Author: Ignas | DeFi Research

Translation: TechFlow

Airdrops seem to have "cooled down." It's been a long time since I last received an exciting airdrop reward.

But I don't believe airdrops are truly dead. With less market noise, rewards should be less diluted than before.

The rules have changed—you must now continuously use protocols; a single transaction is no longer enough. Teams prefer rewarding real users over mere "airdrop hunters" (ironically, this makes simple farming harder).

Below are the 10 protocols I'm currently exploring.

These aren't just simple airdrop opportunities—they are also high-quality products. Even if the final airdrop falls short of expectations, you’ll still gain value from using them.

1.Based

An advanced trading app and wallet built on Hyperliquid, available on mobile, desktop, and Telegram.

Based allows users to trade perpetuals and spot markets, and spend via Visa card while earning points (Visa cards are launching soon in the US and EU).

Notably backed by top-tier VCs including Hashed, Delphi, Newman, and Spartan.

The strategy is simple: using Based can earn you up to 4x more airdrop rewards compared to directly using Hyperliquid:

• Hyperliquid Season 2 and Season 3 airdrops

• $BASED token airdrop

• Based ecosystem airdrops (first one was PUP, more coming)

• UNIT airdrop

The team has publicly stated that points will convert into future $BASED airdrops. This is one of the clearest and most straightforward airdrop mechanisms today. The only downside: trading fees are 0.025% higher than direct Hyperliquid usage.

How to participate:

1. Trade perpetual contracts.

2. Order the Visa card once it launches.

3. Start using Based as your default Hyperliquid interface, whether on mobile or desktop.

Tips:

• Desktop app offers 30% better performance.

• Join trading competitions to win prizes (current prize pool: $20,000).

👉Click here to get started (with referral link).

2.Liminal

A premium platform for stablecoin holders—and another option for Hyperliquid fans: delta-neutral yield vaults built on Hyperliquid.

This might be one of the simplest and most promising airdrop opportunities.

Even if you don’t want direct exposure to HYPE, BTC, or ETH, you can still farm potential $HYPE airdrops and Liminal rewards through Liminal.

How it works

Simply deposit USDC and earn yield from funding spreads while maintaining a market-neutral position.

Note: the platform’s disclaimer states this isn’t a pure “set-and-forget” strategy, as funding rates could move against you, or extreme volatility might lead to liquidation. That said, I personally consider the risk manageable for BTC, ETH, or HYPE.

How to participate

• Deposit USDC.

• No official points system yet.

• Rewards may come if tokens launch.

Even without token rewards, yields are sustainable (over 9.5% APY on USDC). Airdrops would be an extra upside.

Steps

• Bridge USDC to the Hyperliquid network.

• Deposit into the vault and keep it active.

👉Click here to get started (with invite link). Minimum deposit: 500 USDC.

3.Legion

If not for the post below, Legion might not have made it onto my “airdrop farming list”:

Legion’s fundraising platform has raised $5 million from prominent investors, expanding its mission from public ICOs to bringing startup equity, private credit, and intellectual property on-chain.

This addresses a massive market!

They’ve recently added OTC offerings, including OpenAI equity and off-exchange token sales.

Tokens might be how these VCs cash out, right?

How to participate:

• Create an account and complete KYC (I know many dislike this, but it effectively prevents Sybil attacks).

• Boost your score by connecting social accounts and wallets, then participate in token sales.

Caution:

Airdrops are bonus incentives—don’t blindly buy every ICO token. Always do your due diligence (DD)!

👉Click here to get started (with invite link).

4.Fogo

Fogo is an L1 built on the Solana Virtual Machine (SVM).

What sets it apart:

It runs a pure Firedancer client, enabling sub-second block times and optimized for high-frequency trading.

The public testnet is live, but mainnet hasn’t launched yet.

Why I like it:

• Strong funding:

  • Raised $5.5M in seed funding at the end of 2024.

  • Raised $8M in a public sale via Cobie’s Echo platform in January 2025 at a $100M valuation.

• Potential airdrop:

  • This could be a classic low-circulating-supply, high-FDV L1 airdrop. While L1 hype has cooled, the potential remains.

• Early participation advantage:

  • Less competition and noise during testnet phase means higher potential returns.

• Technical edge:

  • Firedancer is a key differentiator. If successfully implemented, this chain could attract significant attention. Early participation may pay off.

How to participate:

• Fogo uses Flames as its points system. Season 1 has ended; await Season 2.

• You can claim free FOGO and fUSD testnet tokens via their faucet.

Ecosystem apps:

• The main DEX is Valiant, though I personally prefer Ambient. Despite having no token for a long time, Ambient has the best UI.

👉 No referral link needed—click here for participation guide!

