The ongoing airdrop by Ethereum restaking protocol EigenLayer has sparked controversy due to its stringent qualifications for claiming rewards, drawing attention from project founders and users across the crypto community. Leandro Schlottchauer, co-founder and CEO of smart contract developer Kuyen Labs, noted that the era of life-changing airdrops may be over, emphasizing the challenge of satisfying all community members with such incentives. Schlottchauer highlighted divisions among community members regarding the core team's plans, including the allocation of tokens to early contributors and the limited jurisdictions eligible for claiming rewards.

Meanwhile, Mohak Agarwal, CEO and founder of liquid-staking protocol Claystack, criticized EigenLayer's surprise announcement of its airdrop, suggesting that such an approach may lead to disappointment in the long run. Agarwal expressed concern over projects initially offering small airdrop supplies and later increasing them to appease users, which he deemed unsustainable.

EigenLayer's decision to unveil its airdrop plans in a surprise blog post on April 29 triggered widespread community backlash, particularly regarding the limited allocation of tokens to early users and the exclusion of users from certain countries. In response to community feedback, EigenLayer announced on May 3 that it would distribute an additional 28 million EIGEN tokens to 280,000 wallets.

Despite the growing development activities in the crypto ecosystem, recent airdrops have struggled to maintain their initial momentum. For instance, Wormhole's W tokens, distributed to select users in a massive $800 million airdrop, saw a significant decline in value after an initial surge. Similarly, STRK, the native token of Ethereum layer-2 scaling solution Starknet, faced a 43% drop in value post-airdrop, amid concerns of token distribution to unqualified accounts.

Airdrops have often been targeted by farm accounts and Sybil accounts, leading to reputational damage for projects and potential price manipulation due to excessive dumping by airdrop farmers. As a result, researchers have highlighted the need for more sustainable approaches to airdrop distribution to maintain project integrity and investor confidence.