The End for Airdrops? Tom Schmidt Weighs In on SUI Controversy

Tom Schmidt, General Partner at Dragonfly, posited that airdrops might not be the future of crypto. Schmidt shared his thoughts during the Unchained Podcast Chopping Block at the 2023 Consensus Conference. Furthermore, Schmidt made these statements following the news of SUI deciding not to hold an airdrop for early adopters.

During the podcast segment moderated by Haseeb Qureshi, Schmidt stated his opinions in a discussion about the future of airdrops. Firstly, Schmidt mentioned that it was unclear how effective airdrops really were for marketing and distribution. Secondly, he wondered whether airdrop outcomes justified the efforts required to prevent Sybil attacks.

“Is this actually effective at either of the goals? I don’t know. Maybe this will be a new meta; a new way to do distribution going forward.”

In detail, a Sybil attack is when an attacker creates multiple fake identities or accounts known as Sybil nodes. These nodes are used in a network to gain control over it, manipulate its behavior, disrupt its operations, or influence its decision-making process.

On the other hand, Aptos Chief Architect Avery Ching defended the use of airdrops. According to Ching, while there were real tradeoffs regarding airdrops, they were also a way to reward community members as a sign of appreciation and goodwill for genuinely taking the time to understand the project.

Stop spreading nonsense. There is NO Sui Airdrop. Not planned or ever will be.

— Adeniyi Abiodun #SUI 🌊 (@EmanAbio) April 9, 2023

On April 10, Mysten Labs Co-Founder and CPO, Adeniyi Abiodun, controversially denied a Sui airdrop. Mysten Labs’ move went against the current culture of Layer-1 projects, which always included airdrops for early adopters. Reactions have been mixed, with some stating that SUI would fail, while others questioning whether airdrops need to be left in the past.

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