GM Readers!šŖ It's BitDegree Insider, and fasten your seatbelts, today's issue is packed with action.
āļøToday's selection:
- š¤Airdrop Mania ā”ļø Sybil Mafia
- š8,000 Bitcoin in a Landfill
- šSelected Meme of The Day
- š°Bite-Sized News
Okay, yesterday, we discovered that someone paid $500,000 in commission for a single transaction. Today, we've got some more astounding facts for you!
Airdrop Mania - Sybil Mafia
One DeFi analyst shared on X (or Twitter, as the ol' folks used to call it) that he has discovered a large-scale Sybil scheme in the zkSync Era network. Okay, what are these words?
A Sybil scheme, or Sybil attack, is a form of hacking that happens when an online network is weakened by creating numerous IDs. zkSync Era is a Layer-2 protocol that scales Ethereum with ZK technology.
Okay, so in this case specifically, a savvy crypto bro generated 21,877 wallets and successfully interacted within the zkSync Era environment.
It all boils down to the fact that they are hunting for a potential zkSync airdrop.
Now, that might not seem noteworthy in itselfāwho hasn't created a bunch of wallets, right? ā but this unidentified user did more than just generate 21,877 wallets.
They also launched their own closed-to-the-public decentralized exchange (DEX) specifically to inflate trading volumes. Yeah, you've read that right. Someone just casually launched a DEX.
Here's the breakdown:
The user minted their own unique cryptocurrency and traded it on this self-created DEX, adding liquidity of more than 80 ETH to the platform. Subsequent manipulations led to the registration of over 160,000 transactions on this private trading platform.
By doing so, the Sybil attacker artificially pumped $10,000 of trading volume and 10 transactions into each of the 21,877 wallets. They aimed to meet the imaginary minimum criteria for an upcoming $ZKS token airdrop. What is the total cost for this operation? About $2 in-network fees per wallet, totaling roughly $50,000.
You may wonder, why would they spend $50,000 just like that? Well, it's a common occurrence for such significant projects to offer airdrops worth more than $1,000. So, considering their expenditure per wallet, this could lead to at least a 50,000% Return on investment... assuming they're not banned, of course.
All of these transactions were strategically spread out over time to maintain the illusion of genuine user activity. But let's be real: it's abundantly clear this is manipulation, isn't it? Despite this, zkSync's parent company, Matter Labs, has remained silent on the issue at the time of writing.
TL;DR:Ā A crypto user created over 21,000 wallets and a private decentralized exchange to inflate trading volumes, spending $50,000 in network fees, aiming to qualify for a potential $ZKS token airdrop with an expected high return on investment.Ā
8,000 Bitcoin in a Landfill
In 2013, James Howells mistakenly threw away his hard drive,Ā which contained 8,000 Bitcoin. Ever since he's been trying to secure permission to excavate the landfill in hopes of recovering his lost assets.
For nearly a decade, he's faced constant rejections. Fed up, James and his legal team have formally petitioned authorities for permission to conduct the dig, as well as seeking damages totaling $557 million.
He's even found investors willing to finance a recycling and sorting plant aimed at operating with as minimal human intervention as possible. Howells is concerned that individuals might take it upon themselves to locate and hide his missing hard drive. To mitigate this risk, his blueprint includes robust security measures like AI, robots, surveillance cameras, and specialized scanners.
James asserts that should he manage to reclaim his lost Bitcoin, he plans to keep around 30% for himself. A significant share will be dedicated to rewarding those who aid in his quest, while the remaining funds are earmarked for a wind power station to replace the landfill.
The saga traces back to a time before 2013 when James Howells stored two 2.5-inch hard drives in his desk drawer. Of the two hard drives, one was slated for disposal, and the other safeguarded a digital wallet bursting with approximately 8,000 Bitcoin. In a twist of fate, James mistakenly discarded the invaluable latter into the landfill. Fast-forward to 2017āwhen the Bitcoin price soared to $13,000āJames abruptly recalled his missing HDD, attempted to connect it, and grasped the magnitude of his blunder.
Since then, finding that lost hard drive has become the most important thing in his life. Well, understandably so.
Right now, Howell is carefully improving his plan and waiting for the right time to start digging.
TL;DR:Ā In 2013, James Howells mistakenly threw away his hard drive, which contained 8,000 Bitcoin.
SELECTED MEME OF THE DAY
