[vvpan]

His friend didn't "make" the money. The token was airdropped to every account that ever used the exchange or has provided liquidity. I had two accounts with a couple of transactions each - bam a nice surprise of a few thousand USD worth of value. It's very odd and unexpected. I never make money off of crypto but perhaps it just pays to be in something new. Right time and right place as they say.

[gambiting]

I just don't understand - where is that money coming from? You said you suddenly and unexpectedly got a few thousand USD - that sounds to me like someone on the other end, somewhere, just got scammed out of few thousand USD? It can't be just investor money being randomly deposited into accounts "for the lulz"?

[strogonoff]

The USD figure is more akin to valuation of a company than that amount of USD in hard currency. Probably not inclusive of expenses and risks associated with converting it into cash.

How that value is earned and calculated are interesting questions.

[vvpan]

Nobody got scammed. It's pretty much like an IPO. The project distributed tokens, not dollars. Coinbase and a few other exchanges listed them and trading started with the tokens fetching a certain price. I sold some on Coinbase, got money - that's it. The token is a "governance token" and I, personally, don't see much value in it but I do not follow this too closely. In theory the token gives the holder a future say in the direction of the projects and maybe a cut of the profits.

[strogonoff]

> Nobody got scammed.

Not directly, but to a hypothetical criminal with millions of USD in illegally obtained currency investing into tokens, hyping said tokens (including, of course, giveaways) and then selling tokens on a peak could look quite compelling. I presume typically laundering loses money, but in this case it could even be possible to make a profit.

[strogonoff]

Handout instead of profit, few thousand instead of half a million USD value—we are moving into a more realistic territory.

[vvpan]

I have no reason to believe that the commenter misrepresented anything. It is entirely plausible. If their friend was a liquidity provider then the value of friend's airdropped tokens would have been much greater than mine.

[strogonoff]

Being a liquidity provider is not free so we’re back to some guy claiming “my friend made half a million! rewards are vast for the brave!” and the question “but on what investment?”

I believe it’s more than fair to request specifics since we can’t know whether poster’s solvency depends on a token appreciating in value—after all, if it does, what’s a better way to maintain token value than promise millions on a public forum?

[phyalow]

I had 3 accounts and made about 5k USD of the airdrop. No reason 500k couldn't have happened if someone was providing liquidity to the protocol.