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LayerZero, a protocol that enables connections between incompatible blockchains, has given sybil airdrop farmers until May 17 to self-report their addresses in exchange for a reduced token allocation.
Those who decided to come forward, according to LayerZero: receive 15% of the intended quota. Those who don’t risk receiving “nothing” from the planned token airdrop.
Sybil airdrop farming refers to the ostensibly deceptive practice of individuals engaging in Sybil attacks by creating multiple fake identities or accounts to exploit airdrop programs.
Sybil attacks occur when an individual creates numerous fake accounts to gain an unfair advantage, such as receiving more airdrop tokens than they are legally entitled to. Although this behavior has been considered unethical and undermines the fairness and security of the airdrop program, many people still use it as a method.
LayerZero’s blog post details how the project addressed the problem and implemented a Sybil filtering method used to detect mercenary airdrop farming activity.
In particular, some of the filtering parameters include issuing worthless NFTs and spamming low-value transactions across multiple blockchains to register activity.
Sybil activity, where users adopt tactics such as creating multiple addresses to increase their airdrop stakes, is a significant issue for cryptocurrency projects. This is especially true when airdrops are expected, as user activity often decreases when token distribution occurs and mercenary farmers move funds to projects that have not yet distributed tokens.
“We are offering all sybil users the opportunity to self-report within the next 14 days in return for 15% of their intended quota, no questions asked,” LayerZero said in an X post.
LayerZero itself has experienced a decline in user activity since announcing the airdrop snapshot. According to data from Protocol OnChain Explorer, daily cross-chain transactions have fallen from about 300,000 on April 30, the day before the airdrop announcement, to about 150,000 today, a decline of more than 50%.
To cope with the mass exodus of users following airdrops, some cryptocurrency projects have begun to adopt a process of distributing tokens over multiple rounds.
Protocols such as decentralized exchange Jupiter and Ethereum re-staking platform EigenLayer have chosen this approach. In response, the team revealed that the May 1st snapshot was the first snapshot of the airdrop, suggesting the possibility of future snapshots, leading to speculation that LayerZero could follow suit.
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