5.Backpack

Each crypto bull run brings new centralized exchanges (CEX): Coinbase → Binance → FTX.

In this cycle, while decentralized exchange Hyperliquid has risen, Backpack is filling the CEX gap.

I agree with Fabiano: this is “one of the last six-figure airdrops on Solana.”

• Fewer participants mean lower competition and less dilution compared to other Solana-related airdrops.

• Backpack acquired FTX EU, giving it regulatory advantages in Europe. They’re building a compliant CEX, showing strong execution and credibility.

• Backpack has raised $37 million.

• They also own a DeFi wallet (also named Backpack), further boosting their valuation.

How to participate:

• Season 1 ended on August 6; Season 2 began August 7.

• Earn points via spot trading and newly added futures (including special perps like WLFI), plus fiat deposits.

• Spot trading earns twice the points of perps to encourage diversified activity.

• KYC required to reduce farming.

• Mad Lads NFT holders automatically receive VIP status.

👉Click here to get started (with invite link).

6.Axiom

I absolutely can’t skip Axiom—it consistently generates over $1 million in daily fees. Like Meteora, Axiom is one of the last high-revenue, product-market-fit (PMF) projects without a token.

Backed by Y Combinator.

I personally use it when trading small-cap Solana tokens, but you can also use it for Hyperliquid trading (eligible for double airdrops) or earning on MarginFi (which I don’t recommend). If memecoins make a comeback in the bull market, Axiom will be a major winner.

How to participate:

• Use Axiom directly instead of other memecoin DEXs. Earn Axiom points with swaps.

• The more you trade, the higher your tier and the more points you earn.

• Official documentation hints at a possible future token. Few protocols are as transparent as Axiom.

👉 Click here to get started (with referral link).

On Prediction Markets

7.Polymarket

Polymarket (ranked #7) is my top pick for a potential airdrop winner. If executed well, its potential could rival only Hyperliquid.

However, the prediction market space includes two other notable projects:

8.Limitless

Limitless runs prediction and attestation markets on Base. You can bet on outcomes or create attestations for others to agree or dispute.

Limitless just launched its first points season (July 1, 2025 – September 22).

• How to earn points:

  • Minimum $200 trading volume required to qualify.

  • Provide liquidity for steady point accumulation.

  • Weekly leaderboard resets with tiers: Bronze, Silver, Gold, Platinum, Diamond.

  • Higher-tier users get bonus rewards (up to +20% for Diamond).

The narrative around prediction markets is heating up on X (formerly Twitter), and Limitless gamifies it with hourly markets to attract high-frequency traders.

Weekly resets make activity more important than capital size, favoring small wallets.

Combining prediction and attestation offers a unique angle for Base-based markets.

How to participate:

• Make small weekly trades (I often trade on both Polymarket and Limitless, haha), or try creating some markets.

• Low cost—active users benefit most.

👉 Click here to get started (with referral link).

9.Myriad

Myriad is a prediction market running on Abstract, so you can earn both Abstract XP and Myriad points simultaneously.

Nice!

Experience is similar to Polymarket, with a unique addition: "Flash Markets" embedded into news sites, blogs, or even X posts (though I haven’t seen one on X myself).

Overall, it’s straightforward. If Abstract performs well, Myriad’s potential is significant.

10. Kinetiq

If you're going to farm just one airdrop on the Hyperliquid EVM L1, make it Kinetiq.

Remember the early Jito airdrop hype? I think Kinetiq will be just as easy.

• Simply stake HYPE to get kHYPE, then deposit kHYPE into the Earn module to earn 3% APY while farming other airdrops.

• The process is extremely simple—almost no complexity involved.

The points system is live, and a token launch seems almost certain.

The only downside: no referral links yet. If they had them, I’d be pushing hard.

👉 Click here to get started.

Bonus Pick: Unit

Actually, this isn’t a bonus—it’s a must!

Unit provides cross-chain bridging and wrapping for assets like BTC, ETH, SOL, enabling their trading on Hyperliquid.

Hyperliquid has become my default crypto trading platform—I now only use CEXs for fiat withdrawals.

Because of users like me, the UNIT airdrop looks highly promising. Participation is incredibly simple: just deposit assets and trade spot on Hyperliquid.

How simple is it? Only staking kHYPE is simpler!

Final Tips

• Not all points will convert to tokens

  • But most teams use points as a channel to reward actual usage.

• Smart strategy:

  • It’s smarter to operate across multiple protocols continuously rather than betting everything on one.

  • I usually keep positions small enough that I won’t care even if rewards take months—or never materialize.

Return expectations:

• If half of these projects deliver, it’s absolutely worth it.

• Even if not, I still gain yield, presale access, or trading practice.