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What can crypto founders learn from Blur's Token airdrop?

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The goal of token incentives should be to improve core KPIs: long-term retention and engagement.

What can Crypto founders Learn from Blur's token airdrop?

Original article by Li Jin, Mason Nystrom and Tina Dai

This is a Block unicorn

Since its public launch five months ago, Blur has established itself as the industry's top NFT marketplace and trading platform, with a market share of over 40% by volume prior to the February 2023 airdrop. In a competitive environment, it takes more than product and user experience improvements to beat incumbents - complex incentives are needed to guide and increase user usage.

在过去的几年里，将Token应用于构建网络的创意层出不穷，包括激励参与者的成长或忠诚度，获取价值，或提供各种类型的产品核心效用。常见的 Token 玩法集中在一次性追溯空投，以激励参与和奖励早期用户（如 Uniswap，ENS）；到持续的流动性挖掘项目，奖励用户执行某些行动（如 LooksRare，Compound）。

研究 Blur 揭示了一个更复杂的 Token 分配设计，它提供分阶段的奖励来排列网络的增长。这一分析将包括两部分：第一篇文章将解读 Blur 的 Token 方法，并为寻求利用 Token 发展网络的创始人提供建议。未来的一篇博文将分享数据分析，量化空投对市场和使用的影响。

Background on Blur airdrop

BLUR 的总供应量为 30 亿个 Token ，其中 3.6 亿个，即 12%，在 2 月 14 日空投并可认领。截至 2 月 20 日，112K 独特的钱包已经认领了空投的 Token ，93% 的 Token 被认领。截至 2 月 20 日， Token 价格为 1.21 美元，空投的总价值超过 4.35 亿美元，空投的中位数为 298 个 Token （价值 360 美元）。

在空投之前，Blur 的 Token 激励有几个阶段，统称为「第一季」，这与网络增长的顺序方式相类似。重要的是，在这些阶段中，用户并没有空投可 Token ，而是收到了链外的「关怀包」，可以在 Blur 的网站上查看，作为未来空投 BLUR Token 积分或神秘盒子。

There are four stages of rewards in season one

Zero Drop: Rewards social referees to attract traders to its platform (announced May 4, 2022).

You get points when you join, when you use an invitation, and when someone you invite uses an invitation.

Blur's first phase of airdrops was announced in May 2022, while the platform was still on a waiting list, and rewarded users who actively recommended others to use the platform. It is worth noting that these rewards are calculated in a way that not only incentivizes invitations, but also encourages high-volume traders.

Airdrop stage 1:Trading activities that reward ecosystems (announced October 19, 2022)

Blur's first airdrop coincided with the public launch of its NFT aggregator and market. The airdrop rewards users who have been active in Ethereum NFT transactions over the past six months. To apply for an airdrop, users need to list an NFT on Blur within 14 days.

"Our aim is to make Blur a market owned and benefitted by the entire NFT community. Our first step is to airdrop care packages to everyone who has had an ongoing NFT transaction over the past six months."

Airdrop stage 2:Award addresses to establish supply in the market (announced on 19 October 2022)

At the same time as the Airdrop 1 was announced, Blur also announced the Airdrop 2 as a reward for individuals who put NFT on Blur before November. The second airdrop also rewards traders who use Blur's new features, including their professional ordering tools (e.g., ordering by NFT feature reserve price, sweeping floor price NFT, etc.). Airdrop 2 further rewards frequently listed traders, lists actively traded collections and incentivizes blue-chip NFT to place orders.

It's worth noting that Blur also encourages users to stick with Blur rather than the rest of the NFT market:

"Loyalty doesn't affect how many care packages you get in Airdrop 2, but it does affect your luck in revealing them. When you list in other markets, it doesn't affect your loyalty score as long as you list on Blur for the same price or less. You can use Blur's advanced ordering tool to get listed on all NFT trading platforms at once."

Airdrop Stage 3:Incentive bidding stimulates demand (announced December 14, 2022)

With a supply base at a lower price than in other markets, Blur announced that the third airdrop was focused on building the demand side. At the same time as the third airdrop, Blur launched their bidding contracts, allowing traders to bid for collections more efficiently (such as without Gas bidding).

Blur also encourages dealers to create the best bid-ask spread possible, with better bids being rewarded with more money.

"In a set, the bid that takes the highest 'risk' earns the vast majority of the points. If the base price is 1.01 and there are 100 bids at 1, and you bid at 0.99, then your bid won't earn many points because there are 100 buyers ahead of you, but if you bid at 1.01, you'll earn more points because you're taking the most 'risk' right now."

