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Airdrop tokens are being farmed by squatters who create fake accounts on platforms solely for this purpose. This latest crypto scam is in the spotlight.
Sybil attacks, also known as fake farm accounts, have become prevalent in many crypto projects as prices have surged. These attacks create artificial network activity and claim as many tokens as possible during airdrop events, which have become highly lucrative.
What Is A Sybil Attack?
Sybil attack is a significant security threat to blockchain networks. It occurs when an attacker creates multiple identities to gain control over a network and manipulate its consensus. It undermines the network’s decentralization and can lead to privacy breaches and hijacking of the blockchain. A Sybil attack can cause a 51% attack, giving the attacker total control over the blockchain.
To execute a Sybil attack, airdrop farmers use scripts or bots to create massive fake accounts on a targeted platform. These fake accounts then automate tasks such as generating random usernames and emails, filling out registration forms, and verifying accounts with CAPTCHAs.
Due to excessive dumping by airdrop farmers after the event is over, price manipulation may occur. However, the rise of Sybil attacks has pushed blockchain projects to develop more sophisticated methods for verifying user identities and ensuring fair airdrop distribution.
However, in the long run, this continuous conflict is expected to result in a more resilient and trustworthy blockchain ecosystem.
Creators Of The Degen Banned Users
The creators of the Degen memecoin project, built on the Farcaster social media protocol, recently banned approximately 2,000 users they suspected of farming Degen. They warned that participating in 1Degen farming, such as coordinated posting or artificial engagement, could result in bans.
The Degen airdrop is ongoing until Aug. 1, and it rewards users who engage with or create quality content posted on Farcaster social channels. It seems that a significant group of users started posting low-quality content to earn airdrop points. Degen wrote that joining organized actions mainly to earn tokens and posting unrelated content in boosted channels will result in bans.
Bitget Wallet Took Action
Sybil attacks are not new, and the memecoin project is not the first protocol to suffer from them. Bitget Wallet has stated that it will deduct airdrop points from users who use emulators and cloud phones to create artificial wallet referrals and downloads to farm BWB token rewards.
A DeFi developer named Banteg raised an issue earlier this year regarding the Ethereum layer-2 protocol called Starknet and its airdrop. They thoroughly investigated all the Starknet airdrops and discovered that 1854 people had either changed their account name or deleted it since the activity snapshot.
Banteg also found that approximately 701,544 addresses were associated with repeated or renamed GitHub accounts that airdrop farmers controlled.
Conclusion
Sybil attacks have become common during airdrop events. They create artificial network activity to claim as many tokens as possible. Blockchain projects are developing methods to ensure fair distribution. Bitget Wallet deducts airdrop points for artificial referrals to farm BWB token rewards.
Disclaimer
The views and opinions stated by the author, or any people named in this article, are for informational purposes only. They do not establish financial, investment, or other advice. Investing in or trading in stocks, cryptos or related indexes comes with a risk of financial loss.
With a background in journalism, Ritika Sharma has worked with many reputed media firms focusing on general news such as politics and crime. She joined The Coin Republic as a reporter for crypto, and found a great passion for cryptocurrency, Web3, NFTs and other digital assets. She spends a lot of time researching and delving deeper into these concepts around the clock, and is a strong advocate for women in STEM.
