Bridges To Use When Airdrop Farming
Crypto Bridges That Might Have Upcoming Airdrops
I hope your airdrop hunting is yielding fruits. As I continue to write about farming airdrops – especially L2s – I realized that there are a bunch of different options for bridging. I wanted to create a reference for what bridges might be having airdrops of their own, so that we can expand our farming to those platforms when bridging funds from ETH Mainnet → L2s, or from L2s → L2s.
Bridges from L2s → L2s will always be cheaper (usually under a dollar) while ETH Mainnet → L2s will be more expensive (usually between $5 to $10 depending on gas prices). A really good tool to track ETH gas prices is Ultrasound.Money. You can also see when the cheapest gas times are.
However, there is some advantage to making sure you transfer at least .005 ETH from ETH Mainnet → L2 because, some platforms in the past have incorporated that into their criteria. Any additional funds can be transferred from a different L2.
So without further ado, let’s dive in.
The Index:
I created this Google Sheets to help you track your airdrops. When you go to the sheet, just click “File” → “Duplicate.” Then you’ll be able to edit it.
On a side note, sometimes I include referral links. These referral links are a great, no-cost way, that you can support this writing. However, I always disclose when it’s a referral link and give you a non-referral link option.
Bridge Airdrop Farming Strategy
Ideally, you can do a bit of round-tripping, where you move tokens from one chain to the next, using different bridges for each transfer. For example, you could go:
ETH → USDC on Jumper
then USDC → USDT on Bungee
the USDT → ETH on Orbiter…
And so on…
You can also just transfer the same asset across different L2 chains.
The Risks
Please be aware that there are real risks when using bridges. Bridges work by locking funds on one chain and unlocking equivalent funds on another chain. That means that they represent huge honeypots for potential hackers and thieves. The risk is not one and done. Even if your funds are bridged successfully, if ever that bridge was hacked, you would lose your funds on the chain you bridged to.
In other words, the bridge always holds your certificate of deposit. If that deposit is stolen, you lose your funds.
The safest place to be is on the mainchain. But, while these risks are real, these are legitimate bridge protocols that are doing their best to keep us safe. I use them and many people I know so as well.
Potential Bridge Airdrops
These are the bridges I’ve identified that might have airdrops. It’s not clear how much you need to bridge in order to qualify for potential airdrops. I would assume that the more you bridge, the more you’ll earn. I would suggest aiming to bridge at least $100 worth of tokens and try to do like three transactions per bridge. If I was doing L2 → L2, I might try to make the transactions in multiple waves over a couple of days (if I wanted to be really tricky).
Basically, the principals are:
More Money + Money Transactions + Consistent Activity = More Likely Airdrop
Below, I also compared prices across various bridges for bridging ETH on Optimism to ZkSync and ETH on Mainnet to ZkSync. These fees are just estimates since – especially for Mainnet Bridges – I didn’t execute those transactions, but just looked at the protocol’s estimates.
Jumper Bridge
(non-referral link)
This is actually a bridge aggregator, meaning it connects you with multiple bridging options. This means, that if you choose wisely, you might be able to hit multiple airdrop birds with one stone. Ideally, choose the StarGate option, since they use LayerZero which will likely have an airdrop in the future.
I love Jumper. It currently supports tons of L2s and gives you various options for which path to take from one chain to the other. This L2→L2 Swap costs like $.01 in fees right now.
Fees Comparison:
ETH Mainnet → ZkSync Era: ~ $8.00
ETH OP → ZkSync Era ~$0.02
Bankless lists this airdrop as likely given that some very early users have already received an airdrop for their participation and that the team is tracking current early usage.
Bungee
(non-referral link)
This, like Jumper, is also a great bridge aggregator that allows you to compare fees across protocols and supports lots of L2s. Using Bungee will also probably qualify you for a Socket airdrop, since Bungee uses that on the backend.
Fees Comparison:
ETH Mainnet → ZkSync Era: ~ $7.20
ETH OP → ZkSync Era ~$0.02
This protocol is awarding points to contributors on Discord. It’s likely that these points convert to tokens in a future airdrop. What isn’t known is whether or not using the bridge right now will qualify for an airdrop. My guess will be that it will.
Orbiter
(non-referral link)
This is a nice platform and people often choose it for its speed and availability.
Fees Comparison:
ETH Mainnet → ZkSync Era: ~ $6
ETH OP → ZkSync Era ~$0.05
They have integrated a points system and it’s pretty likely that they’ll do an airdrop in the future.
OwlTo Finance
(The above is a referral link that doesn’t cost you anything but that supports this work. If you would rather use a non-referral link, here it is: Non-referral link)
This one is descent and many recommend it. Personally, I don’t like the UI/UX, but I have used it and it worked well. They’ve implemented a points system, so it’s clear that there will be an airdrop at some point.
Fees Comparison:
ETH Mainnet → ZkSync Era: ~ $5.00
ETH OP → ZkSync Era ~$3.50
Same deal with Orbitor. Probably worth only doing this ETH Mainnet → L2.
deBridge
(The above is a referral link that doesn’t cost you anything but that supports this work. If you would rather use a non-referral link, here it is: Non-referral link)
deBridge also has a points system, which puts them in firm running for an airdrop. I don’t love their UI either, but I’ve used them without any issue.
Fees Comparison:
ETH Mainnet → ZkSync Era: ~ $5.80
ETH OP → Linea ~$0.05
They don’t support ZkSync which is why I resorted to using Linea for the bridge test.
Rango
(The above is a referral link that doesn’t cost you anything but that supports this work. If you would rather use a non-referral link, here it is: Non-referral link)
This, like Bungee and Jumper, is a bridge aggregator. You can try to target Zebra as well through Rango, for a two for one.
Fees Comparison:
ETH Mainnet → ZkSync Era: ~ $6.80
ETH OP → ZkSync Era ~$.02
I also don’t love the UI/UX for this bridge, but they come recommended within the industry. They worked perfectly for me.
Final Thoughts
All in all, that’s six bridges that I expect to have an airdrop. My two favorite in terms of usability are Jumper and Bungee. Since I think they’re the best, I imagine others will too, and I think their airdrops might be the most valuable. But that’s purely speculation on my part.
As I said before, I would try to use all of them, but I would try to have at least $100 in transfer value before moving on to another. There’s also no reason that you couldn’t transfer the same $100 around various L2 chains, using each of these bridges. You’ll spend a bit of money in gas, but not too much if you’re not transferring from ETH Mainnet.
It is possible that these bridges will reward ETH Mainnet transfers, so consider that as well if gas prices are especially low or you already have to make that transaction.
If you missed it above, I put together this spreadsheet to just help us keep a running tab of where all of our money is and what protocols and dapps we’ve used.
Hope that’s helpful. I should be launching a guide to ZkSync in the next day or two and will be referencing this article a lot. I hope it’s a helpful reference for you as well.
Happy Hunting. Keep your head on out here.
As always, none of this is financial advice. I am not telling you to buy or sell anything, just sharing my underlying research and conclusions.
I do hold a portfolio of cryptocurrencies. I was not paid by anyone to write this article.
If you would like to support this writing, please, leave me a comment (I love your feedback), pledge on Substack for when/if this newsletter ever goes paid-mode (you won’t be charged, only if/ever we make this paid):
…or you can buy me a cup of coffee or send some ERC20 tokens my way!
ERC-20 Address: 0x4F9960B2A808e8083C2D12420Aba4496D10e6D37