Apriori Airdrop Controversy: Secret Wallets Claim 80% of Tokens
Apriori, a trading infrastructure startup backed by Binance founder Changpeng Zhao’s venture arm, has come under scrutiny after blockchain data revealed that thousands of newly created wallets secretly claimed most of its token airdrop. The incident has raised questions about the fairness and transparency of the airdrop process.
On October 23, Apriori distributed its APR token in a “Genesis Airdrop” across Ethereum and the BNB chain to reward early contributors, testnet users, and NFT holders from partner communities such as MadLads and Moonbirds. However, blockchain analysis reviewed by investigators shows that about 80% of the tokens on the BNB chain were claimed by more than 5,800 wallets connected to a single cluster group.
The pattern suggests an organized Sybil attack, a tactic in which airdrop hunters use thousands of wallets to claim multiple rewards. According to on-chain data, the wallet cluster was created and funded days before Apriori’s public announcement that its token could be staked on the BNB chain, raising questions about whether insider information may have been used.
Insider Job or Coincidence? Wallet Patterns Raise Doubts
Between October 19th and 20th, these wallets were each funded with small amounts of BNB from just 13 addresses, enough to execute airdrop claim transactions. The 13 wallets that forwarded the funds remain unknown. Analysts who reviewed the data said the activity occurred before the eligibility criteria were released on October 22, suggesting that the network and timing of the airdrop were already known.
Further analysis of the top 200 APR holders found that almost all were newly created between October 5th and 6th, had no significant trading history, and engaged in little to no activity on-chain beyond receiving the token. Only three wallets among the top holders appeared to belong to real users with previous transactions and NFT activity.
Apriori Airdrop Scandal Adds to Growing List of Sybil Attacks
The incident has raised questions about whether the airdrop was internally compromised or manipulated through insider knowledge. Critics within the Monad community, where Apriori was originally slated to launch its token, expressed frustration, accusing the project of betraying its supporters and damaging trust ahead of Monad’s expected mainnet debut.
The incident reflects a growing list of Sybil-style airdrop scandals in the crypto sector. In September, decentralized exchange MYX Finance faced similar accusations when 100 wallets allegedly affiliated with its team demanded $170 million worth of MYX tokens. Last year, zkSync and Solana-based Io.net suffered large-scale Sybil exploits in which attackers used automated wallets and fake GPU reports to claim millions of dollars in rewards.
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