Token airdrops targeted by farm accounts and ‘Sybil attacks’

Airdrop squatters are creating fake accounts on platforms for the sole purpose of farming airdrop tokens, thus taking away share from loyal users.

Amid surging prices, many crypto projects have seen a rise in fake farm accounts, or “Sybil attacks,” named so after a book about a woman with many personalities. These fake accounts create artificial network activity to claim as many tokens as possible during airdrop events, which have become highly lucrative over the years. 

“We’ve recently taken action by banning approximately 2,000 users whom we suspect were farming Degen,” creators of the Degen memecoin project, which was built on the Farcaster social media protocol, wrote on X. “Taking part in Degen farming, such as coordinated posting or artificial engagement, could lead to bans.”

The Degen airdrop is ongoing until Aug. 1 and will reward users who engage with or create quality content posted on Farcaster social channels. However, it appears that a sizable number of users began posting sub-par content for the sole purpose of earning airdrop points. “Joining organized actions mainly to earn tokens and posting unrelated content in boosted channels” will result in bans, Degen developers wrote.

Read more