If I am not wrong, when Coinbase was first launched in 2013, they had a similar airdrop. I don't remember the value exactly, but it was either BTC0.01 or BTC0.001 (back then the exchange rates were low). A majority of the users just created a new account, and then closed it as soon as they received the airdrop. But a small minority didn't dumped their coins immediately and started accumulating BTC. The latter group benefitted from the bull run of 2013, when the prices jumped by as much as 200x. The airdrop from Chivo sounds similar. KYC is needed, in order to stop scammers from creating dozens of accounts and claiming the airdrop with unfair means.
The interest of bitcoin users in 2013 was not too much and surely coinbase users were also not so booming. I don't know anything in 2013 I haven't gotten into crypto yet, but that kind of airdrop in the year before ATH bitcoin broke the $1k price wasn't that tight. But after Bitcoin began to emerge as a valuable asset and many cheated when there was an airdrop event, of course the regulations would be more stringent as it is now that requires KYC for every user. El Salvador is aware of the practice.