🌋 LayerZero: Label Your Sybil Address, Get Rewarded

posted  4 May 2024
Photo - LayerZero: Label Your Sybil Address, Get Rewarded
Recently, the cross-chain transfer project LayerZero (L0) announced that it took its first snapshot on May 1st. This snapshot is likely to serve as the basis for distributing an airdrop among early users.

To ensure fair distribution, projects try to weed out bad actors who have created multiple accounts and shown activity solely to receive retroactive airdrops. In the airdrop realm, such crypto wallets are identified as Sybil. LayerZero has chosen an interesting method to identify such addresses.

The project has provided an opportunity for users to voluntarily declare their wallets as Sybil in return for a 15% share of the upcoming token distribution, with a deadline set until May 17th (11:59:59 UTC). Following this deadline, LayerZero Labs will release its official list of Sybil addresses, and those unreported will not receive any tokens.

Moreover, a reward program for bounty hunters has been initiated: those who provide valid reports on Sybil addresses will earn a 10% share from the pool allocated for Sybils. This unexpected move has surprised many users and could potentially become a model for future Sybil address filtration.
LayerZero also published an article outlining examples of Sybil activities:

  • If you're the only individual with scores, hundreds, or thousands of addresses involved in farming;
  • If you transferred a "worthless" NFT solely to pass it through the chain;
  • If you utilized popular applications for "Sybil-farming" like Merkly, L2Pass, L2Marathon, etc.;
  • If you transferred $0.01 back and forth merely to touch the chain;
  • If you consider yourself a Sybil, then you most likely are.

This explanation initially confused users, but LayerZero clarified in its Discord that merely using Merkly doesn't automatically classify someone as a Sybil. It seems to specifically concern those simulating activity solely through this inexpensive platform. Bryan Pellegrino, the founder of LayerZero, also echoed this sentiment on the social network X:
If you're a real user who tested merkly or used it for a gas drop -- you're probably not a sybil. If you literally only ever used Merkly to send NFT in a circle -- you are probably a sybil.
We are yet to see how effective this screening will be. According to LayerZero's previous statement made in December, the token distribution is expected sometime in the first half of 2024, so the wait will soon be over.