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Is this just an aggressive marketing campaign that is trying to profit on people's greed but is completely legit, or there are more things going on here, as for me this is just a way to advertise, pump, and then dump KICK tokens, as i don't remember any legit exchange having this kind of marketing strategy.
It is an aggressive marketing campaign. Apart from the KYC requirement on exchange, which they later removed, everything looks "legal" to me. Those who received airdrops aren't forced to use the exchange if they don't want to unlock the frozen tokens. Referrals aren't required to pay for any product or services. The method could be something new but the end purpose is similar to what other exchanges did which is to increase their user base, volume, and pump their token.