The IRYS airdrop, a highly anticipated token distribution event, is under intense scrutiny after on-chain analytics platform Bubblemaps uncovered evidence of a coordinated Sybil attack. According to their investigation, approximately 900 wallets with no prior on-chain history were funded by the crypto exchange Bitget just one day before the airdrop launch on November 28, 2025.
These wallets displayed identical patterns, including nearly equal ETH deposits, and immediately claimed around 20% of the total IRYS supply. Subsequently, $4 million worth of IRYS tokens were transferred to Bitget, creating significant selling pressure and raising alarms about the fairness of the distribution process. Bubblemaps noted that between November 21 and 24, Bitget funded 20 separate batches of ETH to around 50 wallets each, deepening concerns over systematic manipulation.
This incident echoes a previous Sybil attack on the aPriori (APR) airdrop, where 60% of tokens were claimed by a single group using 14,000 connected wallets. The crypto community is now debating the need for enhanced anti-Sybil measures, such as wallet clustering analysis and longer vesting periods, to prevent future exploitation.
