Airdrops // Allocating tokens for Bored Ape Yacht Club NFT holders

VaultCraft Improvement Proposals
1

Summary :

Airdrops, or token giveaways, play an important role in launching DeFi products and make up 1% of Popcorn’s token allocation (1m $POP). The Bored Ape Yacht Club (BAYC) is series of 10,000 NFTs with over 187,000 eth in volume traded. This proposal is to reserve up to 5% (50,000 $POP) of the Popcorn airdrop token allocation for BAYC members in order to improve marketing, liquidity, and community-building outcomes.

Specs:

NFTs can function as access passes for exclusive community platforms and events. BAYC has the second-highest trading volume of all time on OpenSea (the most popular NFT platform). Popcorn DAO members have access to BAYC token-gated platforms including Metalink, private Discord channels, and in-person events.

1m $POP tokens are currently allocated for airdrops to the greater community. Reserving up to 5% of the airdrop supply for BAYC token holders is proposed. Any allocations above 5%, or 50,000 $POP, will be preceded by an additional proposal. If approved, this proposal will result in initial steps being taken to research, plan, and implement the BAYC airdrop in the most effective way possible.

There are several challenges to conducting a successful token-gated airdrop. Care has to be taken to avoid airdrop abuse and ensure a smooth rollout. Relevant web apps such as guild.xyz and collab.land are still in beta and can be buggy. Decisions need to be made regarding what information we will ask users to submit when registering for airdrops, and time is of the essence.

Justification:

The NFT market has matured to the point where many NFT collectors are looking to diversify their crypto holdings. In addition, the BAYC has donated over $850,000 to a number of charities, implying that the mission statement of Popcorn will resonate within the group. The BAYC developers have announced that they will be releasing a fungible token early next year, potentially opening the door to DeFi-NFT crossover opportunities.

Many influential members of the DeFi community are BAYC holders. Getting on their radar can accelerate Popcorn’s growth in the cryptocurrency scene. Targeting this high-value population enables Popcorn to make a greater market impact than would be possible with less precise airdrop strategies.

Counterarguments and Responses:

Isn’t this gatekeeping? Why should those with high crypto net worth be given free tokens?

The vast majority of Popcorn’s airdrops will be offered without any token gating. Community participation and genuine interest is more of a priority than any kind of token ownership. This is why only a <= 5% allocation is proposed. This investment is worthwhile because BAYC members have a famous dedication to community building and charitable giving which is compatible with Popcorn’s ethos.

Many current BAYC holders paid less than $300, including fees, to mint their apes. With a current floor value of 36 eth (≈$140,000), this has been life changing money for scores of the 5,600 ape holders.

Do NFT fans even care about DeFi?

In short, yes. The lines dividing NFTs and DeFi are increasingly blurring as NFT projects incorporate DeFi elements to offer their token holders more liquidity. NFT holders are thirsty for liquidity because for many of them, large amounts of their crypto holdings are locked up in illiquid NFTs. Moreover, NFT fractionalization and semi-fungible tokens – NFTs which have multiple (but limited) issuances – open up more possibilities to collaborate with DeFi organizations like Popcorn.

Conclusion:

If this proposal passes, Popcorn will reach out to the BAYC core team and express an interest in collaborating. Following this, efforts will be made to connect directly with BAYC community members, especially those who show an interest in DeFi and community exclusives. These conversations will assist in determining the best way to execute the BAYC airdrop.

  • Investment: up to 50,000 $POP tokens
  • Return: targeted outreach to a community with demonstrated interest in charitable giving, community building, and innovative token strategies
  • Yes, airdrop $POP tokens to the Bored Ape Yacht Club
  • No, don’t airdrop $POP tokens to Apes

0 voters

6 Likes
2

Generally speaking, I agree with the plan, but the details of the plan need to be further determined. If 5% of the total supply is airdropped at an early stage, it is difficult to guarantee that POP will not become a garbage dump. We need to determine the airdrop method (airdrop directly to the wallet? Or do NFT holders need to claim at the front end) time nodes and specific conditions of airdrop.

3

I think we should use the drop for 2 main goals

  1. Win ACTIVE community members
  2. Increase TVL

I don’t know the BAYC community, my feeling is that just because they gave money to charity does not automatically mean they’ll all be super excited about Popcorn .

I would target to airdrop to communities that are as closely aligned from values as possible , such as KLIMA Dao or Toucan Protocol .

