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Mudit Gupta of ZkSync rival Polygon said the ZK token airdrop may have been the “most farmed airdrop” ever, claiming it lacked anti-bot measures.
Ethereum zero-knowledge (ZK) layer-2 scaler zkSync has received backlash from crypto industry observers for allegations of unfair distribution and lack of safeguards against Sybil attacks in the airdrop for its eponymous token zkSync (ZK).
Mudit Gupta, information security chief of rival layer-2 network Polygon, shared on the X platform on June 11, “zkSync airdrop has been released. “Possibly the most farmable and farmable airdrop ever,” he wrote. “From what I can see, there is almost no Sybil filtering. Anyone who knew the criteria could easily farm it.”
Earlier that day, zkSync shared that 695,232 wallets could request the ZK token airdrop and seven eligibility criteria intended to protect against Sybil attacks. Sybil attacks involve an entity using multiple wallets to manipulate crypto airdrops.
“This was not a well-planned airdrop from a Sybil perspective,” said Cinneamhain Ventures partner Adam Cochran, sharing zkSync’s eligibility criteria. “These criteria were easy to miss as a real user and easy to meet as a farmer and there was no anti-Sybil program.”
These reactions resulted in crypto analytics firm Nansen clarifying that it did not conduct anti-Sybil checks for the ZK token airdrop or advise on allocations, but did provide data on some specific wallet segments such as “whales and known fraudsters.”
However, crypto researcher “Ignas” stated that zkSync deliberately does not implement stringent anti-Sybil measures, noting in the press release that “Sybil detection often excludes real users with arbitrary filters.”
Based on ZK’s price on pre-market perpetual exchanges such as Aevo and PancakeSwap, the tokens could be worth $52.3 million.
The token has lost nearly 43% of its value in the last 24 hours on both markets, with the sharp declines coinciding with zkSync’s announcement of airdrop details.
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