As far as I can tell this is best done with the XUMM wallet. I use the mobile version, I think there’s a browser extension if that’s your thing.
What we’re doing here is creating a wallet and setting up a “trust line” with a token issuer.
You’ll need minimum 20 XRP in reserve to maintain a verified wallet, plus 2 per trust line. I started with a bit extra (50).
Your best source for this is honestly Twitter. I used a combination “#xummcommunity” “xrp” “airdrop” “xumm”. Mostly it’ll be garbage results but they’ll be some links to a URL containing “xumm.community”. Pay attention to the date/time of the tweet; if it’s more than a couple days old you might be too late. The twitter account "XRP AIRDROPS" occasionally shares drop links as well.
There’s probably a subreddit for these as well, but I’ve not seen, or really looked for, a good one.
When you find one, my recommendation is accept the defaults. You’ll sign the transaction with XUMM. The fees are negligible.
I have notifications off so I don’t know if it tells you when a drop lands. Following the twitter accounts of the issuer can be helpful, or searching on the token. Issuers seem to prefer Telegram for the most up-to-date info about their drops, I have yet to actually try.
Collected tokens can come in any number of quantities, from decimals to +billions. This shit is 90% rug pull scams, and sometimes nothing happens at all.
If you time it right you can swap the new tokens for whatever it’s worth in XRP… which is usually fuck all.
To make matters worse, while you can swap XRP with whatever in XUMM, sometimes you’ll be blocked due to market conditions,
with a message like the difference between selling and buying offers is too high. In this case you'll have to go find a DEX
that supports XUMM, plug in the token (may require manually adding the issuer). Through here you'll get a true read of
what the activity on the token is like, and an alternative way to swap. If you can't swap to XRP, try the DEX's native
token. It's still possible that the value of the token will be too low to trade on the DEX. Sometimes you'll get lucky
and be able to switch back over to exchanging on XUMM.
Some tokens will appear on a site called Gagdet78, it's an aggregation of all tokens on Ripple with links to docs, and "rating" column. If you're worried about a potential scam, check here.
The nice thing about this is that if time goes on and you don't get a drop, or a balance that's either worthless or untradable, there's no real loss. Alternatively you can hold and see if more comes in, or it gains enough traction to be worth even a little something. When you've had enough or need to raise your balance back up to add new trust lines, simply remove the trust line and get your 2 XRP back.
Some issuers won't drop unless you're holding a certain amount, as is the case with some exclusive NFT drops. I don't have any info on this yet, the conditions vary by token.
Here's a summary workflow that I use:
- Lurk Twitter for airdrop posts.
- go to the
xumm.communitylink in the tweet (or whatever) and start the trustline process. - follow the issuer's twitter account, if any. If found, and you're up for it, join their Telegram.
- Repeat steps 1-3 until you've exhausted either your XRP balance, search results, or your will to go on...
- make note of any airdrop dates, if provided.
- Search on that token / issuer name to see if any other accounts give a hint at a drop date.
- Check the app first thing in the morning for a drop. If it appears, immediately try to exchange. Decide what you consider a profit.