Meanwhile, several high-profile projects, including Berachain, Story, and Myshell, have completed their token launches and airdrops, leading to mixed reactions — some celebrating, while others are disappointed. However, this also proves that opportunities still exist in airdrop farming (interactive airdrops).

While it’s uncertain whether meme coins will make a strong comeback in 2025, what other sectors are worth exploring for retail investors? Once known for its low entry barriers and high upside potential, airdrop farming remains one of the key opportunities. To shed light on this topic, Odaily Planet Daily interviewed a group of experienced airdrop farmers to explore the opportunities, strategies, and key insights in this space.

The interviewees, in order of engagement, are X platform users: @adolyb2, @y95277777, @CryptoMelon365, @Hy78516012, @Btc_Crush, @JiamigouCn, and @Byteplus_Pro.

Key Takeaways

Airdrop Farming Still Presents Opportunities, but Competition Is Heating Up and Entry Barriers Are Increasing

Most interviewees believe that the airdrop farming sector will remain profitable in 2025, but success will require more refined and professionalized operations. The traditional “multi-account low-guarantee” approach is gradually becoming ineffective. With the rise of farming studios and automation scripts, retail participants must adopt more strategic interaction methods — such as improving single-account quality and simulating real user behavior.

Sybil Evasion Techniques and Cost Control Are Critical

Project teams have stepped up their Sybil detection measures, including clustering algorithms and multi-chain interaction verification. Interviewees emphasized the need to integrate automated tools with manual operations and to enhance address quality and scoring weight through multi-chain and mainnet interaction records. Additionally, precise cost calculations are essential to ensure stable growth.

Layer 1 and Testnets May Offer New Opportunities

Many believe that Layer 1 projects (such as Monad and Sahara AI) and testnets have greater potential due to their higher token launch certainty and controllable costs. In contrast, Layer 2 networks face challenges such as address saturation, uncertain token issuance, and high interaction costs, reducing the likelihood of significant gains.

What’s the Scale of Airdrop Farming Teams? Are They Individuals or Studios?

@adolyb2: Both studios and individuals are involved. The studio operates as a partnership, and I’m responsible for writing (interaction) scripts. The scripts I develop for the studio can also be used for my personal farming.

@y95277777: Just the two of us — my spouse and I.

@CryptoMelon365: My girlfriend and I.

@Hy78516012: Individual.

@Btc_Crush: Individual, gradually transitioning from manual farming to semi-automated methods.

@JiamigouCn: A dedicated airdrop farming studio.

What Has Been Your Biggest Gain Since You Started Airdrop Farming? Which Year and Project?

@adolyb2

The studio’s biggest profit came from MOVE, with nearly 200,000 tokens farmed, but my personal share wasn’t that significant. Personally, my biggest gains came from three projects: ARB in early 2023, NOSTR in late 2023, and STRK in early 2024, each bringing in around $30,000 to $35,000.

@y95277777

Hyperliquid in 2024, with an initial cost of under $500. I won’t disclose the exact profit, but I sold off quite a bit, while my wife held on to most of it. She still has NFTs waiting to be distributed, so there’s likely more profit to come.

@CryptoMelon365

I officially entered the space in 2022 with Galxe, and in 2023, I made over 7x returns on multiple projects, including Arbitrum, Starknet, and ZKsync.

@Hy78516012

I officially joined in November 2023, and in 2024, I farmed Pirate S1, earning around $1,000 per account with 50 accounts.

@Btc_Crush

The April and June 2024 airdrops were a major turning point for me. Although I farm as an individual, I was actively involved in inscriptions and NFTs last year, which landed me 4 RUNESTONE airdrops and about 20 PIZZA, totaling several thousand dollars.

It really felt like money falling from the sky — like the universe suddenly realized I was broke and decided to give me a subsidy. Back when I was flipping NFTs, I never imagined that a bunch of seemingly worthless images would lead to such a windfall. That’s why I believe as long as you stay in the space, do the work, and don’t overthink the future, you’ll be fine.

