# Sybil Attack

> An attack where one party controls many fake identities to gain influence.

Canonical URL: https://fudfomo.co/glossary/sybil-attack
Source: What The Block! Dictionary v1.0 (last updated 2026-04-25), browsable at https://wtb.fudfomo.co.

## Definition

A Sybil attack is named after a famous case study about a person with multiple identities. In crypto, it usually means one party creating many wallets or fake accounts to abuse a system that assumes one address per person.

Sybil attacks distort airdrops, governance votes, and reputation systems. Most defences fall back on either staking real value or proving identity in some way, both of which have trade-offs.

## Related terms

- [Airdrop](https://fudfomo.co/glossary/airdrop): A free distribution of new tokens to a list of wallet addresses. Often used to reward early users.
- [DAO](https://fudfomo.co/glossary/dao): Decentralised autonomous organisation. A group whose decisions and treasury are managed on a blockchain.
- [Governance Token](https://fudfomo.co/glossary/governance-token): A token that gives you the right to vote on changes to a crypto project, usually a DAO.
- [KYC](https://fudfomo.co/glossary/kyc): Know Your Customer. The identity checks an exchange runs before letting you trade.

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