A breakdown of my ZRO airdrop as the top 1.46%:

Not the best, not the worst, but definitely some lessons to be learned.

Here are my key takeaways from the @LayerZero_Labs airdrop:

My ZRO Airdrop Stats

I received 374.17 ZRO with these stats on my main wallet:

• 406 transactions

• 55 chains interacted

• Qualified for > 10 protocol RFPs

• Fees spent: $210.66 (based on Dune)

My core allocation was 237.68 ZRO, and I received 136.5 extra ZRO from these RFPs:

• @gasdotzip (Inscription + Reload User): 30.12

• Polyhedra ZK LightClient: 17.94

• CoreDao users: 16.42

• Orderly: 11.45

• Stargate: 9.66 (based on Bridge, LP, and using Sushi/Socket/Decent)

• Hubble: 8.88

• @merkly_com: 8.09

• Holograph (lol): 5.33

• Omniart: 4.01

• Telos Bridge user: 3.56

• CygnusDAO LP (no idea how I got this): 3.41

• @L2Marathon: 2.94

• ZKPENGZ holder: 1.77

• @gravitaprotocol: 1.73

• @layer3xyz: 1.55

• @magpieprotocol user: 1.3

• @Fuse_network user: 1.17

• @clustersxyz: 1.07

• Steakhut: 0.97

• Hourglass: 0.75

• Gameswift (Modular Saga + Bridge + Staker): 0.68

• Swell swETH holders (Arbitrum): 0.61

• StakeStone Stakers: 0.59

• Maverick: veMAV holder: 0.4

• Harmony bridge user: 0.38

• MintDAO bridger: 0.37

• l2telegraph: 0.28

• Star Protocol cross-chain users: 0.24

• Ethena holder: 0.21

• Omnihub: 0.17

• Aptos Bridge user: 0.15

• @superformxyz: 0.15

So on and so forth (the rest are too insignificant).

We do not know the exact criteria.

But a significant chunk of my transactions were 'valueless', so that could be the reason why my allocation may be 'lower than expected':

Transaction Criteria Discussion

I was eligible for the late bonus (+ 10 ZRO), but missed out on the early transaction 3x multiplier.

I missed the early multiplier because I only started being serious about airdrops after Arbitrum.

Am I Happy with This Airdrop?

ZRO was meant to give everyone life-changing money.

But it was massively overfarmed, so the allocation was massively diluted.

So I have to accept the fact that only top users will get solid allocations.

But overall, I still see this as a win.

I used LayerZero when interacting with these 8 tokenless protocols:

• Orderly

• Hubble (deprecated)

• Gravita

• Layer3

• Magpie

• Fuse (currently in airdrop Season 2)

• Superform

• Holograph (which I couldn't claim)

So I can't complain about this allocation at all.

I even received a decent gas fee refund for using Polyhedra's zkLightClient (lol).

As I'm getting > 2x the fees I spent while increasing my on-chain footprint on multiple protocols.

Lessons I've Learned from ZRO

1. Be Early

Using a protocol in its early stages always pays off big time.

Previously, I used a non-Ledger wallet for my DeFi activities, and I interacted with LayerZero for the Polyhedra airdrop.

I received 35.2 ZRO which I cannot complain about since it gives me a decent gas refund.

In hindsight, I should have pushed more LayerZero transactions with this wallet.

2. Be Adventurous

My RFP allocations were solid just by interacting with the LayerZero ecosystem.

Some of my allocations came from projects which I'm sure few interacted with:

• Core

• Gas.zip

• Telos Bridge

• Hubble

My only regret is that I did not explore the LayerZero ecosystem even more as there were many protocols with decent RFP allocations.

Infra plays are my greatest conviction now, and we've seen how infra projects award tokens if you're an active user of their ecosystem.

Before ZRO, another decent infra drop I received was from PYTH.

Your on-chain footprint is the single greatest asset to receive the next wave of airdrops.

With so many tokenless infra projects popping up given the rise of L2s/L3s:

I want to interact with as many protocols as I can to increase my chances of future airdrops.

My greatest conviction is the Optimism Superchain, and I'll share my strategy for that soon.

3. Be Organic

ZK and ZRO ushered in the new airdrop meta:

Prioritising real users.

Gone are the days of spamming transactions and getting airdrops.

Projects want to reward real users while removing bots.

I didn't farm LayerZero hard by spamming transactions over and over again.

But I used it as needed:

• Bridging to other chains with Jumper/Bungee

• Completing Layer3 quests

• Depositing funds to Orderly

As @arjunnchand mentioned: airdrop farmers are future DeFi power users.

DeFi Power Users

So long as you interact with projects organically, you will be rewarded.

My Plan Moving Forward

Am I still going to use LayerZero?

Whenever I need to.

I foresee a mass exodus and a huge dip in daily users after this 'disappointing' airdrop.

But I'm certain that some Layer3 quests will require me to interact with LayerZero.

And once bridge aggregators like @JumperExchange and @BungeeExchange integrate @StargateFinance V2:

I pay significantly lower fees while interacting with 2 protocols with airdrop potential.

Maintain a strong on-chain footprint, and you will be rewarded.

Thanks for reading!

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