The Cosmos eco-system has a number of airdrops coming to participants over the coming months. Last week, in this post I highlighted a number of the upcoming projects. The first in this series of airdrops is now claimable - Desmos (DSM)
What is Desmos?
A blockchain which serves as the backbone to empower the development of user-centric social networks.
Source: Desmos website
For my friends reading this on Hive, this will sound like nothing new, but for my Cosmos readers, this is targeting a niche within the Cosmos. Immutable social networks are a great idea, and will become the backbone of Web 3. Hive is starting to capture the spotlight, with a great performance of late price-wise. For my Cosmos friends, social works on a decentralized blockchain, so long as it is truly decentralized and safe from hostile actors. To understand how social networks can protect themselves from takeover, I'd highly recommend Charlie Shrem's latest interview with 
This post was meant to be about Desmos, so I'll get back on topic...
Basically, it appears that Desmos is aiming to be the account layer, where users can link their social profiles from Web 2, Web 3 and their wallets, and a platform for Social dApps to build on. DSM is the primary token, and will be staked to secure the network, earning a share of inflation. DSM will also be be able to be earned by "participating in the networks activities".
The Airdrop.
The DSM token is being airdropped to participants in many different Cosmos eco-system projects. ATOM, OSMO, AKT, BAND, CRO, JUNO, KAVA, LIKE, LUNA, NGM, REGEN communities all qualified for some airdrop. The full eligibility criteria can be found in this blog post from a couple of weeks ago.
Claiming is now live for DSM. Firstly, you can head to this website to check how much you have qualified for. The start of the airdrop claim process has been a little controversial. The initial process required users to input their private keys to claim, for each chain and wallet they were claiming for. This led to an immediate backlash from parts of the community, as one of the cardinal rules of crypto is to protect your keys at all costs. Do not expose them under any circumstances.
To their credit, the team reacted quickly and have added other methods to claim. Using a Ledger, they added this process and for claiming via Keplr wallet (the go to for many in the Cosmos eco-system) here is the link. Anyway, I agree with much of the community, risking your keys for an airdrop is a bad idea.
I have claimed my drop, and decided to stake it and see what happens. My plan for a lot of the upcoming drops has been to add them to LP's on Osmosis, but I'm shifting in that view for certain projects. Desmos has potential to be a network I will use, and as such having some staked to be able to participate in governance is most likely a good idea. HIVE will always be my Web 3 home, but Desmos may become a weekender or holiday house if you like, depending on how the network develops. I've staked, for now, my 847 DSM and we shall see what happens.
How much is that worth? No idea. DSM is not trading anywhere yet, to my knowledge. Once it goes live on Osmosis, which I would expect to be the first place DSM gets listed, then we'll know the value of the airdrop. Till then, the price is a mystery. DSM has an initial supply of 100 million, inflating over around 16 years to a final supply of 500 million.
Wait and see.
My approach to Desmos is to wait and see if it is a network that I will actively get involved in. Like I said before, HIVE is home, and nothing will change that as far as I can see. But if Desmos can prove it's use case, and prove beneficial, then I will have a little piece of it, and will definitely get involved. Having been on Hive for 3 1/2 years, I've grown accustomed to fast and free transactions, and an ever growing eco-system. In my eye's its a high standard for Desmos to match up to. To be fair, the eco-systems are likely going to be quite different, but whenever I hear Web 3 and Social in the context of Blockchain and crypto, it all gets compared to Hive.
Sorry, I know this post is meant to be about Desmos, but that is my frame of reference.
I'm looking forward to watching how the Desmos platform grows and evolves, I am very grateful for the airdrop, and I hope to see some cross-chain and cross eco-system collaboration with Hive.
For more information on many of the upcoming Cosmos eco-system airdrops, I made a detailed guide last week, with info and links for numerous upcoming projects.
Thanks for reading,
JK.