How airdrop points programs and TGE conversion work

How a points program works

A project gives each account a score for behaviour it wants: trading volume, deposits, referrals, time with funds in a vault, social posts. The score is kept in the project's own database. It is not a token on a blockchain, usually cannot be moved, and carries no right to anything until the project says so. Abstract states this directly for its XP, which it describes as not transferable between accounts.

Programmes are usually divided into seasons. Each season has its own weights and pool of points, and projects change them between seasons. Paradex's documentation, for example, describes Season 3 as 4,000,000 XP distributed each Wednesday. Lighter's Season 2 issued 200,000 retail and 50,000 market-maker points each week. Those figures show the point supply is controlled by the issuer, which matters for what follows.

Why the conversion rate is decided later

When a pool is shared in proportion to points, the rule is simple:

Your tokens = (your points ÷ total points) × pool

The denominator is the problem. Total points keep growing while the programme runs, so the exchange rate cannot be known until the end. Variational's documentation, which says the genesis distribution is airdropped proportionally to points holdings, is the cleanest example in our data: the pool is stated as 32% of supply, but the rate per point is not.

Try doubling the total. Your share halves, even though you did nothing different. That is the central risk of a points programme: your reward depends on how many other people play. Editorial judgement: this is the main reason points programmes are harder to value than retroactive drops, where the snapshot has already fixed the participants.

There are other reasons a project keeps flexibility. It may want to decide supply and unlock terms close to launch, and it may remove wallets it considers farmed. Balanced against that, flexibility also means a project can alter the deal. Paradex's genesis allocation went from an announced 25% to 20.6%, according to the Foundation, because of XP repurchases.

Points compared with other routes

Points are one of several ways projects hand out tokens. Here is how they differ on the criteria that matter to a participant.

Read the full definitions in what a crypto airdrop is, and the testnet route in our testnet guide. The cells above are an editorial summary of patterns, not a rule that every project follows.

Documented cases

These cases use only what the projects published. Where a figure is missing, we say so. Each name links to its project page for the full source list.

Two more are worth knowing. Aster set a 30-day claim window from its TGE on September 17, 2025, with 704,000,000 ASTER unlocked for claimants, while its later points stages remain documented without a published end date or payout amount. MetaMask Rewards pays points for swaps and perp trades with a stated Season 1 reward of a share of over $30 million in $LINEA, but we found no MetaMask token announced in first-party pages.

What these cases share: pools were published as a share of supply, conversion detail came late or not at all, vesting differed widely, and the filtering method was usually only partly described. What differs: Blast and Abstract show the downside, Backpack and Lighter show delivery at launch.

What we would check first

This is our editorial scorecard, not an official rating. Tick what the project has published in its own documentation. It saves nothing and does not leave your browser.

Six ticks is rare. Most programmes land at two or three, which is a normal result and a prompt to size your effort down. Verifying the source matters before anything: open docs from the project's own site, not from a social post. We explain our own approach on how we verify, and you can compare programmes on potential and confirmed.

Red flags

• Someone sells points. There is no official market. Payment for points is a loss waiting to happen.
• The site asks for your seed phrase to "link" or "verify" points. No legitimate programme needs it. See airdrop scams.
• A guaranteed rate or value. Lighter's docs say points have no guaranteed conversion rate. Anyone promising one is guessing or selling.
• Pressure to deposit more for a multiplier without published withdrawal terms. Check the exit, as with Hyperliquid's documented seven-day unstaking, before you lock funds.
• Unannounced rule changes. Seasons are normal. Silent re-weighting is not. Compare current terms with archived ones.
• No company or foundation information and no documentation, only a social account.
• A clone domain. Reach the programme from the project's documentation, never from a message. See how to spot legit airdrops.

What nobody can tell you

Honest limits help more than confident forecasts. For almost any points programme, these remain unknown until the project publishes them: the final total points, the filtered count, whether a token is launched, the unlock schedule, and the price when you can sell. Several of our own project pages mark those fields as not published, and we do not fill the gap with guesses.

If you still want to participate, cap what you spend, use a separate wallet for connecting to new apps, and write down fees as you go. The airdrop farming guide has a calculator for that, and burner wallets explains the setup. Follow your list in the airdrop tracker, and remember that anything received may be taxable: see airdrop taxes.

Written and fact-checked by the airdrop.promo Editorial Team. Method: how we verify. Spotted an error? contacts@airdrop.promo. Educational content only, not financial or tax advice.