The ongoing airdrop conducted by Ethereum restaking protocol EigenLayer has been generating significant controversy due to its restrictive criteria for claiming rewards. This much-hyped airdrop has led to project founders and users across the crypto ecosystem weighing in on the matter.

Leandro Schlottchauer, the co-founder and CEO of smart contract developer Kuyen Labs, expressed his view that the era of life-changing airdrops is likely behind us. He stated, "The reality is that, in all likelihood, the era of life-changing airdrops is now behind us. It should be clear by now that no airdrop or similar incentive can satisfy all community members." Schlottchauer further added that community members have been divided on the core team's plans, including the amount to be airdropped to early contributors and the limited number of jurisdictions from which users will be able to claim.

Mohak Agarwal, the CEO and founder of liquid-staking protocol Claystack, criticized EigenLayer's approach of announcing its airdrop as a surprise. According to Agarwal, "While the mysterious approach may initially evoke excitement, it often leads to disappointment later on. This pattern suggests a tendency for projects to announce a small airdrop supply initially, anticipating user disappointment, and then offering additional tokens to appease them — a short-term fix that isn't sustainable in the long run."

In a surprising blog post on April 29, EigenLayer, the second-largest decentralized finance protocol with $15.67 billion in total value locked, unveiled its airdrop plans. Among other details, the protocol announced that only 5% of the initial token supply would be allocated to early users who participated in Season One, with the remaining allocation to be distributed to users in the following "seasons." Additionally, users from 30 countries, including the United States, Canada, China, and Russia, would not be able to claim EIGEN tokens.

The announcement quickly drew widespread community condemnation, with users criticizing the protocol's decision to exclude certain countries. One user on social media platform X wrote, "Accepting stake from those countries and not rewarding them isn't right. They took a very real risk for nothing," in response to the protocol's geoblocking efforts. In response to community feedback, EigenLayer announced in a follow-up post on May 3 that they would airdrop an additional 28 million EIGEN to 280,000 wallets.

The EigenLayer airdrop has highlighted issues such as community discontent, the presence of farm accounts, and restrictive criteria that have plagued recent airdrops in the crypto space. Experts suggest that this airdrop may be one of the last "life-changing" airdrops, as the community becomes increasingly divided and projects struggle to find a fair and sustainable approach to distributing token rewards.