Hello everyone!

This is my first steemit post 😊

The main purpose of this guide is to teach how to safely acquire free coins (also known as airdrops). I have made tens of thousands of dollars worth of free coins over the years. Never count out a free coin! Byteball and stellar are great examples; these coins were airdrops (free), and now they have market caps in the millions!

What is an airdrop? Why are free coins given out?
An airdrop is when you receive coins for 1) Entering a giveaway 2) Holding a coin that the airdrop developers want you to hold. Developers often give coins for free as a way of promoting their coin. Every individual receiving a coin can become a spokesperson for the product. It is simply a clever way to market a coin. Sometimes it is used to fairly distribute a coin or to encourage holding for a different coin.

The most common airdrop is given for posting about a new coin on a social media site. These often require only your Ethereum address and proof of a social media post.

Where can I get these free coins (airdrops)?
There are various websites and ways to find airdrops.
• https://airdropalert.com
• Search the Bitcointalk forum: https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=1438371.0 or https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?board=67.0
• Use Telegram: https://t.me/freeairdrop
• Search Twitter: https://twitter.com/CryptoAirdrops

What do I need to receive an airdrop?
The requirements for an airdrop change depending on the developer’s rules. For example, to receive the bitsend airdrop, the interested participant needed to have a Bitcointalk account above a certain rank. Here are some of the requirements for most airdrops:

1. bitcointalk.org account
2. A social media account (Twitter, Facebook, Telegram App, etc.)
3. An ether address (https://www.myetherwallet.com)
4. You will often have to download the coin’s wallet to receive an address
   If you are a novice, @minerksta had a great guide on how to go about creating these accounts: https://steemit.com/cryptocurrency/@minerksta/how-to-earn-a-bit-of-money-with-airdrops-6-easy-steps-to-start

What to look for in airdrops?
One of the most important things in crypto is scarcity! How many coins are they giving out? What percentage of the coins are being given out? Is it difficult to receive the airdrop (barriers of entry discourage others from entering)? One example of an airdrop with a large barrier to entry was Deeponion. This coin required interested participants to create 10 posts a week (each post consisting of 50+ words). If you participated in this airdrop, you would have made more than $100 for less than 1 hour of work.
Other things to look for: 1) A good development team 2) An interesting coin (new consensus mechanism, not a typical crypto clone, etc.) 3) An idea that interests many in the crypto world (fair distribution, environmentally friendly, etc.)

How to stay safe?
Not everyone in the crypto world wants to help you. As always, assume the worst. Here are some tips to stay safe:

1. NEVER give anyone your private key, they do not need this to give you an airdrop. You should only have to provide your public address.
2. Visiting foreign websites can be dangerous. I use the sandbox provided by Comodo antivirus when visiting airdrop sites (free). Visit: https://www.comodo.com/home/internet-security/free-internet-security.php

For the extra paranoid:

1. Use throwaway accounts (create accounts for the sole purpose of receiving airdrops)
2. Use a junk computer (use a computer that does not have any valuable information on it)
3. Use a clean Virtual Machine (alternative to using a junk computer)

I am a little paranoid so I use a junk computer with the software “Reboot Restore RX” (http://horizondatasys.com/reboot-restore-rx-freeware/). When enabled, this program will restore your computer’s state to when it was first enabled. This means that you can install a wallet that may contain a virus, generate the information needed for the airdrop, send it to yourself, then when your computer restarts it will be virus free (at the state it was in before you installed the wallet). It basically takes a snapshot of your computer and keeps that snapshot every time your computer is rebooted. This means that everything you did never really happened (impacted your computer). No viruses!

Note: Some of the software listed are not opensource. This is a preventative guide, it is not a guarantee. Using the outlined methods will keep you safer though 😊

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