CRYPTO: IS IT REALLY FREE MONEY?

We are all mesmerized by the prospect of earning magical (free) internet money. It is most likely the reason you got into crypto and that has defined your entire outlook on the space, but is that really the case? Is it really free?

Free: without cost or payment.

I got into web3 in 2018. Prior to that time, I had never thought that an average person could make money out of their social activity i.e blogging, vlogging, gaming etc those where things reserved for influencers. Who was going to pay an average writer with no social clout for his anecdotes? It wasn't conceivable because my digital social experience was shaped by platforms like facebook and twitter where users were given free platforms upon which their content and personal information were monetised by these big tech companies, and I dare say that the average user still feels the same in 2023.

So you could understand my excitement when I discovered hive– a blockchain of social dapps where contributors–node validators (witnesses), stakeholders and creators– share in the commonwealth of the blockchain. I could not wrap my head around it, and if I am being completely honest, it felt like free money because I had for the longest time devalued my social input. So when people speak about airdrops being free money I sort of disagree, especially when there were certain activities carried out to earn those airdrops, which brings to the suiswap debacle.

It's been trending today that the Sui Team has decided to do a presale, which was quite contrary to the sentiment on crypto twitter. To be fair to them they had put out several disclaimers that they weren't giving out airdrops, however, it is disingenuous considering what's commonplace with new crypto projects and airdrops. Most projects go back on their words about not giving airdrops, so most people thought it was business as usual.

Plus, Sui had people running dapps, testnets, zealy campaigns, etc There are also documents circulating the internet where it is stated that those who interacted with the chain would get some reward, so to trivialize people's negative response to the said presale rubbed me the wrong way.

I am not faulting Suiswap per se. Heck! It is a new project that could have failed (and I won't rule that out now considering their event stunt). However, I do care about the narrative around airdrops as perceived by the crypto community. It shows how little we value our individual and collective effort, and this is why projects like Suiswap can pull the stunt they did with little or no remorse.

If you perform any activity for a token (no matter how small) it is earned. The value of the token might not be commensurate with work done but that doesn't make it free, your input is overvalued (or undervalued) and this is the aim with most airdrops..

In my opinion, there is no free money in crypto. You do things to earn tokens. Either be it interacting with testnet to help a new project find bugs and sort scalability issues or staking, they classify as work done for project. With this knowledge it is my hope that we allocate our time to activities and projects that compensate/rewards our input. These crypto projects need you as must as you need them. Do not believe otherwise.

Also, I will suggest that people invest their time in more productive activities in the crypto space. You should not base your entire crypto journey on chasing airdrops. There are skills/knowledge that are in high demand in this space that can fetch you a decent monthly income.

I hope this piece helps you think holistically about your crypto journey henceforth. Cheers!

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