Github 15+ Followers HNS Airdrop

hns-airdrop.md

Had 15 GitHub followers in Feb 2019? You can get about US$ 2,300.00 (rate of May 11th 2021) worth of crypto for minimal effort

Is this a scam?

Hah, I won't waste much time explaining this so: tl;dr: no, it's not a scam.

There's no such thing as free money, so the money being given out here is actually a function of:

1. Time
2. You being probably an active Open Source contributor (after all those years, you're finally being rewarded in cash! Or, sorta cash, haha)

Backstory: in February 2019, in order to promote Handshake (HNS) to developers, an airdrop was offered to any GitHub user with more than 15 followers. The airdrop would give you 4246 HNS tokens, at the time worth around at $0.08USD each, for a total of $339.68USD, pretty generous!

Today, 4246 HNS is worth around US$ 2,300.00 (rate of May 11th 2021), and there are plenty of GitHub users who haven't claimed theirs yet.

The airdrop is available to any GitHub user who had 15 followers in February 2019, and who has an ssh key for their account generated some time before or on Feb 4th 2019.

Alright, how can I claim this money?

Well you could go read the official documentation here: https://handshake.org/claim/ - BUT, like all opensource documentation, it's out of date and slightly wrong.

So here's the 2021 documentation.

Note: this entire process was tested only on macOS, on a Intel-based Macbook - not Apple Silicon - so YMMV.

1. Have node

If you don't have node yet, I recommend installing it via brew:

brew install node

2. Get a handshake wallet

I recommend gate.io because they don't require KYC to sign up, deposit, nor withdraw (they only ask for your email, so it's pseudo-anon).

Feel free to use my referral link if you want: https://www.gate.io/signup/5003395 - the referral ID is 5003395 if you wanna input it manually.

After signing up and verifying your account etc, find your wallet for HNS tokens (if you're using gate.io, it's in Wallet → Deposit → HNS). It looks something like: hs1xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

You will need this address later.

3. Download hsd, hs-client, and hs-airdrop

Official download link: https://handshake.org/download/ You can also get them from GitHub (it's open source), but since I didn't do it that way (and the steps would change a bit), feel free to explore that route and comment below.

The links you need to download are:

• hsd-2.4.0.tar.gz
• hs-client-0.0.9.tar.gz
• hs-airdrop-0.10.0.tar.gz

_{The links were copied directly from the official website as of May 11th 2021, but they might change over time, so I recommend visiting the official website mentioned above to get the latest links.}

After downloading, extract them all. On macOS you can do this simply by double clicking on each item. This might also work: tar xvf hs*

Next, on Terminal, change directory and install hsd:

cd hsd-2.4.0/hsd
npm install --production

Then open a 2nd Terminal tab, change directory and install hs-client:

cd ../hs-client-0.0.9/hs-client
npm install --production

hsd is the handshake fullnode and will sync with the network. To connect, in the first tab run:

./bin/hsd --log-level info

If it fails, run this instead:

npm rebuild
./bin/hsd --log-level info

Wait for it to sync, this will take several minutes (I think mine took almost 2 hours, even with great internet).

Leave this running while you do the rest :)

4. Claim your HNS

In the 2nd tab, change directory and install hs-airdrop:

cd ../hs-airdrop-0.10.0/hs-airdrop
npm install --production

Now claim your HNS:

If you used SSH keys in GitHub:

./bin/hs-airdrop --bare ${Path to the ssh key you use for GitHub, e.g.: ~/.ssh/id_rsa} ${your HNS wallet address, e.g.: hs1xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx}

If you used PGP keys in GitHub:

./bin/hs-airdrop --bare ${Path to the PGP secring you use for GitHub, e.g.: ~/.gnupg/secring.gpg} ${pgpKey} ${your HNS wallet address, e.g.: hs1xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx}

Note: for the steps above, if you're uncertain whether sharing your private key is safe (spoiler alert: it isn't), you could also use the public key. However: 1) sending your public key would associate this claim to your GitHub identity (de-anonimize the process), and 2) I didn't do this, so I can't vouch for it to say it works 🤷 if you do this, let me know on twitter!

If you see a NonceError, the SSH/PGP key is invalid. Try other keys you might have.

If you see a base64 string on the last line (it's a huge string), it worked! Save this base64 string.

5. Broadcast your base64 string to the network

Change directory to the hs-client and broadcast your base64 string:

cd ../../hs-client-0.0.9/hs-client
./bin/hsd-cli rpc sendrawairdrop ${insert your base64 string here}

Again, if it fails, try:

npm rebuild
./bin/hsd-cli rpc sendrawairdrop ${insert your base64 string here}

You should see it return a hex hash if successful.

6. Check your balance

In an hour or two you should see it propagate over the network. You can check the balance of your wallet address by visiting https://e.hnsfans.com/address/hs1xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx (replace with your HNS wallet address) It will only show up as available on your exchange's wallet after 100 blocks have been confirmed on the network - this usually takes up a whole day. Once it's available there, you can do whatever you want with it (sell, donate, hold, invest, etc).

Want to thank me?

If you're feeling generous and thankful, you could send me some of the HNS you just won! My address is hs1q2nxpht5gatmy242jc8j8cv36zhry49tswu2dru

Thanks and continue to be an awesome open source contributor! 🎉

@rogerluan_