Application Framework

Airdrop Game

Project team airdrop playbook - How to airdrop like Pacman

+-----------------------------------------------------------+
|                    AIRDROP GAME                            |
+-----------------------------------------------------------+
|                                                           |
|   How to airdrop like Tiesun (Pacman)                     |
|   Phase-based strategy for maximum extraction             |
|                                                           |
+-----------------------------------------------------------+

Understanding Why Airdrop

Your Persona

You aspire to be the next Tiesun (Pacman), the next penguin emperor. You've already closed a round or got on board with institutions, hoping to smoothly list on Binance and maximize cash-out.

Why Airdrop (Instead of Direct Selling)

Often because you can't directly sell:

ReasonDescription
Reach doesn't supportWithout airdrop, KOLs can't find risk-free promotional hooks
Compliance doesn't supportDirect ICO/IEO not compliant in many jurisdictions
Terms don't supportExchanges supervise unlocks and distribution, can't cash out at listing

Airdrop Essence:

  • Marketing cost to maximize later token sales profit
  • Disguised ICO
  • Hide chips to get more cash-out opportunities

Phase One: Before Lead Investor

Without sufficient endorsement, user trust cost is high.

Strategy

Use zero-cost or low-cost, simple but repetitive activity formats

Increase time sunk cost

At this stage, do data at all costs

No need to consider future airdrop fulfillment issues

Data Type Selection

Four types of data: TVL, trading volume, DAU, protocol revenue

Selection: Choose the format with no unit cost and easiest to farm (generally exclude protocol revenue)

FormatData Farmed
Testnet faucet transactionsTrading volume
Register and click-click-clickDAU

Key Design

  • Unify task progress to visualized standards (e.g., Linea's LXP, Initia's game-style points)
  • Don't worry about whether points issuance is reasonable, unrelated to final airdrop
  • Don't set barriers for multiple accounts, make script creation simple
  • Find English-speaking influencers to post testnet tutorials, Chinese farmers will follow

Phase Two: Before Exchange Listing

Exchange Three Priorities: Compliance, new users, new buying pressure

Strategy

"Compliance": Find good white gloves (ecosystem) to do what main entity can't
"New users, new buying": Must make users spend money to generate "protocol revenue"

Run a split scheme, make users spend as much as possible

Raise their future chip costs

Reserve Insider Position Space

StrategyPurpose
Add activity dimensionsCover more asset targets and trading behaviors
External ambiguityDon't let outsiders identify "favorite sons", muddy waters
Internal clarityTrue favorite sons are projects that eat customer losses, tilt airdrops toward them

ZKSYNC is the best example: Mix in zero-value dog projects to get airdrop, eat and take both


Phase Three: Before TGE

The real accounting moment. After confirming exchange, need to determine the relationship between points and airdrop.

Start with the End

Farmers have POW mentality, don't expect them to buy on secondary

Goal is good secondary performance

All actually distributed airdrops treated as sell pressure

Sell pressure cannot exceed first-day exchange buying

Core Formula

First-day exchange total buying ≥ Expected first-day average price × (TGE unlock + TGE actual airdrop)

Example:

  • Current valuation $80M, TGE valuation $200M
  • No VC unlock, three second-tier exchanges estimated $3M buying
  • First-day actual airdrop cap: 1.5%

Blast Case Study

Initial release: 17% = 17B
Main exchanges: Upbit, Bithumb, Bybit
Reference Taiko first two days, estimate $3-5B trading volume
Assume 20% is secondary turnover, pure buying ~$3B
Current ~$0.024 (FDV $2.4B) = Very reasonable

Handling the Gap

Difference between published tokenomics airdrop percentage and actual distribution requires:

MethodEffect
LockupDelay sell pressure
Anti-SybilReduce actual distribution
Lower certain dimension weightsTargeted reduction

Balancing Three Factors

  • Maximize per-farmer FDV equivalent
  • Keep single-account returns within community non-FUD range (no widespread losses)
  • Maximize insider position holdings

When balance impossible: Prioritize emotional stability of highest-influence accounts, cut super-large and super-small accounts

Don't be like L0 and ZKSYNC, offending the loudest majority in the market


Core Formulas

Airdrop Three Phases:
├── Before lead investor: Zero-cost data, ignore fulfillment
├── Before listing: Run split scheme, raise chip costs, reserve insider positions
└── Before TGE: Accounting, ensure sell pressure < first-day buying

Actual Airdrop Cap:
├── First-day buying ≥ Expected price × (Unlock + Actual airdrop)
└── Handle gap through lockup/anti-Sybil/dimension reduction

Emotion Management:
├── Prioritize influential account emotions
├── Cut super-large and super-small accounts
└── One can be reasoned with, one has no voice anyway

Airdrop PUA is a marathon, for prey and hunters alike

Project teams must always remember why they started - begin with the end in mind