Nazia Saeed
- Bubblemaps flags 100 wallets in what it calls the “biggest airdrop Sybil” in crypto history, claiming 9.8 million MYX tokens worth around $170 million.
- MYX Finance defends its token distribution but admits address changes were allowed for high-volume users to encourage participation.
- The incident brings attention to the rise of airdrop manipulation businesses, including phone farms and spoofing kits that bypass Sybil detection systems.
Blockchain analytics firm Bubblemaps has flagged what it believes could be the largest Sybil attack in crypto history, identifying 100 freshly funded wallets that collectively claimed 9.8 million MYX tokens, worth around $170 million, from a recent airdrop. In a series of X posts on Wednesday, Bubblemaps revealed that these wallets received similar amounts of BNB (Binance Coin) from crypto exchange OKX, all within minutes of each other, nearly a month before the airdrop took place.
Bubblemaps highlighted the unusual pattern, stating: Everyone is talking about MYX hitting a $17B FDV (Fully Diluted Valuation) A 20x in under 48 hours, but we spotted something unusual—something no one is mentioning. The analytics firm noted that these wallets had no prior activity and all claimed MYX tokens at nearly the same time, around 5:30 am on May 7. Bubblemaps speculated that this could very well be the “biggest airdrop Sybil of all time.”
MYX Finance defends its token distribution
In response to Bubblemaps’ Sybil claims, MYX Finance defended its token distribution, asserting that rewards were based on actual trading and liquidity provider contributions. The platform emphasized that it had implemented anti-Sybil safeguards under its “Cambrian” campaign.
However, MYX admitted that some high-volume users requested address changes before the airdrop launch and noted that such requests were allowed to encourage participation. As a decentralized perpetual DEX (decentralized exchange), we always prioritize user participation. Even if a single entity participates extensively, we respect that participation.
Bubblemaps dismissed MYX’s response as vague and even suggested it might be AI-generated, claiming that the response “somehow makes things even more suspicious”.
At the time of writing, MYX is trading at $17.33, up 6.47% over the past day, according to data from CoinMarketCap. However, it is down more than 12% from its all-time high of $18.52, registered on Tuesday.
A look inside a 30,000-phone airdrop farm
The incident brings attention to the growing sophistication of crypto airdrop manipulation. Airdrop farming has become a significant business, particularly in regions like Vietnam. In one example, Mirai Labs CEO Corey Wilton toured a phone farm with over 30,000 devices, each equipped with SIM cards, spoofed IPs, and unique fingerprints to mimic real users and exploit token giveaways.
This operation extends beyond just farming; the business also manufactures and sells “airdrop farm kits” that allow buyers to use around 20 phones to spoof activity across multiple wallets. Controlled by a single master device, hundreds of phones can operate in sync, allowing farmers to bypass Sybil detection systems commonly used in Web3 campaigns.