Crucially, while there was no incentive to go public during this period, Blur maintained the same commitment to loyalty: Users who list on Blur for the same price or less will have more luck (meaning more airdrops) when opening their care packages, helping to keep Blur's price floor low relative to other markets.

Care package

关爱包裹有四个不同的稀有程度：普通，稀有，传奇，神话。关怀包裹的稀有性与用户对 Blur 的忠诚度分数挂钩，这区分了诸如列出普通 NFT 或蓝筹 NFT 的行为，罕见的包裹将获得更多的 Token 。

2023 年 2 月 14 日——在最初的空投宣布近一年后，Blur 用户可以打开他们的关爱包裹，以显示里面的 BLUR Token 。排名前五位的钱包分别认领了超过 200 万个 BLUR Token ，Blur 空投的中位数是 298 个 BLUR（截至 2 月 20 日价值 360 美元），平均数是 2,995 个 Token （价值 3,623 美元）。

为了申请他们的空投，Blur 用户需要在推特上发表关于空投的信息。Blur 在推特上预先填入了申请的 Token 数量（用户可以编辑推特并认领空投）。

The main lesson from Blur's airdrop

Blur has some important experience with their innovative airdrop designs

1. Sequential airdrop market growth

Blur's innovation was the use of a sequential airdrop model, building networks in stages and matching new product launches.

This sequential drop token has two key effects:

Building a network in stages corresponds to the way supply is built first, then demand in the market. Keep Blur users engaged and get them into new product features (like bidding on contracts).

2. Uncertain rewards create greater motivation

Like most cryptocurrency projects, Blur decided to keep the specifics of the airdrop (care package) to themselves until launch, but crucially, they abstracted the details behind the gamified and quantifiable care package, offering short-term rewards to users in the interim. Each subsequent airdrop is "more valuable than the next," creating an incentive to stay involved because users don't know the real nominal value they will receive.

将这种方法与 LooksRare 最初的 Token 分配策略进行对比，后者的功能更像是 DeFi 流动性挖掘，奖励是特定市场活动的功能。LooksRare 根据交易量对交易者进行奖励，这意味着交易者可以根据他们在某一天的交易量可靠地计算出他们将获得多少 Token （和美元价值）。这导致交易者为了获得 LooksRare Token 奖励而进行刷量交易，并导致几乎没有持续的有机活动（据称 LooksRare 历史交易量的 94% 是刷量交易）。

In studies comparing the effort people put into winning a certain kind of reward with an uncertain one, researchers have found that uncertainty generates greater motivation and effort. Blur's model closely mirrors the four-step habit formation process proposed by author Nir Eyal: starting to use a product's triggers, actions to meet those triggers, variable rewards for actions, and some type of investment that ultimately makes the product more valuable to the user.

另一个相关的策略是使用不同稀有程度的关爱包裹，以奖励忠诚度，并承诺为更稀有关爱包裹可以获得更多 Blur Token 。这使不确定性游戏化，创造了用户获得更稀有关爱包裹的动力。

3. Encourage virality and social sharing

In order to get off the waiting list and join the early beta, users need to earn as many Blur points as possible. Blur gamified and rewarded users' viral coefficients (the number of new users generated by existing users), recommending users to share more for more points. Influencers posted messages on Twitter, users shared links to recommendations in group chats, and Blur went on a wave of invitations. Importantly, users who get the beta earn points for the first airdrop, and waiting list participants and beta users get an additional airdrop from Blur.

Blur also specifically encouraged sharing on Twitter, including promising care packages to random users who retweeted the announcement. Finally, opening the "care package" and picking up the Blur airdrop requires a tweet, which will be pre-filled with the Blur airdrop message. While users can circumvent this and still receive airdrops (via tweets and deletions, for example), the mechanism still generated a huge response on the day of the drop, with thousands of tweets about it.

Finally, Blur maintained a leaderboard for users throughout the process, ranked by points. This creates gamified competition and social proof that shows the activity of other users.

4. Transfer the fluidity to Blur

Blur's loyalty score - which determines the rarity of the care package airdrop - is determined by the degree to which the trader remains competitive and exclusive within Blur. Traders maximize their Blur loyalty score by listing NFT on Blur at a lower price than in other markets. Conversely, listing NFT at a lower price in other markets will reduce the loyalty score of users.

