LayerZero demands sybil airdrop farmers to self-report

LayerZero,
a
protocol
enabling
connections
between
incompatible
blockchains,
has
given
sybil
airdrop
farmers
an
opportunity
to
self-report
their
addresses
by
May
17
in
exchange
for
a
reduced
token
allocation.

According
to
LayerZero,
those
who
decide
to
come
forward
will

receive
15%
of
their
intended
allocation,
while
those
who
do
not
are
at
risk
of
receiving
“nothing”
from
the
planned
token
airdrop.

Sybil
airdrop
farming
refers
to
an
ostensibly
deceptive
practice
where
individuals
engage
in
Sybil
attacks
by
creating
multiple
fake
identities
or
accounts
to
exploit
airdrop
programs.

A
Sybil
attack
is
enacted
when
an
individual
creates
numerous
false
accounts
to
gain
an
unfair
advantage,
such
as
receiving
more
airdrop
tokens
than
legitimately
entitled.
This
behavior
has
been
deemed
unethical
for
undermining
the
perceived
fairness
and
security
of
airdrop
programs,
although
many
in
the
space
still
use
it
as
a
method.

A
blog
post
from
LayerZero
details
how
the
project
plans
to
address
the
issue
and
implement

sybil
filtering
methods
used
to
detect
mercenary
airdrop
farming
activity
are
implemented.

Notably,
some
of
the
filtering
parameters
include
minting
valueless
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
share
of
an
airdrop,
is
a
significant
issue
for
crypto
projects.
This
is
particularly
true
when
an
airdrop
is
anticipated,
as
user
activity
often
declines
once
the
token
distribution
occurs,
with
mercenary
farmers
moving
their
funds
to
projects
that
have
yet
to
distribute
tokens.

“We
are
giving
all
sybil
users
an
opportunity
to
self-report
within
the
next
14
days
in
return
for
15%
of
their
intended
allocation,
no
questions
asked,”
LayerZero
stated
in
the
X
post

LayerZero
itself
has
experienced
a
decline
in
user
activity
since
announcing
its
airdrop
snapshot.
According
to
data
from
the
protocol’s
onchain
explorer,
daily
cross-chain
transactions
fell
from
around
300,000
on
April
30,
the
day
before
the
airdrop
announcement,
to
about
150,000
currently,
representing
a
drop
of
more
than
50%.

To
counter
the
mass
exit
of
users
post-airdrop,
some
crypto
projects
have
begun
adopting
a
process
of
distributing
tokens
in
multiple
rounds.

Protocols
such
as
decentralized
exchange
Jupiter
and
Ethereum
restaking
platform
EigenLayer
have
chosen
this
approach.
On
this
end,
speculation
has
arisen
that

LayerZero
may
follow
suit,
as
the
team
stated
that
the

May
1
snapshot
was
the
first
for
the
airdrop,
suggesting
the
possibility
of
future
snapshots.