@JiamigouCn

I often mention in my blog that airdrop farming once earned me enough money to brag about for a lifetime. Before studios flooded in, airdrops were a pure “small investment, big returns” opportunity.

For example, back in 2021 and earlier, projects like Uniswap, dYdX, AMPL, and Lowb were massive airdrop windfalls and a goldmine for participants. dYdX, for instance, airdropped tokens to nearly everyone who interacted with it. I still remember seeing an ad for dYdX, depositing $200 to farm some trading volume, and when the airdrop hit, I sold everything and bought my girlfriend a Honda Civic hatchback.

AMPL was a stablecoin project with an interesting mechanism — I left just $0.3 worth of AMPL in my wallet, and later received an airdrop worth ¥140,000 ($20,000) in FORTH tokens.

Lowb, as a meme coin, followed a community-driven distribution model. All you had to do was post your wallet address under Lowb’s official Twitter, and they would send you an airdrop. I farmed a ton of tokens and eventually made ¥800,000 ($110,000) from it.

That said, 2024 also brought some excellent projects, such as Jito, Wormhole, ALT, Ethena, Manta Pacific, BounceBit, UniSat, and ListaDAO. Most of these involved zero-cost staking or low-cost interactions, with single-account earnings ranging from $600 to $1,000 (many of these projects allowed multi-account farming, and Manta’s low-guarantee accounts even had higher returns).

Returns from Blast were lower, but there were also more unconventional plays like zkFair, where single accounts burned USDC, leading to several thousand dollars in profits post-token launch — as long as you sold at the right time.

How Were Your Airdrop Farming Profits in 2024? Did the Solana Meme Trend Impact Your Strategy, Leading You to Reduce Airdrop Farming and Shift to Meme PvP?

@adolyb2

Profits were positive. I wasn’t significantly affected by PvP — I did some PvP for a while, burned through all my SOL, and then stopped, realizing it wasn’t for me. Besides airdrop farming, I also enjoy mining and arbitrage, both of which have brought me decent profits (though I’ve also taken some losses, like providing liquidity that ended up being arbitraged by others, but overall, I’m still in the green).

@y95277777

2024 has been a massive win for airdrop farming. I’ve been keeping an eye on the Solana meme market but don’t plan on full-time chain sweeping — health is far more important than money.

@CryptoMelon365

Overall, my 2024 profits haven’t matched those of 2023, but I still secured solid returns (ZKsync, etc.). The key issue was that I wasn’t particularly bullish on testnets in 2024 — I didn’t expect Movement to skip Sybil screening, which changed my later decisions and participation. Testnets typically have clear and controllable costs with stable risk-reward ratios, yet Linea locked up a large amount of capital without issuing tokens.

I’ve dabbled in memes, but my investment has been minimal — I still prefer airdrop farming. Once you accumulate assets through farming, it’s hard to go back to being broke, whereas other strategies carry significantly higher risks. As long as you can accurately calculate costs — such as RPC fees, on-chain gas, and other expenses — you can maintain steady, compounding growth.

@Hy78516012

Since I entered the space in late 2023, I caught some solid opportunities in 2024, including:

● Zeus (~$200 per account)

● Jupiter’s WEN airdrop (~$50 per account)

● Pirate S1 (~$1,000 per account)

● Pirate S2 (~$200–500 per account)

I didn’t farm Berachain due to the overwhelming number of wallets — it was a conscious decision to opt out. Along the way, I also picked up smaller airdrops, such as:

● SQD ($20 per account, just for filling out a form)

● Lingo ($100 per account)

● KIP ($50–100 per account)

● Nodepay ($50 per account using my publicly shared scripts)

Overall, I consider myself lucky, though I missed out on some major airdrops like MOVE and VANA, both of which made many farmers seven-figure profits on a single project.

I don’t feel like I was significantly impacted by the Solana meme trend — I rarely engage in PvP. I held onto several tokens and saw decent gains, even catching SciHub, RIF, and URO at the bottom (I have Telegram chat logs to back this up). I even guided some group members to 50x and 100x returns.

@Btc_Crush

Profits have been decent — not life-changing, but still a net positive. I made some money from inscriptions, but 2024 has been way tougher — competition is getting fiercer.

The PENGU wave at least gave my friends some “food tickets,” earning me a small profit. But honestly, this grind is exhausting — it feels like I’m laying bricks on a construction site every day.

I’m still in the “paying tuition” phase on Solana, trying to refine my approach. Despite burning the midnight oil in PvP, I haven’t yet found a stable profit strategy — I need to put in more work. But over time, making money will simply be a matter of persistence.

Airdrop farming is draining, so I’ve started allocating more time to researching memes and new projects. After all, a single meme play in five minutes can equal a lifetime’s salary — but it takes constant learning and deep thinking to get there.

@JiamigouCn

Our team has always followed a two-pronged approach: Meme + Airdrop Farming. We set up on-chain monitoring and automated trading systems during the inscription boom.

Since we don’t operate PvP-style accounts that rely on “pumping and dumping”, we rarely disclose our meme trading profits on social media. Instead, we focus on maintaining a balanced risk-reward strategy while ensuring steady profits.

What Are Your Expectations for 2025? Where Will the Opportunities Be?

@adolyb2

I believe there will still be decent profits in airdrop farming in 2025, but opportunities will be scarce and only a select few will be able to seize them. For example, KOLs are currently farming YAP, leaving retail investors with little choice but to buy in later. Other projects, like Plume, have also made some people rich, but that required running hundreds or even thousands of scripts.

Only when projects like MOVE emerge will retail airdrop farmers have a small chance to profit — but even then, it will require extreme diligence and self-discipline. Also, it feels like the bull market is nearing its end, meaning even fewer opportunities ahead.

I don’t know exactly where the next opportunities will arise — my predictions are usually wrong — but I do know they likely won’t come from staking. Staking is more suited for a wealth management strategy, not high-risk, high-reward farming.

@y95277777

Airdrop farming will remain highly profitable in 2025. Many new Layer 1 chains and Perps protocols are emerging, and existing chains are undergoing 2.0 upgrades (e.g., Sonic, formerly Fantom), which are already running points and airdrop campaigns.

The Sonic DeFi ecosystem is incredibly strong, and with Andre Cronje (AC) backing it, I’m personally very bullish on Sonic this year.

@CryptoMelon365

I believe 2025 will be even better, because airdrop farming is essentially a “to-VC” industry — as long as VCs exist, there will always be a need for data manipulation and token distribution (airdrop allocations).

The best opportunities will likely be in Layer 1s, testnets, and other cost-efficient projects. Layer 1s tend to launch their tokens immediately upon going live, whereas Layer 2s do not always airdrop tokens, and their address saturation makes it much harder to farm large rewards.

“All-star” projects are also becoming extremely expensive to farm, making massive airdrop windfalls increasingly rare. If interactions cost $50–100 per action, it’s generally unwise to invest thousands of dollars into projects with uncertain futures.

Testnets and Galxe-based airdrop campaigns are still attractive because costs can be precisely calculated (e.g., RPC fees, gas costs, and farming expenses), returns are well-defined, and the risk-reward ratio is favorable.

@Hy78516012

I think there are definitely opportunities, and airdrop farming and zero-cost farming remain the best ways for retail investors with small capital to participate in the market — there’s no alternative.

Personally, I dislike staking, and I still see public chains as the best opportunity. I’m looking forward to the launch of the Monad testnet.

@Btc_Crush

Yes, there are opportunities, but the barriers are rising, making it much harder for retail farmers.

The days of easily farming huge profits with simple interactions are over — project teams are getting much smarter, and their Sybil detection is now stricter than how I used to avoid my high school teacher’s watchful eye.

That said, 2025 will still be profitable — but success will require a strategic approach. It’s no longer just about running multiple accounts; it’s about studying interaction patterns, building strong on-chain identities, and presenting yourself as a “high-quality user.”

At the end of the day, there will always be farming opportunities, but extracting value will only get harder.

