Airdrop season is in full swing, with apps, protocols, and other projects seizing upon bear market vibes to finally drop their tokens—and potentially reward millions of crypto users in the process.

What exactly is an airdrop, though? When it comes to crypto tokens, an airdrop is typically a way for a project to reward its early users and contributors by giving them a share of a newly launched token, all while spreading the tokens far and wide for decentralized governance.

When it comes to blockchain networks and tokens primed specifically for gaming, there are some pretty compelling airdrops on the horizon in the months ahead. Here’s a look at what’s coming for gamers—there may still be time to get involved and score some tokens ahead.

Off the Grid

Avalanche-based Off the Grid burst onto the scene after early access opened to the public in October, jumping to the top of the Epic Games Store’s top free titles chart in short order. Since that time, publisher Gunzilla Games partnered with Delphi Ventures to advise on the launch of a GUNZ Foundation, which will oversee the rollout of the GUN token.

The GUN token and GUNZ mainnet are expected to launch in Q1 2025, though no official details of the token eligibility and launch date have been finalized.

Farm Frens

The developer of Telegram game Farm Frens announced it will launch its unnamed token in January. The token will launch on the Ethereum layer-2 network Base and maintain a connection to Farm Frens and Evereseed, an upcoming tower defense game built by the developers on Base.

Token specifics have not yet been shared, but allocations for Farm Frens players will be provided based on the number of Nuts, Dirt, and Dung accrued in-game. The Everseed allotment will be based on the amount of Everseed Ranger, Sprout, and Diddit NFTs held. No official airdrop date has been set.

Wanderers

Sci-fi dungeon crawler Wanderers will launch its WANDER token on January 8. Arriving in partnership with Treasure DAO, WANDER will debut on Base and power the entire Wanderers ecosystem, beyond its existing game.

Any users that engaged with Wanderers in the past may be eligible for the upcoming drop or future WANDER airdrops. WanderCorp, the entity launching the WANDER token, recently released a rank checker to those seeking clarity on their eligibility.

Zoo

Telegram game Zoo—sort of a streamlined take on Microsoft’s classic Zoo Tycoon—will launch its upcoming ZOO token after its mining period ends on January 31. Until then, users can acquire in-game ZOO which will eventually turn into tokens at a 1:1 ratio. Players can boost their Zoo earnings by buying and feeding animals, upgrading enclosures, and completing quests daily.

Onchain Heroes

Onchain Heroes, a fully on-chain idle RPG, told its followers that “REDACTED” would come with the launch of Abstract mainnet, the layer-2 network from the Pudgy Penguins parent company that is expected to go live in January 2025.

Though no name is set for the token, it’s expected to be distributed to holders of the Onchain Heroes Genesis Rings NFT, which previously launched on the Ethereum blockchain.

Cat Gold Miner

Cat Gold Miner will launch its CATGOLD token on January 9. The token will be provided to those collecting NFT vouchers during an exclusive event running from January 2-6. Operating in a first-come, first-served manner, those collecting NFT vouchers via Cat Gold Miner will split a pool of 300 million CATGOLD tokens.

The CATGOLD token will launch on The Open Network (TON).

TapSwap

Tap-to-earn game TapSwap will launch its TAPS token sometime in the second half of January. The developers claim that the TAPS token will become critical to the TapSwap ecosystem moving forward, which is pivoting focus to prioritize skill-based gaming.

Airdrop eligibility will be determined based on a player’s overall engagement and frequency with TapSwap and its city-builder game mode. The upcoming token airdrop will take place on the Open Network (TON).

Captain Tsubasa: Rivals

Soccer-themed tap-to-earn game Captain Tsubasa: Rivals racked up millions of players after its launch on Telegram, and soon it will airdrop its JOHN token to some of them.

Users are expected to earn allotments of the JOHN token, which will likely launch on TON, based on criteria like the total accumulated soccer balls in game, unlocked players and levels, and how many tasks they’ve completed. No official date for the airdrop has been provided but announcements indicate it is “coming soon.”

Seed

Seed, a Telegram game in which you plant trees, earn seeds, and care for birds, is set to launch its SEED token on January 15. Unlike many other popular Telegram games, Seed is choosing to launch its upcoming NFTs and token on Sui’s layer-1 blockchain.

The community will receive 70% of the total SEED supply, rewarding current players and future activations in the Seed Ecosystem.

InfiniGods

Mobile gaming studio InfiniGods is preparing for the launch of its GOD token on the Ethereum mainnet. While no launch date has been provided, a total supply of 777.77 million tokens has been announced alongside token utility like crafting, in-app purchases, and more.

