NFTs
Airdrop Manta Faces Backlash After Rare NFTs Drop 87% – DL News
- Manta Network has completed its token airdrop.
- Many of those who participated in the airdrop were harshly critical of Manta afterwards.
- Rare NFTs, which previously traded for over $1,000, yielded just $132 in MANTA tokens.
Participants in the Manta Network airdrop are feeling cheated after receiving far fewer tokens than they expected.
Those who accepted Manta’s offer to lock your funds on your Ethereum layer 2 blockchain found that in many cases, the value of the rewards did not even cover the transaction costs.
Other hopeful airdrop hunters have spent thousands of dollars collecting Manta NFTs to boost their airdrop. But when Manta revealed how many tokens each NFT was worth, it became clear that the market had massively overvalued them.
“People had very high expectations,” said CC2, a pseudonymous trader known for his serial airdrop farming. DL News. “People gobbled up the most expensive NFTs, expecting a huge payout, and that’s where the disappointment comes from.”
The episode highlights how promising airdrops of tokens valuable to users are a delicate balancing act for crypto projects.
Many of those who participated in the Manta airdrop blame the project for creating a complex airdrop system that they say was designed to lure users into locking up their funds with the promise of valuable tokens.
Dozens of airdrop participants took to Post X by Manta to complain about the airdrop. Jokes like “the worst airdrop ever” filled the comments.
But others say the blame lies with overzealous airdrop hunters who pile into Manta without considering the downsides of doing so.
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Manta Network declined to comment for this story.
Manta’s ‘complex’ airdrop
Participants in the Manta airdrop could earn tokens in several different ways, such as contributing to the network’s Polkadot parachain or completing the project. Galxe Campaigns.
But on December 14th, Manta presented a way to earn points – a popular idea that typically suggests that a project is preparing for an airdrop.
To earn points, users needed to transfer funds to Manta’s layer-2 Ethereum blockchain, Manta Pacific, where they would receive equivalent tokens representing their linked funds.
The more users made the bridge, the more points they would receive – but there was a problem. The equivalent tokens could not be transferred back.
For every 25 points accumulated, users were rewarded with a treasure chest which could contain an NFT of one of six rarities. These NFTs could be bought and sold on the secondary market. Manta told users that collecting NFTs would make users eligible for an additional airdrop of 20 million tokens.
“It was unclear how much the six buckets of rarities would receive individually, so it was difficult to price them,” said USD Denominado, a pseudonymous cryptography researcher who participated in the Manta airdrop. DL News.
In the end, Manta allocated the majority of tokens to those who owned the most common, lowest-rarity NFTs, USD Denominated said.
The highest rarity NFTs, which previously traded for more than $1,000 each, yielded just 60 Manta tokens, worth approximately $132.
“The whole thing was quite complex, the rules were vague and new rules were introduced along the way, leading to speculators getting burned on several occasions before the coin even launched,” said USD Denominated.
DL News asked Manta if she was concerned that her points system had created false expectations in her community. Manta declined to comment.
‘Manta are agricultural users’
Manta revealed how many tokens each airdrop participant should receive on January 17th. The reaction from the Manta community was severe.
“It appears that new protocols like Manta are cultivating more users than the community is being rewarded,” said Zac Duggan, a Manta user who participated in the airdrop. DL News.
Duggan said he transferred one Ether, currently worth about $2,500, to Manta Pacific, paying $40 in transaction fees to do so. He said he only received 13 MANTA tokens, worth about $28, for his effort.
Terry Junior, another user who collected just over $5,000 worth of tokens, said DL News he was also dissatisfied with his reward of 13 MANTA tokens.
The reason many airdrop participants received so few tokens is because they accumulated funds too close to the airdrop closing date, leaving little time to accumulate points.
Manta told users that bridge funds would be blocked until March. Many assumed they would be able to accumulate points by then.
“They could have just warned people not to deposit because they knew the closing date,” Junior said.
Accumulating deposits
Manta is not the only crypto project that has promised an airdrop for those who lock up their funds.
Blast, another Ethereum layer 2 backed by crypto venture firm Paradigm, launched a similar air launch system in November. So far, airdrop hunters have deposited more than $1.3 billion into Blast.
The amount of user deposits into Blast.
Before Manta announced its airdrop, it had received more than $847 million in deposits.
Projects often point to their deposits as an indicator of their success. Others hope that by encouraging users to transfer their funds early, they can start an active DeFi ecosystem.
Despite their success in attracting deposits, these systems have received backlash from the crypto community.
Paradigm Head of Research Dan Robinson previously said that the decision not to allow withdrawals “sets a bad precedent”.
According to USD Denominated, projects conducting such airdrops have only one goal: to get as many people to deposit as possible.
Tim Craig is DeFi correspondent for DL News in Edinburgh. Get in touch with tips at tim@dlnews.com.