the power of cycles: "Those who can see through the essence of the market in one or two cycles are destined to have a completely different fate than those who spend a lifetime unable to see the market clearly."

In the cyclical rhythm of the crypto market, both project teams and players are experiencing ups and downs, hoping to gain wealth during the rising cycle, but often stepping out of rhythm in the rapidly changing market pace. However, projects that truly cross cycles often stage a perfect "deep V" in coin prices, providing stable returns to supporters in ecological construction. As Airdrop players, what needs to be done from start to finish is actually the same thing:

Be patient and enjoy the game.