Scroll airdrop farmers can now track their points. But will that satisfy skeptics?

Airdrop farmers on Scroll can now check their total points gained in the blockchain network’s much-maligned loyalty campaign programme called Sessions.

It remains to be seen, however, if the move will mollify critics of the points programmes that have been popping up more and more in the world of DeFi.

Scroll, an Ethereum layer 2 blockchain with $87 million in deposits, launched a dashboard on Wednesday where users can view their Scroll Marks ― the name chosen by the project for its points programme.

Marks, like other previous blockchain points programmes, represents an activity score assigned to a user’s wallet address as an appraisal of their transaction footprint on the blockchain.

Users who spent above $5 to bridge three eligible tokens ― Ether, wrapped staked Ether, and Stone ― to Scroll received retroactive points as long as they did so between October and April.

However, not all onchain activity within that cutoff period was rewarded in the retroactive points drop.

Scroll considered only users who spent more than $5 in bridging three eligible assets to the blockchain ― Ether, wrapped staked Ether, and Stone.

Users can continue to earn loyalty points under the Sessions programme and Scroll says it will add more eligible assets.

Scroll’s total value locked ― a DeFi metric for investment volume in a protocol or blockchain ― is up 46% since Sessions was announced last month.

Crypto bridged volume to Scroll has even topped $25 million in the last 24 hours ― a record for the blockchain, DefiLlama data shows.

That’s despite criticism from the community about the points programme.

Points’ critics

Critics of the move like notable pseudonymous airdrop farmer CC2 previously said DeFi loyalty points programmes have become formulaic, pointing to projects like Manta, Paradigm, and Blast that have used the same marketing ploy.

The backlash directed at Scroll and others stems from the misgivings held by blockchain users who say project teams use points programme to lure depositors to their chains to create a semblance of activity for their networks.

The depositors themselves pile into blockchains offering points programmes in the hopes of securing valuable token airdrops in the future.

Such endeavours, however, might not be as profitable as in the past given the way projects are adopting newer rules for their airdrops.

LayerZero in its recent airdrop announcement asked sybil users to self-report or risk losing all of their allocated tokens. Sybil users are mercenary airdrop farmers who deploy a cluster of several thousand wallets to drum activity on target protocols or blockchains to secure a greater share of the airdrop.

Besides projects adopting more aggressive anti-sybil protection, many recent airdrops have failed to meet market expectations. That’s because most airdrop recipients have chosen to sell their tokens immediately, causing the token’s price to plummet.

Osato Avan-Nomayo is our Nigeria-based DeFi correspondent. He covers DeFi and tech. To share tips or information about stories, please contact him at osato@dlnews.com.