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Airdrops were created as a marketing tool before the ICO era, rewarding traders for promoting the project and holding its token for a certain period.

Arbitrum, a layer-2 scaling solution for Ethereum, announced the airdrop of its ARB governance token on March 16, with eligible receivers expected to get the token by March 23. The hype around its airdrop has now helped another layer-2 solution, zkSync, to see significant week-over-week growth.

ZkSync is another layer-2 scaling solution for Ethereum, supporting nonfungible tokens (NFT), and atomic swaps and transfers of Ether (ETH) and ERC-20 tokens within the Ethereum network.

According to data from crypto on-chain analytic firm Nansen, more than 39,000 addresses have bridged over $871 million to zkSync in the last seven days. The number of addresses bridging to zkSync has swelled by 5x in the last week.

After the Arbitrum airdrop, zkSync and StarkNet are regarded as the upcoming airdrops with the most potential value. On March 17, nearly 5,000 people deposited more than 536 ETH using the zkSync bridge, and almost 3,000 users deposited over 234 ETH using the StarkNet bridge.

Although zkSync neither has a native token nor announced any airdrop, the enthusiasm around the Arbitrum airdrop has led many proponents to believe they would be rewarded in the near future.

The hype around the airdrops comes amid multiple fake and scam airdrops being attempted by scammers using Arbitrum branding.

#CertiKSkynetAlert

Be aware of a fake @arbitrum Twitter account which is advertising a token Airdrop.

Do not interact with this Airdrop.

Always verify Twitter accounts and URLs from trusted sources.

Stay vigilant! pic.twitter.com/gTlSNRzd6l

— CertiK Alert (@CertiKAlert) March 19, 2023

A crypto airdrop is a promotional tool for crypto projects to generate hype around the project. The crypto projects behind these airdrops often directly deposit digital tokens into the wallets of active blockchain community members as a gift. Many of these airdrops have specific preset eligibility criteria that reward users for spreading awareness around the project.

Airdrops have been popular since the early stages of the crypto ecosystem, with the first airdrop coming in 2014. Projects have relaxed marketing strategies in recent times owing to regulatory scrutiny.

Related: Ethereum layer-2 solutions may focus less on token incentives in the future

Not all crypto airdrops are equally valuable due to multiple factors, such as the people behind the projects and the project’s use cases — among others. However, Arbitrum, Optimism and zkSync are some of the early layer-2 solutions with proven records. This has attracted more traders to the Arbitrum airdrop, as it could prove to be more valuable than the usual crypto airdrops.

SpankChain was forced to close its crypto payment processor after the hunt for a new adult-industry-friendly service provider yielded no results.

Ethereum-based adult entertainment platform SpankChain is shuttering its crypto payment processor, SpankPay, after losing its payment service provider Wyre in February and failing to find a new one. 

In February, SpankPay revealed that its previous provider — crypto payment platform Wyre — had terminated its agreement to provide payment services to SpankPay, referring to "violations of any third-party payment processor or network rules."

After a long and difficult consideration, we have decided to close down SpankPay, our crypto payment processor that we built as a safe haven for our community. Rest assured your money is safe and we’ll get it to you as soon as possible.

— SpankPay (@SpankPay) March 20, 2023

In a March 20 post, SpankPay said this was a “targeted shutdown” by Wyre because their new payment processor “doesn’t work with the adult business.”

“This came as a shock, seeing as our relationship with Wyre had been supportive and respectful up until this point,” it wrote.

SpankPay says since then, all attempts to find another service provided resulted in rejection due to it "being in the adult industry."

Other service providers that we explored also rejected us due to being in the adult industry. Operating SpankPay in a hostile banking environment has always been challenging, but the escalating attacks have become untenable for our small team and the niche market we serve.

— SpankPay (@SpankPay) March 20, 2023

"Operating SpankPay in a hostile banking environment has always been challenging, but the escalating attacks have become untenable for our small team and the niche market we serve," SpankPay wrote in a Twitter thread.

SpankChain is an Ethereum-based blockchain aimed at helping adult content creators cut out third-party intermediaries such as traditional banks — which have had a long history of conflict with the adult industry.

SpankChain launched SpankPay in July 2019. The adult-industry-friendly payment solution assisted adult entertainers and merchants in accepting cryptocurrency for their services.

Related: Blockchain technology can help create safe and inclusive adult platforms

Despite the shutdown, the company assured users, "your money is safe and we'll get it to you as soon as possible."

“We encourage users to create crypto wallets and explore personal financial sovereignty. We’ll continue to develop and invest in products that advance the adult industry,” it added.