Sybil Detection

Sybil - When one person controls multiple wallets, either legitimately (for security, organization, privacy) or maliciously (to game rewards, inflate metrics, or exploit attribution).

Why It Matters

Legitimate use: Users often have multiple wallets for different purposes—hot wallet for daily use, cold wallet for storage, separate wallets for different protocols.

Malicious use: Creating many wallets to extract maximum rewards from airdrops, inflate engagement metrics, or game advertising attribution.

The Attribution Problem

A user might see your ad on wallet A but convert on wallet B. Without connecting these wallets, you miss the conversion.

However, aggressive wallet clustering risks false positives—claiming conversions you didn't actually cause. Combine with incrementality testing for certainty.

Basic Approaches

Accept the limitation: Track each wallet independently. Conservative but honest.

Wallet linking: Group wallets with similar patterns (funding sources, transaction timing, behavioral similarities).

Self-reporting: Ask users to connect multiple wallets voluntarily.

Platform Questions

When evaluating ad platforms, ask: How do you handle multi-wallet users? What's your Sybil detection methodology?

For most campaigns, missing some conversions (false negatives) is preferable to claiming conversions you didn't cause (false positives). Conservative attribution builds trust.