January 2026 Airdrop Roundup: 12 Fresh Plays to Farm Before Deadlines Hit

Pick 2–3 campaigns from this list, finish the “core eligibility” in one sitting, and you’ll be positioned for most of January’s best upside without turning airdrop farming into a second job. This roundup is review-first: we’re ranking these by time vs reward, not vibes—so you’ll see which ones are actually worth your clicks, which ones demand real capital, and which ones are basically a lottery ticket.

What is the January AirdropBuzz Airdrop Roundup?

The January AirdropBuzz Airdrop Roundup is a curated list of the most actionable airdrop-style campaigns we published this month—ranked by time vs reward and filtered for “doable” eligibility paths. Instead of dumping 30 links and telling you to “grind,” we’re focusing on the minimum viable actions that actually move the needle (snapshots, confirmed reward loops, or points systems that clearly track participation). This roundup is produced by the AirdropBuzz editorial workflow led by Dhiraj Dixit, with each linked guide written in a test-first style so you can replicate the same join flow in minutes—not hours.

Our Experience Joining January’s Airdrops

The AirdropBuzz Team noticed the same pattern across January’s drops: the “easy win” is almost always a clean setup session (wallet connect + identity linking + first action) followed by light maintenance (daily check-in, weekly refresh, or routing your normal behavior through the platform). The traps are also consistent: points hubs that quietly demand endless socials, trader farms that tempt you into churn volume, and “LP leaderboard” campaigns that look easy until you realize consistency matters more than effort.

January 2026 Picks (Quick Comparison)

Use this table to pick your personal “stack.” If you hate trading risk, choose the free/low-cost plays. If you already trade, route your existing behavior through the platforms that reward it.

What’s actually worth farming in January?

If you only have bandwidth for a small stack, here’s how the AirdropBuzz Team would prioritize it:

• Best “confirmed mechanics” pick: edgeX (XP → token conversion), plus Trojan if you already trade on Solana.
• Best free/low-cost position: ORBT Module (fast Base mint + points), Veera (free XP hub), Presens (low-maintenance node).
• Best non-trading grind with real payouts: Silencio—but only if your language has funded tasks and you can do proper 1.5–2 hour sessions.
• Only for advanced users: THORWallet (LP + leaderboard), HyperSurface (structured products / options-style risk).

Mini Reviews (Review-First, No Fluff)

Silencio — Work-to-earn USDC if your language is live

Silencio is a decentralized audio data platform that pays contributors for voice recordings used to train AI systems. Leadership is publicly listed, including Thomas W. Messerer (Co-Founder & CEO), plus co-founders Eric Stotz (CDO), Theo Messerer (COO), and Maximiliano Ejberowicz (CTO). The real “time vs reward” lever here isn’t fancy strategy—it’s whether your language has active, funded opportunities, and whether you can record cleanly long enough to actually get credited.

• Our grind test: 20–40 minutes setup, then 1.5–2 hours per serious recording session.
• Best move: treat it like a sprint when campaigns go live; don’t do 10-minute “hopeful” sessions.
• Skip if: you can’t control background noise or you only have tiny, interrupted time windows.

ETHGas — Snapshot-driven play for ETH mainnet wallets

ETHGas is an Ethereum infrastructure protocol focused on blockspace markets and gas-fee mechanics, with a Season 1 snapshot set for January 19, 2026. Founder/CEO is identified as Kevin Lepsoe. This is one of those “do the core steps and stop” campaigns: onboarding and wallet linking are designed to be gasless signatures, and your upside is strongest if your wallet has real historical Ethereum gas usage.

• Our grind test: 15–35 minutes to onboard + link wallets + generate Gas ID.
• Reward certainty: snapshot timing is confirmed; allocation/claim mechanics are still pending (TBA).
• Watch-out: irreversible-feeling wallet linking and fake claim pages.

ORBT Protocol — One clean Base mint + points stack

ORBT Protocol is a modular stablecoin yield network built around a programmable yield-bearing stablecoin design. ORBT is described as founded by Nabyl Charania, Keshav Pandya, and Paresh Ghelani. The January “Module” play is simple: mint a Base NFT for negligible gas and finish the core quests for ORBS points—then decide later if you want to chase deeper score mechanics.

