airdrop

• air-drop

air +‎ drop

airdrop (plural airdrops)

1. The act of delivering goods, equipment, or personnel by dropping them from an aircraft in flight.
2. (cryptocurrencies) The distribution of free tokens to help bootstrap a new cryptocurrency.
   • [2019 June 18, Kari Paul, “What is Libra? All you need to know about Facebook's new cryptocurrency”, in The Guardian‎:

     But Facebook is also likely to carry out what’s known in cryptocurrency circles as an “air drop”, handing out small amounts of currency for free in an effort to kickstart the ecosystem.]

airdrop (third-person singular simple present airdrops, present participle airdropping, simple past and past participle airdropped)

1. To deliver goods, equipment, or personnel by dropping them from an aircraft in flight.
   • 2008, BioWare, Mass Effect, Redwood City: Electronic Arts, →ISBN, →OCLC, PC, scene: Vehicles: M35 Mako Codex entry:

     The Mako is powered by a sealed hydrogen-oxygen fuel cell, and includes a small element zero core. While not large enough to nullify the vehicle’s mass, the core can reduce it enough to be safely air-dropped.

2. (cryptocurrencies) To distribute free tokens to help bootstrap a new cryptocurrency.