Results for “Faucet vs Airdrop”

Faucet

A faucet is a website or app that gives out small amounts of free cryptocurrency, most often test coins on a testnet, so developers and learners can pay transaction fees while trying things out. Test coins are meant to have no real value.

What it means for you. A testnet faucet needs only an address: you paste one in and test coins arrive. A faucet that asks for your seed phrase, a payment or a token approval is not working like a faucet. Test coins exist only on their testnet and cannot be spent on mainnet.

Source: ethereum.org: Networks (testnets and faucets) · checked 4 October 2026

Airdrop

An airdrop is a distribution of tokens to many wallet addresses at once, usually free. Projects use airdrops to spread a new token, and a hard fork can produce one when holders of the old coin receive the new one.

What it means for you. In the US, the IRS treats airdropped crypto as taxable income once you can sell or move it, at its value then; that value becomes your cost basis. Tokens that appear unasked in your wallet can be bait, and a site asking you to connect or sign to claim them can drain it.

Sources: IRS: Frequently asked questions on virtual currency transactions, SEC: Application of the Federal Securities Laws to Certain Types of Crypto Assets (Mar. 17, 2026) · checked 4 October 2026