Femi had always known about crypto. He first heard about Bitcoin from his university roommate George when he was juggling forex trading, dropshipping, and selling sneakers online—all in the name of achieving financial freedom. But Femi, ever the practical one, had waved it off.
“Bitcoin? Isn’t that the thing people use to buy questionable things on the internet?” he’d asked, eyebrows raised.
“Ah, Femi, you’re not serious. Crypto is the future!” George had replied, his face lit with the zeal of a prophet preaching salvation.
Back then, Femi focused on graduating and landing a stable job. He succeeded, too. He lived comfortably as a customer support specialist at a small tech start-up in Ikeja for a few years. Life was good—until it wasn’t.
Inflation hit Nigeria like a hurricane, and before Femi knew it, the price of everything had tripled. His savings were vanishing faster than a plate of jollof rice at a wedding. Soon, he found himself caught in the paycheck-to-paycheck trap, with barely enough to cover his rent, let alone save for the future. He had barely four months before his rent was due, and he was in no way close to completing the amount.
One evening, while doom-scrolling through Twitter, he stumbled across George’s profile. George was tweeting about crypto again. This time, though, it wasn’t just the usual “WAGMI!” or “HODL!” He posted screenshots of his earnings from something called “Airdrops.”
Out of curiosity—and a sprinkle of desperation—Femi sent George a DM:
“Omo, how far? What’s all this crypto thing you’re always shouting about? Help your boy, abeg.”
Within minutes, George replied with the energy of someone who’d been waiting for this moment. “FINALLY! You’ve come to the right person. Let’s start with something simple—airdrops."
George sent Femi a detailed voicemail the next evening explaining crypto airdrops: “It’s like free money, bro! Crypto projects give you tokens for doing small tasks, like joining their Telegram, following their social media pages, or referring friends. Easy stuff!”
Femi was skeptical but willing. With George’s help, he started joining crypto communities, referring friends, and promoting new projects on his socials. At first, it felt tedious. He spent hours trying to decode phrases like “Layer 2 scalability” and “cross-chain interoperability.” But then, his first reward came: 150 tokens from a new project.
When Femi checked their value, he almost choked on his plate of rice.
“$20? For just clicking follow and referring people?!”
He cashed out immediately.
Encouraged, Femi doubled down. He became a regular in crypto Telegram groups, learning the lingo and spotting promising projects. Over the next few months, his airdrop earnings piled up. There was a token airdrop worth $30 for testing a DeFi platform, another worth $15 for participating in a meme contest, and a big win of $40 from a new crypto token launch.
Another friend also referred him to Roqqu, and he joined their $CORE and $TON airdrops, which fetched him 30 CORE and 5 TON, respectively.
By the end of the year, Femi had amassed enough to cover his rent—and still had some leftover for groceries.
The day he sent the rent payment, his landlord called, clearly baffled because Femi had never paid so quickly.
“Ah, Mr. Adeoye, this is early! Did you win the lottery or something?”
“I didn’t win the lottery, sir,” Femi replied, holding back laughter. “But let’s just say I’ve seen the light.”
Now, Femi’s life has changed. He still works his 9-to-5 but is no longer solely dependent on it. He’s even started teaching some friends about crypto and airdrops, channeling his inner George.
“It’s not just about paying rent,” Femi told them. “It’s about having options. And trust me, free crypto is a very good option!”
And just like that, Femi went from paycheck to paycheck to “WAGMI!”