Users can prepare for the GOD token by owning InfiniGods NFTs or completing quests hosted by the Valhalla Foundation, the organization overseeing the launch of the token.

In December, InfiniGods made headlines when it paid $1 million in an auction to acquire the GOD ticker on Hyperliquid, allowing it to eventually utilize the ticker on the Hyperliquid Exchange upon launch.

Rumble Kong League

With its iOS and Android basketball game soft-launched in mobile app stores, Rumble Kong League is gearing up for a January or February launch for its FAME token.

The token will be made available to those earning in-game, utilizing the now-popular “play-to-airdrop” mechanics which will reward those playing the RKL basketball game in-app with the eventual FAME token.

FAME will have a supply of 7 billion total tokens, with 30% earmarked for the community airdrop, staking, and other rewards. Rumble Kong League is being built on Avalanche, so we currently expect FAME to launch on AVAX.

Editor’s note: This story was originally published on December 27, 2023 and was last updated with new info on January 4, 2025.

Hyperliquid, a decentralized perpetuals exchange, is challenging the conventional wisdom that venture capital is essential for success in crypto. Instead, it claims it’s relying on its touted tech and community-first approach.

The DEX’s Hyper Foundation, which oversees development, announced Thursday its token generation event, slated for early Friday at 2:30 AM ET,  alongside an airdrop.

Over the past year, Hyperliquid has expanded from an exchange into a “full financial system,” claiming its liquidity now “rivals” that of “top exchanges,” its foundation said Thursday on X, formerly Twitter. 

In October, Hyperliquid surpassed Jupiter and SynFutures, clocking a record $1.39 billion in daily trading volume, DeFiLlama derivatives data shows. 

“The HYPE genesis event marks a key milestone in the journey, unlocking core functionality at every level of the stack,” it said.

Based on data from Aevo, a derivatives tracking platform, Hyperliquid has a projected valuation of $3 billion. At that valuation, the planned 310 million HYPE tokens allocated for the 31% community airdrop would be worth nearly $1 billion, marking Hyperliquid’s “genesis event” as one of the largest in DeFi, the project claims.

Once launched, the HYPE token will integrate directly into Hyperliquid’s core operations, the project said. Decrypt has reached out to Hyperliquid to learn more.

Beyond traditional governance roles, the token will also provide functionality for staking and transaction fees while enabling direct USDC trading pairs on the platform’s spot market.

What’s different?

Hyperliquid runs on a blockchain designed specifically for high-speed trading and financial applications. The platform uses HyperBFT, a proof-of-stake system that can process transactions almost instantly while maintaining security through network consensus.

The project is currently ranked as the top decentralized exchange for derivatives, posting $1.6 billion in 24-hour volume, according to data from DeFiLllama. Its all-time volume sits at roughly $428 billion.

Hyperliquid said in a blog post on Thursday there would be “no allocations for private investors, centralized exchanges, or market makers,” an approach that departs from how other projects typically allocate during launch, which often includes significant portions reserved for early backers and project leaders. 

“No investors. No paid market makers. No fees to any company. Community first,” Hyperliquid claims on its website. 

Still, roughly 24% of the tokens will be allocated to current and future core contributors of the network, and a further 6% will go towards the “Hyper Foundation budget,” the exchange said.

Edited by Sebastian Sinclair

It’s turkey time, and you know what that means: mountains of food, lots of reclining, and endless conversations with family members who describe what you do in passing as “computers.”

Well, dear reader, fear not because this year won’t be like the last few Thanksgivings. Crypto isn’t in the depths of a bear market, and your cousin doesn’t think you’re a crook anymore. 

Now crypto is ascending again—and everyone wants financial advice, just like Thanksgiving from three years ago.  

Below is a compiled list of handy talking points for your crypto-curious relatives, covering the industry’s most significant, recent developments. Stick to the facts, avoid shilling meme coins to the elderly, and you’ll be cruising to pie in no time.

Bitcoin just hit an all-time high price—why?

Bitcoin came within a few hundred bucks of the vaunted $100,000 milestone last week, and while the price has retreated a bit recently, it returned above $97,000 earlier Wednesday.

What’s driving the demand that’s pushed Bitcoin’s price record in recent weeks? Institutional and retail investors have expressed optimism that there will soon be a more favorable regulatory climate for digital assets in the U.S.

That’s thanks to the victory of self-proclaimed crypto enthusiast Donald Trump, along with the election of the most pro-crypto Congress to date.

Meanwhile, institutional investors’ forays into spot Bitcoin ETFs have also given traders reason to be optimistic, pumping up the price of Bitcoin over the year. In short, Bitcoin is more “legit” than ever in the eyes of Wall Street and politicians.

