Web3 Startup aPriori Faces Allegations of Insider Activity After Token Airdrop
Web3 startup aPriori has been at the center of controversy following allegations surrounding its recent token airdrop, with on-chain analysts noticing unusually concentrated distribution patterns. According to blockchain analytics platform Bubblemaps, approximately 60% of the recent aPriori (APR) token airdrop was claimed by a single entity across 14,000 interconnected cryptocurrency wallets.
The wallets were refunded with 0.001 BNB (BNB) each over a short period of time via crypto exchange Binance, Bubblemaps said. All addresses then sent their APR allocations to new wallets. This mysterious company that claimed 60% of the airdrop allocation was still funding new wallets to claim more of these tokens, Bubblemaps said in a Nov. 11 X post.
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aPriori launched its airdrop claim on October 23, just before the native BNB chain token surpassed $300 million in market cap. About 12% of the APR token supply was allocated to the airdrop. In August, aPriori raised $20 million to expand its trading infrastructure platform, with participation from Pantera Capital, HashKey Capital and Primitive Ventures and others, bringing its total funding to $30 million.
The San Francisco-based company was founded in 2023 by former quant traders and engineers with experience at Coinbase, Jump Trading and Citadel Securities.
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Lack of Transparency Raises Concerns
aPriori has not yet addressed the allegations surrounding the airdrop. Since announcing the airdrop claim on October 23, the official X page has only published a single independent post on Sunday. “Still no response from co-founder, the way they have offered no transparency whatsoever makes them look no different than scammers,” on-chain detective ZachXBT wrote in a Tuesday X post.
However, the high concentration of airdrop distribution is not necessarily due to insider activity, but may also indicate an experienced airdrop farmer. In crypto, a professional airdrop farmer (or squatter) is a company that interacts with new protocols solely for the airdrop rewards, often using multiple wallets to compound the rewards.
Airdrop Farming: A Common Practice in Crypto
In March 2023, it was revealed that airdrop hunters had consolidated $3.3 million worth of tokens from Arbitrum’s ARB airdrop from 1,496 wallets into just two wallets they controlled. This practice highlights the complexities and challenges associated with airdrops in the crypto space.
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