Introduction

The term "Airdrop" in crypto refers to when an upcoming protocol distributes a coin/token to users who have proven themselves to be active participants in their ecosystem or neighboring ones. The distribution of tokens can be for various reasons, such as ensuring fair distribution of their governance token, marketing purposes, or community building. Farming these airdrops has proven to be a safe and consistent way to earn substantial rewards, even with limited initial capital.

In March, the Arbitrum airdrop rewarded thousands of individuals who engaged with their network. Active users were able to claim up to several ETH worth of tokens.

zkSync

zkSync is an L2 scaling solution utilizing zero-knowledge rollup technology, which aims to reduce fees on the blockchain by conducting computations off-chain while maintaining the same level of security as on-chain transactions. It is considered one of the most promising upcoming airdrops, and here's why:

• zkSync is poised to be among the first zero-knowledge rollups to launch on the mainnet.

• The project has raised nearly half a billion dollars through its funding rounds.

• zkSync is designed for hyperscalability, ensuring that as the number of transactions it processes increases, security and decentralization remain uncompromised.

Upcoming Airdrop

The zkSync has announced an upcoming airdrop of its proof-of-stake token, which will be utilized to enhance the security of the network. In an interview with The Block, Matter Labs CEO Alex Gluchowski indicated that the airdrop is anticipated to take place approximately one year from the time of the interview. As a result, we can expect the airdrop to occur in Q1 2024. Refer to the snippet below:

Criteria of Previous Large Airdrops

The criteria that have frequently determined eligibility for airdrops in the past will be carefully considered when creating the farming guide for zkSync. This list includes notable projects such as ENS, LooksRare, X2Y2, Optimism, Aptos, Uniswap, 1INCH, and others. The methods these airdrops employed to filter wallets will also be taken into account. The following criteria will be used for each wallet:

• Complete 100+ transactions on zkSync Era Mainnet.

• Conduct 25+ transactions on ETH Mainnet.

• Aiming for medium transaction volume (5k USD+)

• Participate in voting for multiple DAOs.

• Set up a multi-signature signer and use it to execute a transaction.

• Provide liquidity to various pools.

• Utilize multiple bridge services.

• Carry out transactions in 5 distinct months.

• Become a donor on Gitcoin.

Precautions to avoid sybiling detection:

• Refrain from creating all of your wallets simultaneously.

• Avoid funding each wallet with identical amounts of ETH.

• Utilize different centralized exchanges for funding wallets, such as Binance, Kucoin, Coinbase, Bybit, and Crypto.com (miserable experience). You can also use MEXC and Bitget.

• Vary the order in which you use protocols for each wallet.

• Execute transactions in different sequences across wallets.

• Refrain from sending ETH between your wallets. If a top-up is necessary, use a centralized exchange (CEX) instead.

• Although it is unlikely that Matter Labs will use IP address data (potentially obtained from certain protocols' websites or specific RPCs), consider using a more private RPC such as 1RPC for added privacy. I will not be using a VPN or different chrome profiles across wallets.

• If you are sending ETH to a CEX from your wallets, always check the receiving address in Etherscan to make sure it hasn’t received any from your other wallets. Bitget allows you to make up to 50 deposit addresses.

Farming Strategy

To maintain organization in managing multiple wallets, we will conduct transactions in cycles. An example of a cycle would be: withdrawing from an LP → swapping to a different token → contributing to another LP. The idea being that you are always doing the same amount of transactions on each wallet so you can have a good estimate of how many you have on all of them along with keeping a routine to make managing so many simple.

The Spreadsheet

I have taken the time to create a spreadsheet to keep track of your transactions across all networks on all of your wallets. It has links to all of the protocols we will be interacting with along with usage guides. Feel free to change any of the formulas in the spreadsheet as you see fit.

Whenever you use a wallet, go to the “Last Used” Column and press “CTRL + ;” and it will put the current date. After 4 days the date will be highlighted yellow and after 7 it will turn red. This allows you to know when the wallet hasn’t been active in a while.

Spreadsheet link:

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/16XI_EvMZi_p_VdOd2W11-BeF0RzNmo6pYxygmTI39gI/edit?usp=sharing

In order to make a copy, open the spreadsheet and go to File → Make a copy. This will save it to your google drive.

Final Tips

• I have heard rumors that you can apparently reduce gas usage by cutting down the gas usage by 60% when it appears in metamask but I have not been able to replicate it. Try experimenting as your results may vary.

• Be mindful that the gas shown in metamask is not going to all be used either way. If you check your transaction after it confirms you will find that it always uses 30%-70% less than what metamask said it will.

• Remain consistent and be mindful that the airdrop is likely still over 8 months away. Patience is key.

• As of now, gas on zkSync isn’t THAT cheap so you still need to be concious of what gas is on the mainnet as they are directly correlated.

Stay Updated

After finishing the spreadsheet, I've noticed that zkSync lacks a significant amount of stuff that was previously criteria for Airdrops. We would certainly benefit from additional NFT mints, another DAO, multi-sig signers, and more. Please note that I've omitted any gitcoin donations and mainnet activities. My reasoning is that mainnet farming won't be essential unless you notice a shortage of transactions later in the year. Ideally, our farming on other networks will contribute to the transactions of all wallets we utilize. Any additional zkSync protocols that I incorporate into the spreadsheet will be located on the far right, but I also encourage your contributions. If you are not in any mutual discord servers with me, feel free to DM me on twitter or discord (shady#5625).

Thanks for reading!

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