security
Sybil Attack
An attack where a single party creates many seemingly independent identities or wallets — e.g. to manipulate airdrops or votes.
Sybil Attack
A Sybil attack occurs when a single party creates many seemingly independent identities to manipulate a system that assumes “one person = one vote”. The name comes from a case study about multiple identities.
Typical targets
- Airdrops: creating hundreds of wallets to farm a reward many times over.
- Governance: tipping votes through many pseudo-participants.
- Reputation: faking activity or followers.
Defense and detection
Projects try to separate genuine wallets from Sybil ones — via activity patterns, funding sources, or identity proofs. On-chain, Sybil wallets often reveal themselves as a wallet cluster with shared origin and synchronized behavior.
Related Terms
Airdrop Wallet Cluster Bundler