San Francisco, CA – aPriori, a Web3 startup specializing in trading infrastructure, is under fire following a controversial distribution of its APR token airdrop. The company is now denying any insider involvement after a single, unidentified entity claimed approximately 60% of the airdropped tokens. This entity allegedly utilized 14,000 interconnected cryptocurrency wallets, raising concerns about manipulation and fairness of the distribution.
Blockchain analytics platform Bubblemaps flagged the unusual concentration, noting that the wallets were freshly funded with 0.001 BNB each through the Binance crypto exchange over a short period. These wallets then systematically sent their APR allocations to new wallets. Bubblemaps also stated that the entity continued to fund new wallets to claim more tokens even after the initial airdrop.
The airdrop, which occurred on October 23, allocated 12% of the total APR token supply to early contributors, testnet users, and NFT holders from partner communities. Shortly after the airdrop, the BNB Chain-native token surpassed $300 million in market capitalization.
Amid growing community skepticism, aPriori has released a statement denying any team involvement in the suspicious activity. The company stated that it found "no evidence that anyone on the contributing team or from the foundation has claimed the airdrop". aPriori also claims to have lowered eligibility requirements for its Monad Mainnet airdrop in an effort to reward genuine users. However, the company has not yet provided further details or responded to requests for comment regarding the identity of the entity controlling the wallet cluster.
Nick Vaiman, CEO of Bubblemaps, characterized aPriori's initial response as "dismissive," noting that the company suggested a leak might have enabled someone to farm the airdrop. "They're saying there was a leak and someone used that info," Vaiman told Cointelegraph.
The situation has drawn criticism from on-chain analysts and crypto community members. Some have accused aPriori of a lack of transparency, with onchain sleuth ZachXBT highlighting the company's silence and lack of communication. Critics within the Monad community have also voiced frustration, accusing the project of betraying its supporters and damaging trust.
The concentration of APR tokens in a few wallets has led to speculation of a Sybil attack, where one actor uses multiple wallets to maximize rewards. However, some analysts suggest the activity could also be the work of a sophisticated airdrop farmer, an entity that interacts with emerging protocols solely to obtain airdrop rewards.
This is not the first time a crypto project has faced scrutiny over airdrop distribution. In September, decentralized exchange MYX Finance faced similar accusations when 100 wallets allegedly tied to its team claimed $170 million worth of MYX tokens. These incidents highlight the need for careful planning and transparent oversight in decentralized token distribution.
aPriori, founded in 2023 by former traders and engineers from Coinbase, Jump Trading, and Citadel Securities, raised $20 million in August to expand its trading infrastructure platform. The funding round included participation from Pantera Capital, HashKey Capital, and Primitive Ventures, bringing its total funding to $30 million. The company's platform leverages advanced analytics and simulation to help businesses gain insights into product design and production costs.
