Vitalik Buterin defends airdrops as a testbed for blockchain identity frameworks

Cryptocurrency projects largely focus on incentivization to generate interest in their brand and products. Airdrops serve as a dual-purpose strategy, introducing the project to users and rewarding them, effectively working as a combined marketing and rewards system.

There have been a lot of airdrops this year. Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin highlighted the potential of airdrops as an early use case for blockchain-based and Zero-Knowledge (ZK) identity, credential, and certification frameworks.

Buterin arrived at X on August 28, where… outlined the primary goals of airdrops, emphasizing the importance of reaching out to community members, rewarding contributions, and maintaining a balance between equal distribution and resistance to exploitative farming tactics.

Buterin argued that these goals align closely with the properties that identity and credential frameworks seek to achieve. He suggests that using token issuance for airdrops presents an ideal opportunity to beta test and refine these frameworks in a challenging environment, as detailed in his recent post on “plurality” principles.

Buterin went on to expand on the idea that giving away tokens is not the only effective approach. He suggests that discounted sales, where the reduced level is based on the degree of membership or contribution one can demonstrate, could be an equally viable method.

Not only does this approach help distribute the token supply more broadly, it also rewards non-financial contributors and ensures that participants have “skin in the game.” Buterin also noted that the techniques used for airdrops can be applied to these discounted sales.

He referred to a related concept proposed by CT and Idena Network, which involves subsidising savings rates for smaller accounts as an alternative to Universal Basic Income (UBI), drawing parallels with Singapore’s Central Provident Fund (CPF) system, which implements a similar strategy.