• Our grind test: ~15–30 minutes for core tasks; ongoing only if you chase referrals/score.
• Why it’s worth it: fast, cheap, and clearly tracked—great as a “Base rotation” anchor.
• Skip if: you’re privacy-sensitive and don’t want to connect socials.

edgeX — Trader-first XP that’s explicitly tied to token distribution

edgeX is an orderbook-based decentralized exchange evolving from StarkEx into its own EDGE Chain. Publicly listed co-founders include KF.edge and TraderX, with no single publicly named CEO emphasized. The key reason edgeX makes the January shortlist: the campaign frames XP as converting into EDGE tokens at TGE, and it’s built for people who already know how to manage trading risk.

• Our grind test: 15–30 minutes setup, then route your normal trading through it.
• Don’t do this: churn trades “for points” if you don’t already trade—spreads and funding will eat you.
• Best-fit: perps/spot users who can size responsibly.

Presens Network — Low-maintenance DePIN node (permissions required)

Presens Network is a time-location DePIN layer that turns anonymous presence signals into spatiotemporal data for AI and robotics. Presens publicly lists Shaun Sung as Founder. This is one of January’s cleanest “set-and-forget” style farms: install the PWA, enable the needed permissions, then keep your Pulse Node active with light daily checks.

• Our grind test: ~10–20 minutes setup + ~1–3 minutes/day.
• Biggest decision: your comfort level with location-related permissions and privacy assumptions.
• Best-fit: farmers who want compounding consistency without DeFi risk.

Hypersurface — Points layer on top of real options-style risk

Hypersurface is a DeFi structured products platform for covered calls and cash-secured puts on HyperEVM and Base. Public-facing leadership includes Andrei Anisimov (Co-founder & CTO), with a distinct CEO role not clearly disclosed in official channels. This is not a “free points” farm—your points come from real activity that carries real market/strategy risk, so treat any future airdrop narrative as pure upside on top of a product you’d use anyway.

• Our grind test: 15–30 minutes setup; ongoing management required.
• Verdict: good for yield users; weak for pure airdrop hunters.
• Watch-out: options mechanics can cap upside or expose you to drawdowns.

Nexira — Quest + streak system (consistency wins)

Nexira is an AI-powered digital asset exchange platform designed to make in-game currencies and NFTs interoperable across games. Public leadership attribution references Nguyễn Nhật Tuyên as a publicly listed executive director in event speaker materials. The play here is straightforward: do the setup, then keep a tight daily cap so streak mechanics work for you—not against you.

• Our grind test: 10–20 minutes setup + 2–5 minutes/day.
• Best move: batch weekly heavier missions in one session; don’t context-switch daily.
• Skip if: you hate streak systems (you’ll resent it fast).

Veera — Free XP hub, keep it light

Veera is a mobile-first Web3 financial platform combining a self-custody wallet experience with consumer-style rewards and onboarding. Public leadership has been named in coverage, but if official team pages don’t match what you’ve seen on socials, treat it as subject to change. January’s Rewards Hub is a classic XP quest stack: do the free starter path, then only maintain it if the ongoing tasks stay high ROI.

• Our grind test: 15–25 minutes setup + optional 3–5 minutes/day.
• Best move: starter quests + weekly checks; skip anything that pushes spending unless you wanted it anyway.
• Reward certainty: XP is confirmed; conversion to token/allocations are TBA.

Genius Terminal — Trader-first points farm (avoid churn)

Genius Terminal is a self-custodial, cross-chain onchain trading terminal that aggregates liquidity across networks into one UI. Public leadership includes Armaan Kalsi (Co-founder & CEO), Ryan Myher (Co-founder & COO), and Brihu Sundararaman (Co-founder & CTO). This one is simple: if you already trade, you can farm points without changing your life. If you don’t trade, this is how people donate to spreads “for points.”

• Our grind test: 15–30 minutes setup + 2–7 minutes/day for streak-style behavior.
• Best move: stable-to-stable or major-to-major pairs to reduce volatility risk.
• Skip if: you’re trying to brute-force tiny swaps daily without a real trading need.

THORWallet — High upside, but only if you can stay “green”

THORWallet is a multi-chain, self-custody DeFi wallet built for cross-chain activity and in-app DeFi actions. The guide identifies Marcel Harmann as Founder & CEO. This campaign is not a checklist—it’s a competitive leaderboard with a real LP requirement. If you can’t park capital and maintain consistency, this becomes stress farming.

• Our grind test: 30–60 minutes setup + 5–10 minutes/day.
• Hard gate: maintaining roughly ~$1,000 in TITN/USDC LP (and not dipping during random snapshots).
• Best-fit: LP users comfortable with IL and competition.

