Before getting into the details of airdrops and why they take place, we need to first introduce you to the concept and idea. In the simplest form, an airdrop is free coins for certain individuals. They are essentially the process when a cryptocurrency enterprise distributes tokens to a user’s wallet, completely free of charge. Airdrops are commonly done by start-ups, but established companies or platforms can do them as well. The coins that are airdropped often are fairly low in value (at least initially), or are just used within the ecosystem of a platform, but definitely have the potential to grow.  

 Cryptocurrency projects typically create airdrops to help jumpstart a currency, raise awareness, or to reward an existing community. Tron’s airdrop allowed them to generate some buzz around their mainnet launch by sending TRX directly to the coin owners of one of their biggest competitors (i.e. ETH). DFINITY (DFN) also held a relatively large airdrop where they sent DFN tokens to members of the community who had joined the DFINITY mailing list at least two months prior to the airdrop. This served as a way to reward loyal community members, as well as to build some buzz around the project and get the tokens in the hands of potential users.