@JiamigouCn

Before answering this question, let’s take a look at some authoritative data:

Electric Capital’s Developer Report shows that the number of new developers contributing code to crypto communities has been on the rise. During the 2017–2018 bull market, over 40,000 new developers joined the space and contributed code to projects or communities. In the 2021–2022 cycle, this number more than doubled, with over 100,000 developers entering the ecosystem.

Statista reports that global spending on blockchain solutions was projected to reach $15.9 billion in 2023, driving massive demand for Web3 developers. In the U.S. alone, software development jobs are expected to grow by 22% by 2030, while demand for Web3 developers is set to increase by 400%.

According to Hired, the average salary for developers ranges between $150,000 and $175,000, which is 20–30% higher than traditional software engineers. Web3 developers are now among the top-tier tech professionals, alongside AI engineers.

These are direct quotes from the reports, all of which can be easily verified.

Whether we look at the demand reflected in the labor market or the fair competition between top independent developers and tech giants, it’s clear that an endless stream of new innovations will continue to emerge. Each revolutionary concept has the potential to trigger massive wealth effects.

With so many DApps launching, the space requires a vast number of users. Ethereum currently has only around 10 million users, accounting for just 0.2% of the total internet population. Even if TON manages to convert just 1% of Telegram users, Web3 would still be a niche market.

In a limited user market, the increasing number of DApps means rising user acquisition costs for projects. In Web2, the cost of acquiring a single user for an app is around ¥100 (~$14 USD). In Web3, however, projects don’t need to pay intermediaries for user acquisition — instead, they distribute tokens directly to users.

This is precisely why, since 2021, almost all Web3 projects have allocated a significant portion of their token supply to community incentives — to enable a smoother cold start.

In essence, Web3’s growth is inseparable from community support, and a project’s approach to its community ultimately determines its token distribution. Moving forward, most projects will rely on community incentives as their primary growth strategy.

If There Are Opportunities in 2025, Will Retail Investors Still Have a Chance to Participate and Create Value? Or Will Only Professional Players and Studios Profit Through Advanced Sybil Evasion, Automation, and Programmatic Farming?

@adolyb2

There are still opportunities and value for retail farmers, but the difficulty will be much higher. Farming projects like ARB, OP, and STRK is basically over — these have been completely dominated by scripts.

We are now in the era of refined airdrop farming, where you must find your own competitive edge — whether that’s writing scripts, discovering promising projects, or having strong execution skills.

Of course, if you’re just aiming for small profits, it shouldn’t be too hard, but if you want to make serious money, you’ll need a solid strategy.

@y95277777

I believe the current farming environment will demand a more refined approach. Bulk farming is expensive, and once flagged as a Sybil, the losses can be devastating.

Precision farming not only helps avoid Sybil detection but also significantly increases airdrop weighting compared to low-guarantee accounts.

@CryptoMelon365

Sybil evasion and scripting automation are essential, along with fundamental tools like fingerprint browsers (e.g., Ads).

Project teams primarily use clustering algorithms for Sybil detection (see the review “Post-Mortem: Why I Was Flagged as a Sybil and Lost 1M LXP on Linea”).

One key takeaway is that automated interactions should always be supplemented with manual operations. Also, it’s crucial to prioritize multi-chain interactions — an address with mainnet transaction history is significantly more valuable than one without.

@Hy78516012

Retail investors must participate. As for professional players, their expertise varies widely — not all studios are highly skilled.

For retail investors, getting a share of the rewards requires extra effort — diversify your participation across multiple projects. Sooner or later, you’ll catch a big opportunity. Even with just one well-placed bet, the returns can exceed a regular salary.

@Btc_Crush

Retail investors still have opportunities, but they need to be smarter — blind farming won’t work anymore. Instead of creating 100 accounts to fight against Sybil defenses, it’s better to understand project logic and build high-quality accounts.

Nowadays, studios control hundreds or even thousands of accounts per person, making it impossible for regular users to compete on sheer volume. However, studios prioritize quantity over quality, which leaves room for retail farmers to take a more refined approach, such as:

● Using clean wallets linked to real social media accounts to improve account credibility.