2 Likes
4

It’s 5% of the airdrop allocation, not the total supply

5

I do think BAYC has a culture of ‘doing good’ and that they’ll be excited about the Popcorn exclusive airdrop (they love exclusive stuff). I also think bridging the NFT-DeFi gap is a largely untapped opportunity. Marketing to DeFi companies that are TOO close in purpose may be seen as stepping on toes, but then again, if they’re DAOs they should be open to this kind of collaboration.

Do you have any other suggestions on other projects to target?

6

I will not be claiming this airdrop and I don’t know anyone personally who will.

7

Interesting.
Well as said, I don’t know the BAYC community, so am happy to be proven wrong :wink:

Other communities are CO2ken, Chia … Actually I started a list just out of interest for myself. You can check it out here Sustainable crypto - Google Sheets

8

I have an ape and just for having that I get airdropped stuff once and a while. Has been nothing of value so far in my experience. For that reason I think it’s a smart play to do that now before the community gets saturated by offers.
The incentive structures are important here. I don’t know if it’s the right move to just airdrop tokens and as such just given away value without effort from the receiver.

How about:

  1. the ape holders get airdropped X, where X could a an NFT or just a link or something else
  2. with X the ape holder can be eligible to claim i.e. 50% of his POP tokens if he first chooses a beneficiary that will receive the other 50% of his tokens.

This could be done through a gamified experience or just plugging into to our governance system.
The benefit of this is to make the holder aware of our system and also feel good that he directly contributed to a beneficiary of his liking.
“If you give you shall receive.” rather than here “take this for free and dump it for btc”.

I don’t know the technical complexity and scope of work of doing this and also realize that timing here is imminent. If its too complex for now Id still vote yes for making a more simple airdrop just to try it out and see the effect.

8 Likes
9

Really excellent ideas here, I totally agree that they should put in some kind of effort to be rewarded. There is some technical debt involved no matter how we move forward but I think we should proceed with your two steps if we find the bandwidth to make it happen.

This is exactly why I wanted the proposal to be more of a ‘first step’ to open the door - I knew there were better ideas out there when it comes to actually executing.

As an aside, perhaps what inspired this idea was the airdrop from https://botto.com/ - you have to go and claim it, and the ape snapshot is rather old (I think from July or so), but I thought it was a really interesting project that I wouldn’t have heard of without the airdrop hype.

2 Likes
10

I am interested to know how BAYC is connected to the Orangutang outreach and if they have plans for future sustainable donation because a windfall event may not be a good thing (unless it’s undesignated) and follow up and meaningful connection definitely important. Are members of the BAYC think about these issues?

11

Actually I started a list just out of interest for myself. You can check it out here Sustainable crypto - Google Sheets - @Rapsodie

I think Popcorn should be on that list!

1 Like
12

I vote No at this time because I think it is not the first step to do airdrop as we are too small to BAYC NFT holders. it should find a right time to do airdrop.

13

I hear what you’re saying. This proposal is not beholden to a strict timeline. The steps to implement it would take some time to set up, and we’re prioritizing our Discord community airdrops.

If this is approved, the next steps are to figure out how to do it in the optimal way. An important part of that discussion is when to do it. We need your ideas on optimal strategies!

14

Thank you for your clarification. So, I agree now. Can I change the vote?

15

airdrop locked for a period, better

16

Of course! I haven’t updated the sheet in a while but will do so soon. Planning to write an article on the topic this quarter

1 Like
17

Amazing! I wonder… could we make this open source? Or have it lead into another sheet that’s open to anyone? Be great to have a shared list like this that anyone can add to and we can share with other projects. I’ve got a few communities in mind that I think would love to see a list like this :heart_eyes:

18

Yup now its open source. I have to check if it is correct because my assistant added most of this, but yes, overall my plan was to write a blogpost about sustainability & Esg related blockchain companies and have the sheet open source so it stays up to date. I just changed the settings, you can make changes already and use it if you want to

19

Great, thanks! Yes, it was ‘read only’ but editable now.

20

It is fine to provide the POP airdrop to extend/attract more potential members in Crypto/NFT space. However airdrop gatekeeping shall be in place to let those who are interested in the project to claim or else it will be just a waste. Need some interesting ideas or communications to attract BAYC NFT holders to claim and hold their $POP, and even support this project :popcorn:.