Crypto glossary
Points program
A points program is an offchain reward system in which a crypto project credits users with points for activity, often hinting they may later convert to tokens.
Instead of issuing a token straight away, a project tracks user activity in its own database and awards points for actions such as depositing funds, trading, bridging or referring friends. Points are not on the blockchain, cannot usually be traded and carry no formal promise, but users widely expect them to count toward a future airdrop.
The approach spread in 2023 and 2024 through NFT marketplaces, layer 2 networks and restaking protocols such as EigenLayer, which drew billions of dollars in deposits partly through points. For projects it is a way to attract liquidity and measure engagement while delaying decisions about tokenomics.
Users carry real costs and risks for an uncertain reward: the project sets the conversion rules, can change them at any time and may dilute points or exclude wallets it labels as Sybil farmers. Many airdrops based on points disappointed participants once the final allocations were revealed.
Example
A user deposits 5 ETH in a protocol for three months and accumulates 12,000 points; when the token launches, the project announces that each point is worth a set number of tokens, an amount nobody could know in advance.