This incentive caused traders to hang NFT on Blur at a lower price, creating a supply moat for Blur and increasing its appeal to NFT buyers. During the bidding incentive, bids closest to the reserve price were awarded the most, further creating tight bid-ask spreads that kept Blur's reserve price lower than those available in other markets.

It is worth noting that Blur's loyalty scheme will continue into the second season as an incentive for traders to remain loyal to the platform.

5. Continuous incentives for new users

与许多针对早期采用者的空投项目不同，Blur 宣布它将继续为第二季的新用户空投 Token ，并在空投后的三十天内对上架 NFT 和竞标 NFT 的交易者进行额外的激励。

On the day of the airdrop, Blur also announced care packages for new users. To apply for the Care package you need to browse the animated slideshow of Blur features, purchase the NFT through the marketplace, and list it on Blur. This was strategically timed as the day of the airdrop would have seen a significant amount of potential user traffic to Blur's website. Meeting these new users on the day of the airdrop and motivating them to use Blur could be an effective customer acquisition strategy.

6. Continuation of iterative airdrop scheme

在空投当天，Blur 宣布了一个激励委员会，该委员会有权部署 10% 的社区 Token 供应，以进一步激励 Blur 的采用。一旦预算耗尽，委员会还可以通过治理请求更多 Token 。

The board allows Blur's airdrop plan to continue iterating -- avoiding user manipulation to maximize airdrop -- without the need for ongoing DAO approval. This is similar to web2's strategy of constantly updating incentives to optimize network dynamics.

Improve suggestions and open questions

In reflecting on the airdrop, we identified several areas of opportunity for the future:

Focus on retention

To further decentralize and retain users, one suggestion in Marc Boiron's Sufficient Decentralization Playbook is for an incentive committee to evolve into a sub-DAO, similar to the Uniswap Foundation, which could be a sustainable way forward, Keep incentives alive as the market evolves.

Future airdrops could benefit from the use of a time-locked airdrop attribution schedule, where the sold subscriber is not eligible to receive the remainder of their allotted airdrop. In addition, airdrops may depend on actions such as continued use of the platform (such as a certain number of bids or listings per month) or governance involvement.

Build a moat around demand and supply

Blur created an element of buyer lock-in through the use of bidding contracts, where users bid on contract deposits to Blur in order to bid. As of Feb. 20, the bid contracts had $128 million in deposits, which represented a potential bid.

Blur can further enhance its demand side maintainability, allowing users to derive benefits from deposited capital; Providing additional financial products for professional traders; Or use other incentives to help lock in liquidity. As the NFT market war continues, creating a supply moat for the market will also be critical for future defensiveness.

Create Token tool

为Token创造更大的效用，使其成为产品体验的核心部分，并建立对 Token 的需求，可以是下一个重点领域。这可以从 Binance 的 BNB 等 Token 中获得灵感，它在交易平台提供折扣交易费用；或者 SuperRare 的 RARE，它需要在名为 Spaces 的平台上策划独立店面。

最后，还有一个存在的问题，即该 Token 是否会产生价值。自 Token 推出以来，Twitter 上的用户质疑 Blur Token 持有者的价值是如何累积的，因为存在一个构建和维护前端的股权公司。由于 Blur 是建立在其协议上的主导（也是唯一的）应用，这可能会导致在推动 DAO 与股权业务的价值方面出现扭曲的激励，并留下一个关于该公司是否或如何对 DAO 做出可信的承诺。

展望用户激励 Token 机制的下一次迭代

考虑到最近的空投，Blur 的空投战略的长期效果只会随着时间的推移而变得明显。到目前为止，超过 75% 的空投领取人已经出售了他们空投的一部分。关于空投的效果，早期数据很有希望，然而，Blur 的批量市场份额 ( 根据投标来源 ) 在空投后的几天内从 40% 中期上升到 80% 以上。截至 2 月 20 日——在空投一周后——第 1、第 3 和第 5 名空投最多的接受者仍然持有他们全部的空投，每人超过 200 万个 Token ( 价值 240 万美元以上 )。

毫无疑问，Blur 的空投已经为网络增长的 Token 应用开辟了新天地。最终， Token 激励的目标应该是提高核心 kpi:长期留存率和粘性。 Token 的理想结果是，用户所有权使产品比没有 Token 所有权时更成功。要做到这一点，仍然需要构建人们想要的产品，逐步去中心化，以及为每个产品和协议定制不断发展的规划。