A is for Arbitrum, A is for Autumn, and A is for Airdrop (Or is it…?)
The Weekly S#!t Post: Issue: #001
⏭️ The Monologue
TLDR: the first section of this issue is Terms and Conditions/housekeeping type of content. 🧹
Proceed as you wish but remember: nothing you will read or hear in this issue is financial advice.
Hello and welcome to inaugural issue of The Weekly S#!t Post!
I could say things like “smash the like button, hit subscribe, and turn on your notifications so you can stay updated” but I am a firm believer in letting people make their own decisions.
So: if you like the content, stick around and come-back! If you don’t, that’s okay too. I just hope that if you read beyond this point you will find it helpful in some capacity :)
Of course, it goes without saying but bears repeating that nothing I say or share here is financial advice. I’m just another random individual starting a substack ‘cause I think/hope/know… that I have something to share with you all’. 🤷
That said, if you’d like to know a bit about me and are wondering why you should listen to me, read this intro post i wrote 🙌
I thought, if I'm going to experiment with all these protocols with real “hard-earned $$$”, why not document and share my experiences in this newly minted Web3 World?
Don’t you want to see what it’s all about? Or are you “in it for the tech” only during bull markets?
The point is, I just want to write about my experiments from a; “here’s the evidence, do with the information what you will”, point of view and leave the opinion and decision making part up to you.
All things said, I’m quite thankful that you are taking the time to read this nonsense and have already made it thus far!
Also, like many individuals who are doing this for a living I also am a humble penniless fool. So, if you are a kind, bountiful, and gifted individual who has benefited from this S#!t Postery and wish to buy this S#!t Poster of yours a coffee, Some drip money would definitely be appreciated and will help to keep my fingers going on this mechanical keyboard of mine.
You can donate whatever you think is right at this address: shitcoinornot.eth :)
🤔 So, what can you expect from this week’s Sh#!t Post?
The primary focus of this issue will be to determine the possibility of an Arbitrum Airdrop. I’ll share why I think there will be an airdrop, the evidence I have at my disposal, how one could potentially qualify, how to set up a wallet and connect to Arbitrum if you haven’t already done so, and lastly, what quests you could complete to qualify for this potential (Autumn…?) Arbitrum Airdrop.
There’s also some bonus content at the end where I share my own wallet and what I’m currently holding. This is a recurring piece that I’ll be sharing every Monday. So, if you’re nosy and like to see what other people are doing and holding, make sure you read the issue right to the end to look behind my curtains.
🪂 Soo, Wen Airdrop?
Ever since Optimism did an airdrop, the ancient Hogans and recent Logans have all predicted an airdrop for Arbitrum. Heck, even Arbitrum’s Co-founder @sgoldfed has teased a potential airdrop (Well Done Ser! 🎩).
Many Influencers/“Fin-Fluencers” have taken a stab at these hints with many making assessments and speculating on what this could look like (When, where, how, who could be eligible, what’s the criteria?, will the reward model be similar to optimism’s?).
Sushiswap did a Vamp Attack on Uniswap. Could this be something like that? Did Optimism force Arbitrum’s hand? (Gemini’s written a simple piece if you’re not familiar with what this means and need context.)
So, safe to say everyone’s speculating. I am. You probably are. We have to! Can’t be helped, right? 🤷
Having said that, none had been able to provide any details of significance as to when it could actually happen and what it could look like until the King of Airdrop Predictions, Chico Crypto, explained in their video why sometime in Autumn seems likely (If you aren’t already familiar with Chico’s work, I’d highly recommend you watch the hyperlinked video and subscribe to their channel.).
Then, lo and behold, buddy Two-Stroke (Steven Goldfeder) tweeted, expressing newfound enthusiasm for an Arbitrum Autumn.
📝 How to Potentially Qualify for the Airdrop?
First things first, if you just happened across this article or you’re new and this is your first intro to Cryptocurrencies, I strongly suggest that you Create a wallet and fund it with some ETH (ideally $100 worth). Think of it as Your Web3 ID & Password, then strap in and follow along.
I can assure you, while this stuff might look intimidating on the outside, it’s actually quite simple (and fun) once you get the hang of it :)
So, let’s say you’ve completed the setup and funded your wallet with some ETH and have bridged some ETH successfully to Arbitrum (If you’ve never bridged before and need some info, click here for instructions on using Hop for Bridging ETH.).
Also, folks @Metis have done a simple write up for us plebs on what “EVM Compatible Means”, I’d Suggest you read up about what it means and gain some necessary context to interact with Multiple EVM compatible chains with the same address.
