Airdrop: What Is a crypto Airdrop?

A​ ​crypto airdrop​ ​is​ ​when​ ​a​ ​blockchain project distribute​s free​ ​tokens or​ ​coins to​ ​the​ crypto ​community.
To ​ ​be​ ​a​ ​recipient​ ​of​ ​an​ crypto ​airdrop often​ ​the​ ​only ​ ​requirement​ ​is​ ​that​ ​you​ ​have​ ​coins from the relevant blockchain stored​ ​in​ ​your​ ​wallet. It seems that every day a company launches an Initial Coin Offering (ICO). It is much harder to stand out with how many are out there. Instead of ruthlessly promoting themselves all over the internet, the team behind the new ICO will look at the blockchain of an already established token and gather up every person who has that coin in their wallets. They will then distribute an amount of their token in proportion to the amount that you hold.

Other crypto airdrops require social media posts or you need to contact a member of the team on the Bitcointalk forum. These projects use an airdrop as a marketing campaign.
The​ ​format​ ​of​ ​these​ crypto ​giveaways​ ​is​ ​usually​ ​like​ ​this:​ ​At​ ​a​ ​pre-announced​ ​time​ ​the​ ​project​ ​behind the​ ​event​ ​will​ ​take​ ​a​ ​”snapshot” ​of​ ​the ​ ​blockchain,​ ​and​ ​anyone​ ​holding​ ​Ether or Bitcoin​ ​at​ ​that ​ ​point​ ​will​ ​receive​ ​a certain number​ ​of​ ​free​ ​tokens.​ ​This can also be done on other blockchains, but Ethereum and Bitcoin are the most used for this airdrop format.
Another possible way to get free crypto is a faucet. This means you get a small amount of free crypto for a longer period of time.

A fork of an existing coin can also grant you an equal amount of the new coin, a recent example is when BitCoin Cash was created and all holders of Bitcoin received the same amount in Bitcoin cash