The Ethics of Airdrop Farming: Puffer Finance’s Controversial Points System

While Puffer Finance has not made any official announcements around a token launch or airdrop, users can earn points through taking part in Galxe Quests and staking and providing liquidity on Puffer Finance.

Key Takeaways

• Puffer Finance is a decentralized liquid staking platform built on EigenLayer with the aim of making restaking more accessible and lowering the barrier to entry for running an Ethereum Proof of Stake validator.

• The protocol has successfully raised $24.47 million over the past two years with support from investors including Brevan Howard Digital, Electric Capital, Coinbase Ventures, Animoca Brands, ConsenSys, and more.

• In anticipation of the Puffer UniFi launch, users can now earn points in a Galxe campaign as well as by participating in Puffy’s Crunchy Carrot Quest Chapter 4.

Puffer Finance is a decentralized liquid staking and restaking protocol built on EigenLayer to address challenges commonly associated with Ethereum’s Proof-of-Stake (PoS) system. Some of these include high entry barriers as well as the centralization of validator pools. Puffer aims to make restaking on EigenLayer more accessible and allow users to run an Ethereum PoS validator. The liquid restaking protocol went live on February 1 this year and gained a total value locked (TVL) of $146 million on the first day.

By staking ETH on Puffer, users can play a part in securing the Ethereum network while earning yield and rewards. To encourage more users to participate, staking on the platform has no minimum amount requirement. Stakers who deposit ETH will receive the pufETH native Liquid Restaking Token (nLRT) through the PufferVault contract. A nLRT generates restaking rewards through native restaking on EigenLayer but unlike other liquid staking tokens, it is able to provide more rewards to holders because it encompasses both PoS rewards and restaking rewards.

On the other hand, where a typical validator has to stake 32 ETH to participate, anyone can operate a validator on Puffer with as little as 1 ETH. The protocol makes use of a unique concept called “Validator Tickets” that runs similarly to “Execution Tickets” on Ethereum. The validator tickets are ERC20 tokens that give the holder the right to run an Ethereum validator for a day. Node operators need to mint validator tickets by depositing ETH, and the price of a validator ticket is set based on the expected daily earnings from running a validator. When registering a validator, the node operator must lock 1 ETH worth of pufETH and deposit at least 28 validator tickets. In exchange, they are provided 32 ETH to run a validator and will receive 100% of the rewards they produce for as many days they are entitled to.

Puffer has a burst threshold mechanism in place as part of its efforts to ensure the protocol never breaches the consensus threshold of 33% which would threaten Ethereum’s stability. To do this, Puffer is committed to self-capping its validator marketshare to 22% of Etherem’s validator set. As the number of validators grows on the platform, the burst threshold mechanism will begin to limit the number of mintable validator tickets to an amount that can only sustain existing validators. This mechanism allows Puffer to cap the number of validators to the predetermined 22% and indirectly reduce the demand from new stakers.

Puffer Finance has raised a total of $24.47 million over the past two years with the most recent round being a Series A that successfully raised $18 million. The round was led by Brevan Howard Digital and Electric Capital with participation from Coinbase Ventures, Animoca Brands, ConsenSys, and more. On top of that, Binance Labs invested an undisclosed amount in Puffer Finance in January 2024.

Puffer is now developing UniFi – its flagship Based Rollup – designed to streamline Ethereum’s Layer 2 solutions and improve transaction speeds, security, and overall experience. In anticipation of the upcoming launch of Puffer UniFi, users can now explore UniFi through a Galxe quest as well as participate in Puffy’s Crunchy Carrot Quest Chapter 4 to earn points. Given the popularity of Puffer Finance and the opportunity to earn points, now is an ideal time to get started!

Do take note that at the time of writing, Puffer Finance has not made any official announcements regarding a token launch or airdrop. Therefore, following the steps below to participate in the UniFi Quest #4 on Galxe and Puffy’s Crunchy Carrot Quest Chapter 4 does not guarantee a future token airdrop allocation.

Part 1: Presenting Puffer UniFi Quest #4 (Galxe)

Go to https://app.galxe.com/quest/pufferfinance/GCcZbtvAbr and Log In using your social media account or wallet. In this guide, we will be logging in with our MetaMask wallet.

To earn 100 points, you need to Like and Retweet a number of Puffer Finance’s Tweets as well as Follow them on X (formerly Twitter).

Click on the like task to be redirected to the tweet where you can like it.

After that, click on the retweet task to be redirected to the tweet and repost it.

Repeat these steps with the remaining tweets.

The last 300 points are given after you complete a quiz which tests your knowledge about UniFi. All four questions are based on the tweets that you previously liked and retweeted.

Here are the answers to the quiz:

1. Collaborative and positive-sum

2. Based Sequencing, Preconfs, Natively Restaked Validators

3. A Based Rollup

4. By integrating preconfs with L1-based sequencing

Once everything is completed, you can claim your 400 points. This step requires you to pay a gas fee.

Part 2: Puffy’s Crunchy Carrot Quest

Step 1: Connect Wallet

Head over to https://quest.puffer.fi/quest and Connect your Wallet. 

You can choose from a list of wallet options. In this step we will continue using MetaMask.

After that, you can select your Puffer family which is led by a member of the Puffer Ecosystem.

Step 2: Stake ETH

To start earning points, select Stake to begin staking ETH into Puffer.

You can choose to stake ETH, stETH, or wstETH. In this guide, we will be staking ETH.

Deposit Now and confirm the transaction in your wallet to receive pufETH. You will earn 30 points for every pufETH you hold.

Step 3: Provide Liquidity (Optional)

This step is optional because you can still earn points from holding pufETH.

In the top menu, head over to DeFi. Here, you will find protocols that have integrated with Puffer so you can deposit pufETH and earn more points.

Given the large number of protocols available, we will not be going through the steps needed to participate on them as each one is different. However, we highly encourage you to explore the options and learn more about the required tokens before participating. On top of that, each pool provides different boosts for your points which range from 0x to 2x.

Conclusion

Puffer Finance is a decentralized native liquid restaking protocol on the EigenLayer that aims to make native restaking more accessible and enable more users to run an Ethereum Proof of Stake validator by lowering the barriers to entry. In anticipation of the Puffer UniFi launch, users can now earn points in a Galxe campaign as well as in Puffy’s Crunchy Carrot Quest Chapter 4.