What are airdrops and why should I care?
When a new cryptocurrency is launched the developers need to decide what to do with the coins. 
How to Claim Cryptocurrency Airdrops
Some have them locked up until they’re mined, some put up all the coins for sale in an ICO (initial coin offering) and some give away some or most of the coins in a free airdrop. Why would they just give away the coins? It’s all about marketing and getting the word out that your cryptocurrency project exists. And if people like your project and currency, they’re likely to hold the coin, perhaps even buy more and drive up the price.
So what are these airdrops actually worth? It really depends. Most are in the $1 to $3 range. But some will be worth hundreds or thousands of dollars. You could sign up for a ton hoping to catch some good ones or you can just sign up for airdrops from projects that look promising (fyi most of my biggest payouts were not coins that I thought had any potential).
Steps to claim crypto airdrops.
Have necessary social media accounts.
The requirements for airdrops vary but many require social media accounts including Bitcointalk (a cryptocurrency forum), Facebook, Telegram and Twitter (sometimes Instagram, Steemit and Reddit). I use a dedicated Facebook, Twitter and email just for signing up for airdrops (some require you to post about them or subscribe to emails so I don’t want to clutter my other accounts).
Get an ERC20 Ethereum wallet.
Some airdrops will be held right on the platform’s website, but many tokens will go to an Ethereum wallet. An ETH wallet on an exchange will not work. You’ll need need an ERC20 (can hold ETH and ETH tokens) wallet such as one from My Ether Wallet. You can read how to set up a MEW account here. Besides MEW you may try Parity or MetaMask. Another platform that is starting to see token airdrops is Waves. You can get a Waves wallet here. Make sure you store your private key in a safe place (or places) where you won’t lose it or else you’ll lose you’re funds.
Have a list of your info for easy access.
It’s good to have a list links to the social media accounts you use and your wallet address so you can quickly copy and paste the into form fields. I use “text expansion” or autocomplete tools to help fill out forms. (Breevy and PhraseExpress are a couple popular ones.) So if I type “eA”, my Ethereum address will automatically be filled into the form field.
Find airdrops and follow the claiming instructions.
There are airdrop links scattered all over the internet, but I’m partial to our huge airdrop spreadsheet that is updated daily. We also run the largest airdrop claiming group on Facebook where you can sign up for and share your airdrop links. To claim, some airdrops ask you to fill in a Google form, some ask you to share on social media, some have you create an account on their site and some want you to talk to a Telegram bot. Whatever they ask you to do, follow the instructions very carefully and don’t try claim airdrops more than once or else you may end up with nothing.
Save your passwords.
Make sure you have a good password manager that is secure. Create strong passwords that have capitals, numbers and special characters. Save your passwords right away or else you’ll have to keep requesting password resets.
Avoid scams.
Unfortunately some airdrops are outright scams and some are fake forms impersonating popular currencies. A rule of thumb is to never give out info that is too personal and never give out your private key. And be wary if a form asks for a “donation” to get more coins… if it’s a fake form you just gave money to a scammer. I’ve only donated to a project once; I just like free stuff.
Check your airdrop balances.
Go to DeltaBalances and paste in your ETH address to see all the tokens you have in your Ethereum wallet and how much they’d trade for on the exchange Ether Delta. (I wouldn’t recommend trading on Ether Delta. It can be a good way to cash in your junk tokens but the interface is very frustrating and I’ve made a mistake worth 100’s of dollars due to that.) I like to wait until a token hits it big and then transfer it to a regular exchange to sell it. But sometimes as soon as an airdrop is released there will be an initial pump where you can sell the token at a high price. Some of these airdrop cryptos should be dumped but some will be successful and may be good to hold long term.
Have fun!
Maybe you’ll strike it rich and maybe not. But when I see my wallet that’s full of tons of up and coming coins, I get a similar feeling to when I was a kid collecting baseball cards and Pokemon. You don’t have to catch them all, but try to catch a few good ones, it’ll be fun.
Article Produced By
https://yourfreecrypto.com/how-to-claim-cryptocurrency-airdrops/
David Http://markethive.com/david-ogden