Trojan — SOL cashback if you already trade

Trojan is a Telegram-based trading bot and web trading terminal for on-chain trading on Solana. As of publication, the development team has not publicly disclosed their identities. The value here is straightforward: cashback mechanics and reward loops tied to trading behavior. The risk is also straightforward: memecoin volatility and bot-security hygiene.

• Our grind test: 20–40 minutes setup + ongoing volume.
• Best move: use a dedicated trading wallet and keep settings conservative until you trust fills/slippage.
• Skip if: you don’t trade—cashback doesn’t matter without volume.

ANT.FUN — Ended campaign, but worth tracking

ANT.FUN is a Solana DEX trading platform that combines analytics and social trading features. The January ANB campaign ended on Jan 28, 2026—so treat this as a “watchlist” entry for future trader incentives rather than a current farm.

• Takeaway: good tooling exploration if you like Solana trading stacks; don’t expect big EV from a one-off lottery-style drop.

Time vs Reward: Are January’s Airdrops Worth It?

Here’s the blunt framework we used this month:

• Green-light (do now): campaigns with fixed deadlines/snapshots or explicit conversion mechanics, plus free setups that take under 30 minutes and don’t demand spending.
• Yellow-light (do if it matches your behavior): trader farms and yield platforms—only worth it if you already trade/provide liquidity and can keep risk controlled.
• Red-light (skip): anything that forces you into unnatural behavior (churn volume, endless socials, or locking capital you can’t comfortably park).

If you want the fastest “high ROI” stack in January, the AirdropBuzz Team would do: ETHGas (if you have real ETH history), ORBT Module, Veera, and Presens as the baseline—then add edgeX or Trojan only if you already trade.

Risks & Things to Watch

• Forced-volume traps: if points are tied to trading volume, your real cost is spread + fees + bad decisions. Don’t churn.
• LP/leaderboard stress: competitive leaderboards mean you can “do everything right” and still miss the cut.
• Permissions & privacy: DePIN-style apps and quest hubs often ask for location/social links—use burner identities if you’re cautious.
• Phishing season: snapshots and popular hubs attract fake claim pages. Never approve token spend permissions from random links.
• Speculative reward math: “points” are real; token conversion is often not. Treat unconfirmed tokenomics as TBA until officially published.

Step-by-Step Guide: How to Farm This Roundup

1. Pick your lane: choose 2–3 campaigns that match your risk tolerance (free setups first; trading/LP only if you already do it).
2. Set up a dedicated airdrop wallet: one EVM wallet (Base/Ethereum) + one Solana wallet. Keep funds minimal unless the campaign requires capital.
3. Do a single “setup session” per campaign: finish wallet connect, identity linking, and the first qualifying action (mint, report, first trade, node activation).
4. Write a maintenance rule: cap daily farming time (example: 5 minutes/day total) and only do the highest-signal tasks.
5. Track deadlines: snapshots/end dates matter more than perfect optimization. Set calendar reminders.
6. Stay safe: verify domains, avoid random approvals, and use burner socials if the campaign feels spammy.

DYOR reminder: airdrops are never guaranteed profit. Use only funds you can afford to lose, and treat speculative points as optional upside—not income.

FAQ: January 2026 Airdrops on AirdropBuzz

Are these January airdrops free to join?

Several are free to start (Veera, Presens, ORBT core mint costs only gas, ETHGas uses gasless signatures, Silencio is free to start). Trader/LP campaigns like edgeX, Trojan, HyperSurface, and THORWallet can require trading capital or liquidity.

Which campaigns are “confirmed” vs speculative?

edgeX frames XP as converting into tokens at TGE, and Trojan’s cashback/jackpot mechanics are immediate incentives. Most others are points/XP systems where token conversion or allocation details are still TBA—so treat them as speculative until official rules are published.

When is the ETHGas snapshot?

The ETHGas guide states the Season 1 snapshot is set for January 19, 2026 at 00:00 UTC. If you’re targeting it, do the core onboarding and Gas ID steps before that timestamp.

How do I avoid getting sybil-filtered or disqualified?

Don’t run sloppy multi-account behavior, don’t reuse the same socials across multiple wallets, and avoid “spam tasks” that look botted. Use one clean airdrop wallet per campaign and follow the project’s official eligibility rules.

If I only have 30 minutes today, what should I do first?

Do the fastest setup-first plays: ETHGas core onboarding (if relevant), ORBT Module core mint + quests, and Veera starter quests. Then decide whether you want to add Presens (low-maintenance) or a trader farm that matches your real behavior.