Bubblemaps Alerts $170M Sybil Attack During MYX Airdrop — Is This the Largest Ever?

Hassan, a journalist at Cryptonews.com with over six years of experience in Web3 reporting, brings extensive insights into the worlds of Crypto, Web3 Gaming, NFTs, and Play-to-Earn.

Key Takeaways

Bubblemaps identified 100 suspicious wallets that together claimed $170 million in MYX tokens during a recent airdrop.
The analysis revealed coordinated activity, including identical funding patterns for these wallets.
MYX Finance defends its token distribution process, emphasizing fairness and transparency.
Concerns about market manipulation and wash trading in decentralized finance are growing, with significant volumes linked to such practices.
The ongoing discussion raises questions about the regulatory measures needed to prevent manipulation and protect investors.

Bubblemaps Alerts $170M Sybil Attack During MYX Airdrop — Is This the Largest Ever?

Blockchain analytics firm Bubblemaps has raised concerns regarding a potential record-setting Sybil attack involving the MYX airdrop, in which around 100 new wallets claimed $170 million in MYX tokens. This event has garnered increased scrutiny due to suspicious patterns in wallet funding and activity, prompting a response from MYX Finance about its distribution process. The emerging controversy has ignited discussions on market manipulation in decentralized finance.

The Myriad of Concerns Over the MYX Airdrop

Bubblemaps has issued serious warnings regarding a possible historic Sybil attack, claiming that about 100 newly created wallets managed to secure an astonishing $170 million in MYX tokens during a recent airdrop event.

In a post shared on X on September 9, the analytics company alleged that these wallets collectively acquired 9.8 million MYX tokens, making up roughly 1% of the total token supply.

BREAKING: One entity claimed $170M from the $MYX airdrop

Bubblemaps highlighted the discovery of these 100 wallets, which showcased identical on-chain activities.

The analysis indicated that all wallets were funded from OKX on April 19 at approximately 6:50 a.m., each receiving similar amounts of BNB. Notably, these addresses exhibited no activity before the MYX airdrop but became active on May 7, when they simultaneously claimed tokens around 5:30 a.m.

Bubblemaps commented, “It’s hard to believe this was random,” branding it potentially “the biggest airdrop sybil of all time.”

With MYX’s rapid rise catching attention, the token's fully diluted valuation soared to $17 billion just 48 hours after its launch, with the value of the suspected Sybil allocation at one point exceeding $200 million before prices adjusted.

In response to these allegations, MYX Finance defended its distribution method. The decentralized exchange asserted that it has always prioritized fairness and transparency in its reward campaigns. They explained that aside from the "Cambrian" campaign, which included anti-Sybil strategies targeting wash trading bots, all other reward programs were based on trading volume and contributions to liquidity.

MYX noted that some users had requested changes to addresses ahead of the token launch, including high-volume traders, but they had not restricted such requests. The company stated, “Even in cases where a single entity participates extensively, we acknowledge and respect that participation.”

While MYX Finance announced plans to enhance Sybil prevention in future incentive programs, they assured that liquidity and trading rewards would remain open to all.

Bubblemaps, however, dismissed MYX's explanation as vague, intensifying skepticism around the project. They critiqued the response, suggesting it raised more questions than it answered regarding the legitimacy of MYX’s practices.

Despite the ongoing controversy, trading for MYX remained active. As of the latest data from CoinMarketCap, the token traded at $17.33, experiencing a 6.47% increase in the past 24 hours but still down over 12% from its all-time high of $18.52 seen on Tuesday.

MYX Finance's $MYX token debuted with considerable momentum, achieving a staggering 30,296% oversubscription during its Initial DEX Offering (IDO) on Binance Wallet in partnership with Pancakeswap. The token quickly garnered listings on multiple platforms including Binance Alpha Zone, Bitget, and PancakeSwap, with a trading volume surpassing $51 million within 24 hours by May 7, solidifying its status as one of the most actively traded assets on the BNB Chain.

However, as trading activity continues to rise, industry analysts are voicing alarms about an uptick in market manipulation within decentralized finance. A recent Chainalysis report reveals that wash trades involving ERC20 and BEP20 tokens accounted for up to $2.57 billion in trading volume on decentralized exchanges in 2024.

🔎 Market manipulation tactics like wash trading and artificial trading volume are fueling billions in crypto transactions. @chainalysis breaks down the data. #Blockchain #Crypto

Chainalysis researcher Diane Seo reported that a small number of entities are responsible for these practices, with one address executing over 54,000 repetitive transactions, and another linked to 16.7% of identified wash trades. This kind of behavior often promotes pump-and-dump schemes, where deceptive trading practices lure investors before the orchestrators sell off their tokens for profit.

The issue seems to be worsening, with Chainalysis noting that pump-and-dump schemes increased to 4.52% of market activity in 2024, up from 3.59% in the previous year. Lower transaction fees on emerging platforms and Layer 2s have only exacerbated the problem.

Blake Benthall, CEO of analytics firm Fathom(x), mentioned that inflated trading volumes complicate efforts to assess genuine market behavior. He pointed out that both "personality cults" and influencer-driven hype contribute to market volatility, exemplified by a high-profile meme coin that plummeted by 90% shortly after its launch.

🔍 @cz_binance suggests a dark pool perpetual DEX to mitigate risks from market manipulation. #DeFi #CZ

Former Binance co-founder Changpeng Zhao has also noted the importance of decentralized "dark pools" to shield larger traders from exploitation. He cautioned that full transparency in on-chain activity exposes liquidation levels, making substantial leveraged positions susceptible to coordinated attacks.

As MYX and other new tokens attract significant trading interest, the pressing question remains whether regulators and platforms can effectively prevent manipulation to safeguard investor confidence.