ETFs have made crypto investing simpler and safer

Your folks may have heard that BlackRock and Fidelity—which may be managing their pensions—are now involved in Bitcoin. What are these two Wall Street giants doing with crypto? Well, you can explain: They swallowed the orange pill. 

OK, so you probably don’t need to use Crypto Twitter jargon. Still, you can tell them that traditional finance bigwigs now offer exposure to the two largest digital assets, Bitcoin and Ethereum, via exchange-traded funds (ETFs).

Thanks to long-awaited SEC approvals this year, top fund managers who manage different ETFs now let ordinary investors buy shares that track the price of the two via brokerage accounts. Even your technophobic aunt can down the orange pill with a couple of taps on her phone.

Crypto could flourish further under Trump

On the campaign trail this year, Trump made lots of promises about lots of things, including crypto. And while it remains to be seen whether he will live up to many of those commitments, signals are already indicating that he may be holding up the crypto end of the bargain—which could be a massive development for the industry. 

First things first: last week, the president-elect nominated Scott Bessent as his Treasury Secretary. Bessent, a billionaire hedge fund manager, has indicated he’d back Trump’s proposal to establish a Bitcoin federal reserve. The plan would see the U.S. buy billions of dollars’ worth of Bitcoin to diversify its reserves. 

Think of it this way: If your uncle says Bitcoin has no real value, you might soon be able to tell him the U.S. government backs the asset.

Pair that with Trump’s plans to unwind the SEC’s aggressive crypto crackdown completely, plus his oath to get the Republican-controlled House and Senate to approve laws that would firmly legalize most crypto activity swiftly, and it’s no wonder crypto has exploded in recent weeks. Experts say the market still has much, much higher to climb in the coming months, too.

Elon Musk’s D.O.G.E. is a real thing

The world’s richest man, Elon Musk, now has a role in Trump’s government: The Tesla CEO will lead the Department of Governmental Efficiency (D.O.G.E.) with billionaire Vivek Ramaswamy to supposedly clear up the bureaucracy. 

What’s that got to do with crypto, though? Well, the new department’s acronym matches the ticker of Dogecoin, the original and most meme coin. That’s probably not a coincidence.

Elon Musk has for years spoken—and tweeted—about how it’s his favorite coin. This earned him the “Dogefather” title on Twitter, now called X, after he acquired the platform. While we can’t be 100% sure of the naming origins, Trump is selling a DOGE-themed t-shirt featuring himself, Musk, and a Shiba Inu—the mascot of Dogecoin.

Anyone can create a coin—and millions are trading

Don’t want to decide between Bitcoin or Ethereum? If you’d instead launch your own token, you can now do it much more efficiently than ever.

One of the most significant innovations from the most recent crypto cycle has been the creation of token launchpads, or platforms that allow anyone to near-instantly create a token with a few clicks and for a few cents worth of crypto.

The most notable launchpad, Pump.fun, a Solana-based platform, has given rise to some of the most memorable tokens from this cycle. Nearly four million tokens have been created on Pump.fun this year, ranging from animal tokens that have provided early traders with significant riches to those launched by crypto-curious celebrities like musician Iggy Azalea. 

It’s getting easier to handle crypto

Crypto’s adoption barriers keep getting knocked down. Consumers now have a wide breadth of mobile app options to buy, sell, and interact with a variety of platforms.

Plus, the rise in smart wallets, which drastically simplify the onboarding process, is making it easier to get those previously intimidated by the technical complexities of crypto to participate on-chain. 

With the launch of Ethereum and Bitcoin ETFs, those looking to gain crypto exposure have more traditional financial options. That option didn’t exist in the U.S. last Thanksgiving.

Tread carefully: Scams are still abundant

Are you looking to dive head-first into crypto? Not so fast—you’ll first want to get your sea legs. 

The crypto industry is rife with scams, and a seemingly innocuous link to an airdrop could lead you to a wallet drainer: Say goodbye to all your coins! 

Even if you manage to keep your crypto out of scammers’ grips, there’s no guarantee you’ll be able to keep your holdings from going to zero. Not many people make money trading crypto, and much fewer are getting rich off of it. Up to 80% of day traders lose money over time, according to a report published in The Journal of Finance.

It’s still incredibly easy to lose your shirt in crypto, whether by clicking a malicious link or betting on highly volatile coins. For newcomers, you’re probably best suited to sticking to the most significant coins via apps like Coinbase, Robinhood, Cash App, or buying into ETFs. 

Want to go deeper? Be very careful—you’ll be thankful in the long run.

Written by Sander Lutz, Elizabeth Napolitano, Mat Di Salvo, and Logan Hitchcock

Edited by Sebastian Sinclair