Marlene Marz

• Airdrops are a well-known incentive mechanism for blockchain protocols. In recent years, DAOs in particular have discovered "retroactive" airdrops that reward early adopters. This type of token distribution is also seen as a possible solution to the centralisation and lack of voting participation in DAOs. Therefore, 19 DAO airdrops were empirically analysed for their effect on governance activity. We compare the voting participation of air-drop recipients on Snapshot and (where available) on-chain with all token holders, as well as the delegation share. The participation of airdrop recipients was on average slightly higher than that of non-airdrop recipients, especially on Snapshot. We conclude that carefully designed airdrops can contribute to the overall governance strategy of DAOs.