What Is Vesting?

Vesting is a predetermined schedule that controls when you can access and sell airdropped tokens after claiming them. Instead of receiving your full airdrop amount immediately, tokens unlock in phases over weeks, months, or years. This mechanism protects token price stability by preventing all recipients from dumping their allocation simultaneously.

How Vesting Works in Airdrops

Most major airdrops use a cliff period followed by linear or staged unlocks. For example, Arbitrum's 2023 airdrop had a 6-month cliff where recipients couldn't access any tokens, then a 12-month unlock period after that. Hyperliquid used a shorter 2-week cliff with 6-month total vesting. During the cliff, your tokens are locked completely. After the cliff ends, tokens release according to the schedule—usually monthly or daily.

Why Projects Implement Vesting

Vesting serves two critical purposes for airdrop farming. First, it prevents rug-pull dynamics where the protocol's own tokens tank immediately after distribution. Second, it filters real community members from mercenary farmers who only claim and sell. Projects want participants invested long-term, not extracting value instantly. This is why DAOs and Layer-2 networks make vesting mandatory—they're distributing governance tokens, not free money.

Practical Examples

Jito's MEV airdrop used a 6-month cliff with 6 months of linear vesting after. Uniswap's initial governance airdrop had no cliff but released tokens over 4 years. Starknet spread vesting across 4 years with different schedules for different recipient categories. Understanding these schedules matters because your farming ROI depends on when you can actually access and monetize your tokens. A token locked for 12 months has different risk/reward than one available immediately.

Impact on Your Farming Strategy

Vesting directly affects whether an airdrop is worth pursuing. A token worth $10 with 2-year vesting is riskier than a token worth $5 with immediate access—the project could fail or depreciate significantly before your tokens unlock. Track vesting schedules on your airdrop checklist alongside eligibility-criteria and expected value. Some farmers skip airdrops with aggressive vesting, while others specifically target them when they believe in the protocol's long-term viability.