🍄 The Root Network: A Complete Guide To The Most Important Airdrop You've Never Heard Of

There’s every indication that the Root network will be as important for the advancement of Web3, NFTs, DeFi & crypto as Bitcoin & Ethereum.

Sae’Von Springer - Founder & Managing Partner, Native Assets

If you were really tapped in during the last bear market, you could have been one of thousands to be blessed with airdrops ranging from $18K all the way to a quarter million dollars!

For free.

Now do you see why little “Timmy with the Stimmy” is feeling a ways ‘bout that little ‘ol $1200 from 2020?

Well, if you focus your full & undivided attention for the next 15 minutes, you could set yourself up to strike an even bigger payday.

The single most important airdrop in the history of crypto is taking place later this year, but most of the so-called thought leaders & influencers in the space don’t have a clue.

Hence why this may be your first time hearing about this.

But fret not, because I’m here to spread the good news!

So - what is this airdrop & why does it have the potential to completely reinvent everything we know about token launches, protocol governance & maybe even securities laws?

Perhaps most importantly, how do you get in position to benefit from this airdrop?

Simple. Work through this ENTIRE keynote, start to finish.

By the end, I promise you’ll know everything you need to know to get your piece of the biggest airdrop in history.

Now, let’s get this magic internet money!

This article was originally published on the Native Assets Substack on Janu ary 31, 2023

Keynote At A Glance 🔑

Collect This Keynote As A FREE NFT

Airdrops Explained

The Purpose of Airdrops

Airdrops are a mechanism for projects & protocols to directly distribute tokens or other digital assets to a group of user wallets, free of charge.

Typically the goal of an airdrop is one of the following:

Generally speaking, the most effective (& most lucrative) airdrops achieve at least 2 of the above, if not all three.

Uniswap, who’s widely credited for kicking off the airdop meta, was able to tick all three boxes as they distributed 400 UNI tokens to each wallet that interacted with the protocol.

ENS rewarded users who previously minted a name & Yuga Labs made airdrops a staple of NFTs when they made BAKC a free mint for BAYC holders & dropped mutant vials shortly afterwards.

dYdX Airdrop Injected +$1B To Early Users of The Protocol

Airdrop Upside

To some, the perks of gaining governance rights is more than enough. The added exposure for a protocol? A bonus.

For the vast majority of folks though, airdrops are a lottery ticket - a hope for a big payday. Given past results, this isn’t just wishful thinking.

The Uniswap airdrop was worth ~$1200 the day it was distributed. If you’d held on to it and managed to sell around its peak of $45, it was worth ~$18K. The ENS drop ranged from $~17K to $84K on the high end & dYdX peaked between 8,600 for the lowest tier & at $265K for top tier users. 🤯

Sure, we’re assuming those recipients sold everything at the peak price, but still, folks have earned hundreds of thousands of dollars for simply being early & consistent supporters of new protocols & dApps, not once, not twice, but several times.

And its about to happen again.

Fluf World Announces A Partnership Between The Root Network & Ripple’s XRP Ledger

The Root Network Airdrop

Root Network Explained

The Root Network is a Substrate based EVM compatible blockchain with a deliberate focus on onboarding non-technical users to web3, optimized for user experience & purpose built to enable an interoperable metaverse.

The network has native support for dynamic NFTs, a multi token gas economy powered by Ripple’s XRPL, a federally recognized decentralized identity protocol, compliant DeFi supported by the Mastercard network, decentralized communications, & even an artificial intelligence protocol. Again, this is all architected directly into the base layer of the network & designed to work out of the box.

ROOT is the native token to the Root network & will be used for:

Governance
Securing the network via PoS
A block reward for node operators & validators
The primary in-game token for the Fluf World game
An incentive in the network’s Data Marketplace

Futureverse Explained

The Futureverse is the formal rollup of more than 8 individual companies responsible for building the core infrastructure powering the Root Network.

Some of the companies involved include Non-Fungible Labs, Sylo, Altered State Machine, Shadows Interactive, CentraPass, CentraPay, Immersive, ATEM Car Club & more.

Together, the Futureverse is a team of more than 200 people who’ve raised over $500M to build out the “Open Metaverse”.

There’s a lot to chew on here, so I suggest you check out this video from Gerry at Gerry’s Open Metaverse, along with this video from The Defiant.

How To Earn The Airdrop

So how can you best position yourself to benefit from this historic airdrop? Be willing to invest your capital, your attention, & your time, cause this is not your ordinary airdrop. Let’s dive in.

Root Airdrop Eligibility

One of the most unique aspects of the ROOT network AirDrop is how eligibility works.

Historically, most airdrops have come from DeFi protocols, not layer one networks. As a result, eligibility requirements have typically revolved around actions that drive liquidity to the protocol, such as making a trade, swapping tokens, taking out a loan or depositing capital into a liquidity pool to deepen order books.

In the case of the ROOT network, content, IP & gamified experiences have been the initial points of user traction, not DeFi. As a result, airdrop eligibility comes from holding NFTs from the Futureverse ecosystem.

It’s generally assumed that most, if not all of the genesis collections across the ecosystem will be eligible in some way, but its worth noting that the only 100% confirmed assets at the time of publication are Fluf World, Party Bears, Burrows & The Next Legends.

Regardless, holding an eligible NFT is just one part of the larger equation.

Phased Challenges

To actually receive & redeem your airdrop requires active participation through phased challenges.

At a high-level, these challenges are a way to gradually ramp up network activity, to teach people key skills necessary to work their way towards becoming an informed participant & contributor of the network.

