Cryptonews Altcoin News

The Massive XLM Airdrop Hits Wall of Criticism

Adoption Privacy Stellar

Journalist

Sead Fadilpašić

Journalist

Sead Fadilpašić

About Author

Sead specializes in writing factual and informative articles to help the public navigate the ever-changing world of crypto. He has extensive experience in the blockchain industry, where he has served...

Author Profile

Last updated:

June 26, 2023

Why Trust Cryptonews

Cryptonews has covered the cryptocurrency industry topics since 2017, aiming to provide informative insights to our readers. Our journalists and analysts have extensive experience in market analysis and blockchain technologies. We strive to maintain high editorial standards, focusing on factual accuracy and balanced reporting across all areas - from cryptocurrencies and blockchain projects to industry events, products, and technological developments. Our ongoing presence in the industry reflects our commitment to delivering relevant information in the evolving world of digital assets. Read more about Cryptonews

Cryptocurrency wallet and data provider Blockchain has announced an airdrop of USD 125 million in Stellar Lumens (XLM), nearly half a billion tokens, in an attempt to boost crypto adoption. However, the news didn’t elicit as much of a positive response as the company might have hoped: the community is not persuaded that this is the best way to foster adoption, arguing that it doesn’t make sense.

Even immediately following the announcement on Twitter, replies like “This must be a scam” began to flood in. Pierre Rochard, founder of Bitcoin Advisory, a firm that specializes in Bitcoin’s economics and software engineering, wrote, “Be very careful about using services that enable ‘give away’ scams, it likely means that they are starved for revenue and will do anything for a quick buck. Don’t trust them, don’t trust people that are associated with them.” Although co-founder of Blockchain Nicolas Cary immediately replied that this is no scam and “We’re really going to give away the money,” Rochard was quick to point out: “You’re not giving away the money, you’re giving away XLM.”

Recently, Blockchain launched the foundation for the Blockchain Airdrops, together with the criteria that will guide the company in selecting which tokens we will airdrop to our users.

A big problem that the community has with this airdrop is the fact that you have to create a Blockchain wallet and go through their KYC (know your customer) procedure to be eligible for the airdrop. Bitcoin developer Udi Wertheimer writes, “If you’re a [blockchain.info] wallet user, this is a pretty bad deal for you. You should be asking for *way* more than USD 25 to let them attach your identity to years of bitcoin transaction history.”

User @AnselLindner joins in, saying, “Reminds me of the United Bitcoin scam. Give me your data, let us track you, and you get free stuff.” Popular economist and Bitcoin investor Tuur Demeester adds:

The only people that seem to be really happy about this airdrop are Stellar holders, calling it a great way to distribute ownership.

XLM price chart: