Users deposit $2bn in Zircuit, earning airdrop points from up to four protocols in the process

Users deposited over $80 million into Zircuit in the last 24 hours, bringing the total value of crypto assets deposited with the protocol to over $2 billion.

This comes as Zircuit offers airdrop farmers, users who interact with a protocol solely to receive a future airdrop, exposure to points from up to four different protocols.

Zircuit is an Ethereum rollup that uses zero-knowledge proofs — a privacy technology that allows transactions to be validated without revealing all the details. Zircuit is expected to launch its mainnet this summer.

In the meantime, users can deposit funds in Zircuit staking in the hopes that they will receive tokens in the future if the protocol has an airdrop.

The amount of deposits in Zircuit is another sign of the growing popularity of airdrops, which are when DeFi platforms release points to their users in return for deposits and activity the users have invested in a project. The protocol may or may not convert the points into tokens.

Users who deposit in Zircuit earn Zircuit points in addition to points from partner protocols.

Using ezETH as an example, since it is the largest token deposited by US dollar value, users can earn EigenLayer points, Renzo points, eOracle points, and Zircuit points.

And when users deposit assets like ezETH into Zircuit, they receive additional Zircuit points.

EigenLayer is platform built on the Ethereum blockchain that introduced the concept of “restaking” — the act of using Ethereum that is staked to secure Ethereum mainnet to then secure other networks. It is the second-largest DeFi protocol by total value of crypto assets deposited with $13.9 billion.

eOracle is an “actively validated service,” or AVS, a protocol that uses EigenLayer’s restaking services for network security and connects blockchains with real-world data.

It should be noted that deposits in Zircuit are not risk free.

Users who deposit assets like liquid restaking tokens are exposed to smart contract risks from the liquid restaking providers, EigenLayer and Zircuit.

Anytime a user deposits or interacts with a smart contract, there is a risk that the smart contract could have a bug in the code, leading to the potential loss of some or all of a user’s assets.

Additionally, it isn’t clear that points will definitely convert to tokens.

Historically, protocols that have conducted point programs, like Ethena, Manta, and Parcl, have followed this practice of converting points to tokens, but neither Zircuit nor EigenLayer has officially confirmed that it will do the same with the points it issues.

Furthermore, administrators from Zircuit and EigenLayer on the social media platform Discord when asked about a potential airdrop have stated that there is no official confirmation on any airdrops at this time.

Ryan Celaj is a data correspondent at DL News. Got a tip? Email him at ryan@dlnews.com.