From everyone participating to no one caring: Web3 projects are being backfired by the "Airdrop Hunter" culture.

Web3 projects originally intended to attract users through "Airdrops," but it has evolved into attracting a large number of users with no real retention, termed "Airdrop Hunters." This phenomenon is backfiring on the entire ecosystem, causing project teams to incur high costs without winning loyal users, which is worth our deep reflection. This article is derived from a piece written by Old Wang from off-chain, organized, translated, and written by Foresight News. (Background summary: Airdrop hunter list: Top ten "worth cultivating" potential protocols this year) (Background supplement: After three months of wash trading, only ten dollars earned: The golden age of airdrops has passed) Everywhere, people are munching away, and everyone seems indifferent to the project itself. The project teams still haven't realized how the munching is backfiring on them. Once upon a time, "Airdrops" and "Incentives" were the magic that turned stones into gold in the Web3 world, the elixir to kickstart the growth flywheel for project teams. From DeFi to NFT, and then to various emerging public chains, the model of "participation equals rewards" attracted a large number of users, creating one traffic myth after another. However, when the magic wand is swung excessively, and the slogan of "everyone participates" echoes throughout the skies, we awkwardly discover that beneath the stage, the indifference of "no one cares" is spreading. This growth remedy is quietly turning into poison. Project teams are intoxicated by short-term data prosperity but have yet to see clearly that the "Airdrop Hunters" they have nurtured themselves are undermining the very foundation of the ecosystem from within. The alienation of incentives: When communities become temporary mining farms. The core of the problem lies in the fact that the incentive mechanism has transformed from "an invitation for value co-creation" into "a signal gun for zero-sum games." In the ideal Web3 model, early contributors grow together with projects through participation in testing, promoting content, and providing liquidity, ultimately sharing the fruits of success. This is a positive cycle based on value recognition. But today’s "Airdrop" culture has completely distorted this logic. User behavior is no longer guided by "using the product" or "recognizing the concept," but has been simplified into a set of quantifiable "wash trading" operations aimed at maximizing profits. Communities are no longer homes for ideological collisions and cultural sedimentation, but temporary mining farms. Miners (, namely Airdrop Hunters ), swarm in, completing tasks according to a predetermined script, and once the rewards are in hand, they quickly withdraw to seek the next target. What have project teams gained? A bunch of addresses with almost no real retention, one-time on-chain interaction data, and a "hollow community" facing huge selling pressure after the token launch. They have paid a high price for traffic but have never truly won users. The platform's dilemma: When revenues sharply decline, rules become ineffective. As a bridge between project teams and users, platforms like Kaito, which fall under InfoFi (, first felt this chill. They were once the darlings of this wave, but are now facing three significant challenges, heralding the end of an era: Revenue model collapse: For content creators, the allure of the game is rapidly diminishing. Once upon a time, 1-2 months of deep participation could yield four to five-figure earnings, but now, even investing six months of effort, a three-digit income is common. The meager token allocation ratio, coupled with often low valuations at the time of project launch, renders the input-output ratio unattractive. When the platform's returns are even less than the direct commercial collaboration between KOLs and project teams, the highest quality creators and users will vote with their feet. Rules are ineffective: In response to AI-generated content and script wash trading, platforms are forced to raise participation thresholds. This is a reluctant move to improve quality, but it unexpectedly "collaterally damages" a large number of genuine small and medium users, even affecting top accounts. This kind of "one-size-fits-all" reform not only fails to effectively filter loyal users but accelerates the disintegration of the community. The platform finds itself in a dilemma: lowering the threshold risks content quality, while tightening the threshold leads to ecological desolation. Strategic shift: A more dangerous signal is that the platform itself is also "fleeing." When platforms like Kaito start to shift their focus towards "Capital Launchpad," it is akin to announcing that their core content incentive business is no longer flourishing. When a platform that should attract projects through a "creator leaderboard" instead needs to use a Launchpad to bind project teams, this itself is a silent denial of its main business. The arrival of the endgame: Decentralization and the return to direct cooperation. One of the most attractive features of Web3 is its potential for "decentralization," and this feature is now ironically backfiring against those incentive platforms that should have become "super intermediaries." Project teams are not fools. When they realize that conducting broad-based marketing through platforms incurs high costs with minimal effect, a more classical and efficient model arises—direct cooperation with KOLs. Once project teams complete the initial connection with influential KOLs through the platform, subsequent cooperation can completely bypass the platform. This is akin to the Zhu Bajie Network of the Web2 era; once employers and service providers establish contact, they gain a direct communication channel. Recently revealed tables by ZachXBT starkly highlight this: project teams are willing to pay far more for direct cooperation with KOLs than for platform incentives. Saying goodbye to false prosperity, returning to value itself. The era of "everyone participates" is coming to an end, leaving behind a mess and a profound reflection on the word "growth." For Web3 project teams, this is undoubtedly painful but also a precious opportunity for awakening. The true moat has never depended on the false data piled up by short-term incentives, but rather stems from the irreplaceability of the product itself, the strong cohesion of community culture, and the true practice of the core spirit of Web3. The backlash of Airdrop Hunters has sounded the alarm. It is time to say goodbye to the blind worship of "growth hackers" and stop using tokens to buy those "users" that will never belong to you. The future of Web3 marketing must shift from "how to attract a group of speculators" to "how to co-create a home with true believers." Related reports: Blue-chip NFT CyberKongz launches new $KONG token to replace $BANANA, airdropping 2% to the Ethereum community. Binance Charity will airdrop $1.2 million worth of BNB to "disaster victims in southern Taiwan due to flooding." OpenSea token airdrop needs to test "loyalty": cutting suckers and long-term traders will vary greatly. This article was first published in BlockTempo, the most influential blockchain news media.