It also happens to be a clever way to minimize the risks of the SEC claiming the airdrop is somehow a violation of securities laws.

To give you an idea, one of the first challenges will be migrating assets from The Next Legends genesis collection from Ethereum over to the Root network. This both initiates a distributed transfer of value to the network while also teaching people how to use a cross chain bridge.

Another challenge involves generative AI art from the Thingies collection, rewarding those who’ve been actively exploring the AI aspect of the ecosystem.

Complimentary Assets Unlock New Redemption Mechanics

Given that each of the genesis assets has a unique role to play within the broader Futureverse ecosystem, expect certain challenges to require a synergistic combination of assets to fully participate.

For instance, you may need a Burrow & and a Thingie for one challenge, or a Party Bear & a Buzzie for another. Just something to keep in mind.

Claim Mechanics

So you’ve acquired some airdrop eligible NFTs, & you’ve participated in the correct challenges to receive your allocation of ROOT.

Well there is one last hurdle, the “Time-Delayed Reverse Claim Mechanism”.

Historically most airdrops grant access to the full allocation of your tokens from day one, as was the case with Uniswap & ENS.

The benefit? You can access & sell all your tokens as soon as there’s a liquid market.

The downside? You can access & sell all your tokens as soon as there’s a liquid market.

The FV Whitepaper Details The Reverse Claim Mechanism

According to the Futureverse whitepaper, a fraction of the ROOT token airdrop will be available immediately, but the bulk of the allocation will gradually become claimable over time, the earlier the claim, the more of your allocation you forfeit. The forfeited tokens go back into a pool to be divided amongst the remaining claimants. So simply put, the longer you wait, the more ROOT you’re eligible to claim.

The game theory here has two key benefits.

The first being reduced sell pressure from what would otherwise be the the standard post-airdrop bubble up & crash as recipients sell en mase.

The second benefit is sustained engagement.

It’s quite likely they’ll be a steady stream of challenges for several months, if not years, following the initial launch & upfront claim.

To maximize rewards, users will have to remain engaged with the ecosystem, helping to avoid the sharp drop-off that typically happens post-airdrop, & better positioning the Futureverse to establish enduring network effects as current community members draw in new ones.

Potential ROI

At this point you’re likely asking yourself if it’s worth it to get involved. Only you can make that decision, but there’s enough information available to allow for some healthy speculation.

Let’s start by assessing the distribution model.

According the the FV whitepaper there’s a supply of 12B ROOT tokens with…

10% allocated to “Initial Community Rewards”
15% to “Land Mechanics”
10% to the “Ecosystem Development Fund”
5% for the “Block Reward Bootstrap”

You can check out the whitepaper for full details, but this is what’s most relevant for the airdrop.

With these figures we can begin to extrapolate possible scenarios.

Thankfully a prominent community member KONA made a phenomenal thread for this very purpose.

Kona’s projections assume that of the 10% allocated to initial Community Rewards, Flufs will receive 5% & Party Bears will receive 1%.

Of the 15% allocated to Land Mechanics, its assumed 5% will go to Burrows.

Lastly, this assumes the max ROOT claimable for each asset - meaning FULL participation & a longer wait to claim the tokens.

With all that said, Kona projects:

60K root for Flufs
12K ROOT for Party Bears
~17K ROOT for Dens
~68K ROOT for Suites
~154K ROOT for High Rollas
~274K ROOT for Studio Snoop Dogg

He takes it a step further to model the relative ROI based on the ETH price of each of these assets to see which is the better value in terms of money spent vs projected ROOT allocation.

I like this approach, so I updated the multiples to reflect fiat denominated floor prices at the time of publication. Assuming a $4B market cap, one ROOT token equals $0.33.

From best to worst ROI are:

Suites @ nearly $23K (23x)
High Rollas @ ~$51K (14X)
Dens @ ~5,600 (~14x)
Studios @ $90,420 (~11.12x)
Party Bears @ $3,960 (5.4X)
Flufs @ $19,800 (4.2X)

Again, these are just speculation. Expect more clarity once the first challenge begins.

Your Chance To Own The Future

Airdrops have been known to provide life changing money to those fortunate & engaged enough, to receive them.

In the case of the Root network, I’m confident this will go down as one of, if not THE most important airdrop in history.

Of course only time will tell, but NFT airdrops & companion collections have already provided early Fluf Holders with tens of thousands of dollars. The scale & impact of a layer 1 network launch will FAR eclipse that.

On that note, its important to know that most airdrops don’t come directly from layer 1 networks themselves, but rather the dApps & protocols built on top.

For networks that have issued tokens, they’re usually sold to private investors & VCs via premine events. Controversial & divisive as it may be for the community, this is what happened with Ethereum, as folks like Vitalik Buterin, Joe Lubin and many other co-founders & early contributors accumulated roughly 60% of the current total Ethereum supply before any ICO ever took place.

Hasu Speaks On The Ethereum Premine Concerns

Yes, there’s an allocation for early contributors & advisors, but its only 10%. The main way VCs got exposure to Futureverse & the Root network was through buying equity in the constituent companies.

By owning the ROOT, you’re in position to be a validator or a staker & earn a portion of network fees. The more activity, the more rewards.

Again, only time will tell how everything shakes out. Still, there’s every indication that the Root network will be every bit as important for the advancement of Web3, NFTs, DeFi & crypto as Bitcoin & Ethereum.

We’ll find out soon enough…

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