Side Bar: If you don’t know what connecting to Artbitrum means, here’s two ways;
A) Just Use Chainlist.org to add Arbitrum Network RPC to your Metamask Wallet
B) Do it Manually, by adding a custom network in you wallet. Here’s Metamask’s Article on how to add a custom network.
Use the bolded details below for respective inputs.
(FYI: these things change/update)
Network Name: Arbitrum
New RPC URL: https://arb1.arbitrum.io/rpc
Chain ID: 42161
Currency Symbol: ETH
Block Explorer URL (Optional): https://arbiscan.io/
The Infamous Qualification Criteria:
Alright, now that your foundation has been set, let’s dig into the qualification criteria. First and foremost, it’s important to know that projects take snapshots. So, dates taken are usually revealed either post (or) on the day of “official airdrop announcement”. Essentially, there is no way of knowing exactly which date is the cutoff date (at least under most circumstances).
You have to act in good faith and pay attention to “specific events”, NFT rewards (*Cough* “Arbitrum Oddessy” *Cough*), etc..
It’s safe to say that the majority of the airdrops have rewarded wallets that have done the following:
Bridged To Chain/L2/Protocol/dApp;
Performed some on-chain economic activity (aka, used a dAPP/Protocol, bought NFTs, made a swap, donated to gitcoin grants);
Participated in governance (Voted on Proposals, usually @ snapshot.org);
Built & deployed dApps or completed bounties (developers);
Are loyal community members and active participants either through;
an in-community whitelist raffle of sorts or completed community tasks/initiatives (something like w/guild.xyz); and/orIn some cases, it’s as easy as holding a Chain’s Native Asset or a specific token.
However, it’s important to point out that these are just the most commonly used methods to conduct airdrops today. Most projects use their own set of criteria to identify wallets that they think should qualify for an airdrop.
So, this doesn’t mean projects absolutely have to reward participants for performing any of the actions listed above; some projects might choose to reward wallets that fall under only 1 criteria, some projects might choose to reward if you complete all, some might choose to reward wallets based on the “Quantity of Economic Activity”, some might distribute the same amount to all wallets, some may exclude whale wallets/exchange wallets, some may reward only developers, and so on and so forth.
Point being, this is all project specific. There is no set standard as of yet, however, most projects do tend to reward early adopters handsomely. However, before you proceed, a word of caution: don't just go around airdrop farming with $100 distributed in 10 different wallets doing similar insignificant economic activity.
Remember that it has to be something of substance and value and it absolutely needs to be beneficial to the overall growth of the network. You need to do your own research to determine if each project you’re interested in meets that criteria (substance, value, and beneficial to network growth). It can pay to get involved.
Some projects (let’s use Optimism for this example) have gone to great lengths to go after Sybil attackers (checkout Binance Academy’s quick article if you’re unfamiliar with Sybil Attacks) and rewarded individuals who found Sybil attackers.
If you’re going to game the system, do it within reason. What you don’t want to do is abuse the system. As an industry, we don’t want to tout that we are creating a new and inclusive financial system only to turn around and perform the same heinous crimes as some trad-fi folks. Learn to curb your greed and seek to share the wealth with everyone! 🙏
Alright, So what can I do to qualify?
Start by going to https://guild.xyz/arbitrum, join the discord by connecting and verifying your wallet (that you set up in the previous section) from the top right corner.
Also, please make absolutely sure you are on the right link. It has to be as written exactly as it is above with the URL starting with https://
Once you land on https://guild.xyz/arbitrum, you’ll be presented a dashboard similar to the one shown above. On the top right corner, you’ll see the connect wallet button. Go ahead and click that. It should then give you a prompt that looks as follows:
I’ve got my wallet setup via Metamask, so I’ll be using that for this little demonstration. If you have been following the directions in this article, you can do the same. But, you don’t have to use Metamask; I'm using it because I personally prefer it and find it the easiest to use atm :)
Essentially, this is required to “Sign-In” to this dashboard with your unique ID (Aka your wallet address). Once you select Metamask, your wallet should give you another prompt to connect your account that will look similar to this:
Select your account and Hit “Next” and then hit “Connect”. That’ll take a moment or two and once that’s done, the final step is to hit verify account and sign the transaction.
As it says under the “Verify account” button, “Signing the message won’t cost any gas ($$).” That is true. At this point, you are just signing a transaction with your wallet so you shouldn’t be charged any gas whatsoever.
If you are being charged gas, you are likely on the wrong page and your wallet may be compromised. Note: you don’t need money/ETH in your wallet to connect and browse guild.xyz/arbitrum.
Once Connected and Verified, you’ll be able to see the list of requirements to qualify. As you can see below, I have already completed a few tasks and my wallet qualifies for GMX, Chain Link and Treasure.lol.
