# Stack Digest #4 - Airdrops are cooked

> Recognizing and rewarding the relationships that matter

**Published by:** [Stack Digest](https://paragraph.com/@stack/)
**Published on:** 2024-07-12
**URL:** https://paragraph.com/@stack/stack-digest-4

## Content

👋 Welcome! The Stack digest is a weekly newsletter about loyalty programs, points, and roundup on all things Stack enjoyed in 5 mins or less.What's covered 👇 🤑 Airdrops are cooked - bradorbradley.eth's take on how we went from "surprise and delight" to "disappointing expectation" 📰 Points meta must-reads - why points are here to stay and how to make sense of them from Arthur Hayes, Kenton.eth, and Graeme Boy (Stack's founder and CEO)🤔 Stack.so what? Stack enables anyone to create and manage a loyalty points program onchain. Our mission is to recognize and reward the relationships that matter. Stack is for creators, communities, applications, and businesses of all types, stages, and budgets. 🤑 Airdrops are cookedRemember when you were actually surprised to receive an airdrop? The delight you felt? I remember my first airdrop like it was yesterday. I had claimed bradorbradley.eth (because bradley.eth and brad.eth were already taken) and exploded with joy when I learned that I had earned a few thousand dollars in $ENS for being an early adopter. It was a bull market, dopamine levels were off the charts, everyone felt like Sergito: Sergito | Popset @sergitosergito I would pay anything to feel that Summer of 2021 dopamine rush once again. Don't care if prices dont ever move again. Just give me that rush of blood to the head, the feeling of euphoria, the 24-hour high, the day-long smile. Inject that shit into my veins one last time. 211 10:58 AM • Jul 8, 2024 Fast-forward to today and airdrops are expected, and more often than not, a disappointment. It feels like airdrop farmers far outweigh the number of "real users" who are authentically interested in - and excited by - the projects they engage with. At the same time, it seems like many crypto projects have deprioritized, if not outright abandoned, building products for people that might actually value on merit over potential financial upside. Anna 🍄 @basilda_a I've been in closed Monad telegram for several months. This was the worst community experience I've seen. Back to school kind of vibes. Ppl are pushed to grind as slaves for potential airdrop and do some dumb assignments every week. I've been purged from telegram once… 1,307 5:49 AM • Jul 9, 2024 In 2024 we find ourselves in a dynamic where: Supposedly-innovative infra projects build faux-communities of mostly-farmersFarmers, project teams, and VCs/investors build hype to convince others the community is authentic and durableProject airdrops token, everyone cashes out immediately, and the "community" is revealed to be the same group of profit-maximizing farmers from the previous airdropThis coordinated pump-and-dump scheme is nothing new, but the playbook seems to be decreasingly effective with each successive attempt. Farmers must continually lower their expectations due to disappointing returns, as illustrated by the June '24 Blast airdrop, Bcheque shared:That's why I am declaring the airdrop playbook of the last several years officially, finally - cooked. While few dispute that tokens and airdrops will continue to play a key role in the onchain economy, many are looking for solutions to make airdrops great / surprising/ effective/ meaningful/ useful again. Many crypto KOLs believe points will play an important role in the next era of airdrops and token distributions and help solve some of the problems outlined above. Check them out below 👇 -bradorbradley.ethPoints meta must-reads👉 Pointenomics 101 - Kenton.eth shares an in-depth analysis of how a new era of digital loyalty is dawning in Web3, powered by innovative point systems. kenton.eth @KentonPrescott Points aren't going anywhere. Lean into the meta and learn how to best leverage them in a first-of-its-kind guide to Pointenomics mirror.xyz/kenton.eth/WLQ… Inspired by chats with point issuers and research into 20+ point programs, this 3700-word essay unveils the benefits,… mirror.xyz Pointenomics 101: Mastering the Crypto Incentives Many thanks to Haseeb & Tom from Dragonfly, Jai from Royco, DQ from Definitive, Peter from Nascent, Hemanth/Jeff from Goldsky, Derek from Variant, Chudnov from 3Jane, BlockEnthusiast, Steven Becker... 158 8:36 AM • Jul 9, 2024 🏀 Points Guard - Arthur Hayes shares a history of participation and ownership, and how points combine the best aspects of ICOs and yield farming Arthur Hayes @CryptoHayes “Points Guard” is an essay on the new pseudo-ICO crypto fundraising and engagement method. If you don’t understand what points are and why they going to be used and abused, read on. shorturl.at/hEIK3 249 6:44 PM • Feb 8, 2024 ⏹ Beyond Tokens: The Era of Onchain Points - Graeme Boy, CEO of Stack, makes the case for points onchain Graeme @strangechances The next step is to bring points onchain. Follow @stackdotso – we’re live on testnet with onchain integrations for points. Coming live by Christmas 109 4:37 PM • Dec 14, 2023

## Publication Information

- [Stack Digest](https://paragraph.com/@stack/): Publication homepage
- [All Posts](https://paragraph.com/@stack/): More posts from this publication
- [RSS Feed](https://api.paragraph.com/blogs/rss/@stack): Subscribe to updates
- [Twitter](https://twitter.com/stackdotso): Follow on Twitter

## Optional

- [Collect as NFT](https://paragraph.com/@stack/stack-digest-4): Support the author by collecting this post
- [View Collectors](https://paragraph.com/@stack/stack-digest-4/collectors): See who has collected this post