# Read this if you’re tired of KOLs stealing your airdrops

By [Signal Compounders](https://paragraph.com/@fipcrypto) · 2025-11-18

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You’re losing airdrops not because you’re unlucky, but because you’re playing a rigged game.

The same scenario plays out every single time:

You get nothing while KOLs are flexing their max allocations.

No matter how much effort you put in, there’s nothing to show for.

Instead of complaining when insiders ‘win again’, focus on value creation to stand out from 99% of other crypto users.

These are the 3 mindset shifts I use to earn airdrops _without_ being a KOL:

* * *

The game will never, ever be fair
---------------------------------

There will always be someone ahead of you.

Even those who you think deserve it less than you.

![](https://storage.googleapis.com/papyrus_images/d9ff40a19f6070e6f7cfe061fd3a4d698b91e02fdbdce2a738b7bfe4cd76f5d1.jpg)

  

And when the allocation checker comes out, it feels like the project hates you.

You did X, Y, and Z.

Another wallet only did A.

KOLs with practically zero onchain activity get in, even when they’re promoting scams.

![](https://storage.googleapis.com/papyrus_images/86e8de1a1f4a5bff42ee4aac81777d63efffaf3aecdc1c278725ff1f3b471895.jpg)

So why is it that they were eligible but you aren’t?

**The game will always be rigged against you.**

_Especially if you have no insider info and are just someone who’s trying to find their footing here._

That’s the reality that we have to accept, or we’ll continue blaming everything else except ourselves.

I’ve resigned to the fact that I will never get into the cabal to extract as much as possible.

But that’s perfectly fine.

My goal is not to make millions of dollars in a year:

I just need to make enough from crypto to live a content and comfortable life.

And I’m building this with a mindset shift:

* * *

Focus on what you can control
-----------------------------

We have absolutely zero control over the outcome.

There is no way that we’ll know the allocation we receive for the effort that we put in.

And because we have no control, we get frustrated when the outcome does not meet our expectations.

But instead, I’m focusing on the inputs:

*   What projects do I choose to interact with
    
*   How much effort do I put into interacting with them (both onchain and social)
    

Time is our ultimate enemy, and every action we take has to optimise for time.

That’s why [judgment](https://x.com/fipcrypto/status/1977742200651096135) becomes the key factor in airdrops:

We need to interact with projects that give the best ROI based on our time and capital constraints.

I will cover every base on the projects that I have conviction in.

This leads me to miss multiple airdrops, especially those ‘easy wins’ where you just have to yap mindlessly.

**But that’s fine, because all we need is one good drop.**

There will always be other opportunities, and it’s all about positioning for them.

And it doesn’t help when we’re doing this either:

* * *

Comparing with others destroys your mental health
-------------------------------------------------

It sucks that everyone else seems to be winning, except for you.

They’re all flexing their wins while you have nothing to show for.

Many were wondering why some accounts received certain MegaETH allocations while they got nothing.

But that’s besides the point:

Comparing with others just [kills our mental health](https://x.com/fipcrypto/status/1959970937983443450):

There will always be someone who does better than we do.

So instead, I’m comparing against myself and finding ways to refine my strategy for future airdrops and presales.

![](https://storage.googleapis.com/papyrus_images/9e4f2ba85d676c176eea889f7b833d4caa99adf46b1bbf2584a4df72e440d692.jpg)

The exact same thing happened when ZKsync’s airdrop was out:

Many claimed it was an ‘influencer’ airdrop because many big accounts got the max allocation.

![](https://storage.googleapis.com/papyrus_images/6ab1394503f5d82a12f70fd1b97fb06e501f0001c998047eabf063c66119f2d4.jpg)

_Which is funny since there was no way of connecting the social account to a user’s wallet at that time._

I received multiple negative comments because I shared my Wenser stats and some said that they had better stats than me and received nothing.

![](https://storage.googleapis.com/papyrus_images/81f6dc0fdb55d837b71bb1a8b43391c1a0e69f6a5f91844dccef4ca433b2fd11.jpg)

The timeline was full of negative emotions, but I still stick to the fact that the TWAB criterion was easy to hit.

Negative emotions lead to poor judgment, so I’m cutting out all comparisons.

The time spent wondering what others are doing is wasted.

Instead, focus on this principle:

* * *

Give value first to receive value
---------------------------------

The days of vanity metrics are over.

Airdrops and presales no longer care about how many transactions you did or followers you have.

Anyone can game these metrics, except for value:

[Projects are looking to find the most aligned individuals to allocate their tokens to.](https://x.com/fipcrypto/status/1986805164615901586)

And not those who would dump immediately upon claiming.

So we have to prove that we deserve these allocations by giving value.

_The projects get to decide what are the most valuable contributions and will reward them accordingly._

Farming no longer works because we’re just spamming multiple low-value wallets that get filtered out.

So it’s all about building a strong reputation.

* * *

You can either give up or take action
-------------------------------------

Of course, it’s ‘easy’ for me to say all of this because I got an allocation from MegaETH.

But I will continue to say this even if I were ineligible.

I’ve had my fair share of failures before getting the MegaETH allocation:

*   Not signing the Hyperliquid Terms of Use
    
*   Ineligible for Monad, even with a decently strong footprint
    

My point is that this is the new reality of airdrops:

It is impossible to get every single one, and there’ll be plenty of failures along the way.

You could choose to quit and complain about your fate, or continue playing this game the smarter way.

It will always be rigged against you, because the KOLs will always be favoured.

![](https://storage.googleapis.com/papyrus_images/d8a42530c4ffb7c40d3f814cbdaaca06d63a5d1a633beda8adc10efe48e5e317.jpg)

  

But instead of being yet another engagement farmer on the timeline:

**Look to provide real value to others and receive value in return.**

But I am not by any means a KOL.

My growth has stagnated considerably, and I barely earn any Yaps.

I started from literally nothing in 2023 to reach this state (and it’s far from my full potential).

You could either complain that you need connections to get airdrops now, or start building a high-value profile that attracts these connections.

![](https://storage.googleapis.com/papyrus_images/cc0f4a31a3167468a4f3fd9b322f8b0f965cce3d63f62da3acba30044c638ea2.jpg)

It’s all about positioning yourself in the best way to take advantage of every new opportunity:

I do this by saying what I did onchain.

I try new things and document both my actions and results to build credibility.

The future of airdrops and presales belongs to those with a strong social and onchain footprint.

_And I’m building both as a_ [_Signal Creator_](https://insights.fipcrypto.com/p/the-7-core-principles-to-build-long)_._

* * *

If you are tired of mindless grinding for airdrops, build a reputation that compounds (instead of burning out), and earn rewards just by being yourself:

[Join the 30-Day Signal Creator Challenge here.](https://moonpay.hel.io/x/30-day-signal-creator-challenge)

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*Originally published on [Signal Compounders](https://paragraph.com/@fipcrypto/read-this-if-youre-tired-of-kols-stealing-your-airdrops)*
