Allowlist (whitelist)

Projects use allowlists, formerly called whitelists, to reward early supporters, reduce bot activity and spread out demand. Wallets on the list can mint during a dedicated window before the public sale. Contracts usually check eligibility with a Merkle proof, so the whole list is represented by a single root hash on-chain, or with a signature from the project's server.

Getting a spot became a game in itself during the NFT boom: users completed tasks on Discord, joined raffles, held partner tokens or bought spots from others. Allowlists are also used for token presales, testnet reward programmes and gated communities. For projects, the size of the list is a signal of demand, though it is easily inflated.

An allowlist spot does not guarantee profit, and the grind for spots has been criticised as busywork that rewards bots and multi-account farming. Scammers impersonate projects with fake allowlist confirmations that lead to wallet drainers. Real allowlist mints happen only through official links, and a project never needs your seed phrase to verify a spot.