Is Airdrop Farming a Necessary Evil or an Unsustainable Ponzi?

There's a rising tension between projects and airdrop farmers. Early-stage projects often benefit significantly from farmers who drive initial traction, interactions, and TVL. Yet, once established, these projects increasingly label farmers as "Sybil attackers" to deny promised rewards, funneling incentives instead toward insiders and big players.

Example: $SCROLL, $RED, $LAYER

Consider the stagnant growth of networks like @Starknet, @zksync, @blast, we've seen many infrastructure projects risk becoming ghost towns without farmers.

When will we finally see Web3 projects built around genuinely profitable business models, where investors and early users are transparently rewarded for sustainable contributions rather than being exploited as temporary liquidity?

The chart below is one of the best PMFs in crypto - @LayerZero_Fndn pre/post airdrop activity. It shows that projects can talk the loudest when they didn't launch their token.