It honestly won’t cost you more than $50 to explore the entire ecosystem and learn about all the projects mentioned in the list. I’m guessing if you are still with me this far and have committed $100 to this experiment, you are likely an individual who’s in a place to afford it or is already well versed in this ecosystem. Or, perhaps you’ve been meaning to venture into the world of cryptocurrencies and this little S#!t Post convinced you to take the leap!
I’ll drop below the list of projects I’ve qualified for. I’d encourage you to explore the list once you are connected to the guild dashboard. Some tasks don’t require you to spend any $$$, it just requires you to show support by adding some emoticons to your twitter profile.
Go through the list of requirements thoroughly. They are all quite reasonable tasks. See if you already qualify for certain items, if not, yesterday was the right time to get started exploring. Anyways, here’s the list of projects I qualified for. I’ve done my best to drop official links, but, I urge you to verify when you access as well via Coingecko & Coinmarketcap
🌐🔗Treasure.lol, 🍣SushiSwap, (DEX).
🌐🔗Chain Link, 🦄Uniswap, 🍣SushiSwap,
🌐🔗Vesta, ⚖️Balancer Pool
Please note that there’s NO GUARANTEE THIS WILL RESULT IN AN AIRDROP QUALIFICATION FOR YOU!
This is just something I’m sharing based on what I've learned. You are welcome to try the same and see how it works out for you. Even if you don’t get an airdrop, most of these projects are super cool and are needed for the growth of the ecosystem as a whole. If nothing, consider this as your Arbitrum 101: Intro to the Ecosystem
Disclaimer: All of this is high-risk, you can lose your entire investment so only experiment with what you can afford to lose.
I’ll be posting write ups with my experiments and opinions on each of the projects I’ve listed above in the coming days. Visit this S#!t Poster often or subscribe (if you want… remember, I’m all for free choice) if you’d like to for the research to hit your mailbox as soon I publish it 🤓
👛 My Debank Wallet (shitcoinornot.eth)
If you are interested in tracking my wallet and seeing what I’m doing and how I am navigating in this “Web3 World” feel free to follow me on debank.com.
It’s the best portfolio tracker (in addition to Zapper & Zerion) to track crypto portfolios. Think of it like a summary of your holdings and investments.
Every Monday, I’ll do an update on my “Holdings” documenting my decision making and rationale behind the projects that are in my wallet.
😨 Why did I dox myself and share my wallet?
While terrifying, I’m choosing to leverage the tools at my disposal to provide complete transparency from Day 1 to my readers.
I’ve seen a lotta folks, give people advice but very few are transparent.
I wish to normalise financial transparency to some degree by taking a: “Here’s what I’m doing, let's all learn from each other and grow together” approach.
I also figured most individuals today would be starting with a similar amount, so it could be fun to see if me and my readers can all grow this tiny stash to a significant sum together.
Citations & References:
Y’all didn’t think I learned all this from my mama’s belly did you? Let's be humble and give some credit and respect where it’s due, cause these resources were super helpful in crafting this S#!t Post 🙌
Airdrop 1. (n.d.). Optimism Docs. Retrieved September 12, 2022, from https://community.optimism.io/docs/governance/airdrop-1/
Sushiswap: A Uniswap Fork and DeFi Protocol. (n.d.). Gemini. Retrieved September 12, 2022, from https://www.gemini.com/cryptopedia/sushiswap-uniswap-vampire-attack
Dias, M. (2022, June 21). How To Bridge Your Assets Using Hop Protocol. ConsenSys. Retrieved September 12, 2022, from https://consensys.net/blog/metamask/how-to-bridge-your-assets-using-hop-protocol/
EVM Equivalence vs. EVM Compatibility - MetisDAO. (2022, January 4). Medium. Retrieved September 12, 2022, from https://metisdao.medium.com/evm-equivalence-vs-evm-compatibility-199bd66f455d
Chainlist. (n.d.). Retrieved September 12, 2022, from https://chainlist.org/
Security check. (n.d.). Retrieved September 12, 2022, from https://metamask.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/360043227612-How-to-add-a-custom-network-RPC
Academy, B. (n.d.). Snapshot. Binance Academy. Retrieved September 12, 2022, from https://academy.binance.com/en/glossary/snapshot
Academy, B. (2021, October 4). Sybil Attacks Explained. Binance Academy. Retrieved September 12, 2022, from https://academy.binance.com/en/articles/sybil-attacks-explained
Becoming a Liquidity Provider. (n.d.-b). Retrieved September 12, 2022, from https://help.hop.exchange/hc/en-us/sections/4405172441229-Becoming-a-Liquidity-Provider
[MetaMask]. (2020, March 3). What is MetaMask? YouTube. Retrieved September 12, 2022, from