● Positioning early in promising projects instead of competing with studios for high-profile airdrops.

● Engaging in high-quality DeFi and NFT ecosystems — not just performing interactions, but participating in real activities for greater long-term returns.

@JiamigouCn

Airdrops still offer profit opportunities, but different groups require different strategies. I categorize airdrop farmers into the following levels:

1.Those with capital but limited time or technical skills

When I say “capital,” I don’t mean hundreds of thousands or millions of RMB. I’m referring to users who can allocate up to ¥100,000 (~$14,000 USD) but have a stable job.

For these users, DeFi participation or exchange-based launchpools are better options. With proper strategies, an annualized return of 10–35% is still achievable.

For those who have some capital but little time, “trading-based airdrop farming” is a good alternative. This includes:

● Farming DEX trading volume

● Hedging trades on derivative platforms using two accounts or two exchanges to minimize losses

●

Examples of this include Blue, as well as past opportunities like Uniswap, Jupiter, dYdX, and 1INCH.

2.Those with plenty of time but little capital or technical skills

For example, let’s say you have ¥10,000 (~$1,500 USD) in disposable funds. This is a common starting amount for new entrants, but in the crypto space, it’s not much.

If you’re doing multi-account farming, you’ll likely only be able to participate in one farming cycle before gas fees deplete your budget.

At this stage, execution is everything. I classify testnet airdrops and NFT gaming under what I call the “zero-cost wealth-building phase.”

The key is to farm testnets, Odyssey campaigns, and zero-cost NFT mints in bulk to gradually build up capital. I’ve written several guides on this, so feel free to check them out.

Can You Share the Airdrop Farming Projects You Plan to Participate in or Are Currently Engaged in for 2025?

@adolyb2

Sahara, Monad, SXT (@SpaceandTimeDB)

@y95277777

Eclipse Yield Farming (@EclipseFND), Variational On-Chain Contracts (@variational_io), Meteora LP, Polymarket Prediction Markets

@CryptoMelon365

Monad, Kraken’s Layer 2 Ink (@inkonchain), Succinct (@SuccinctLabs), Sahara (@SaharaLabsAI), and other testnet projects

@Hy78516012

I will definitely participate in Monad. Additionally, I’m engaged in projects such as Linera, Sahara AI, Abstract, Eclipse, Yala Network, and several other niche projects, which I share on my Twitter.

@JiamigouCn

Airdrop projects with unclear incentive structures are generally red flags — they’re worse than gambling. At least in poker, you can gain an edge through strategy and skill, and even in baccarat, you can adjust based on betting patterns.

If a project can’t even lay out a clear community incentive plan, it’s probably not worth farming — interacting with such projects is a waste of both time and funds.

That being said, there are still many viable farming strategies to explore. Testnet airdrops are where I’ve deployed the most accounts. Currently, I’m farming:

Walrus Protocol, Monad, Eclipse, Sahara AI, Lens Protocol, Mind Network, MegaETH, Initia, Grass, Teaprotocol, Fragmetric, Abstract, Meteora, Silencio, AethirCloud, Natix, DAWN.

Other Insights

@adolyb2

I feel that many different approaches can also be considered airdrop farming. Some short-window opportunities, like ARC-20’s Atom, Binance Wallet’s Bid, or even Trump-related tokens, fall into this category.

Similarly, grinding for NFT whitelists or earning community roles can also be seen as a form of farming. You should choose a farming strategy based on your strengths and interests.

The best approach is to walk on two legs — diversify your strategies. Sometimes, you can farm for a long time without seeing returns, which can be really discouraging.

@CryptoMelon365

Memes are a zero-sum PvP game — you profit at someone else’s expense.

Airdrop farming, on the other hand, is PvE — it generates valuable on-chain data for VCs. The community is generally friendly and open to sharing information, unlike meme trading.

For newcomers, I highly recommend engaging, interacting, and actively learning from others.

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