Battling the Bots

The NodeOps Network Testnet Campaign, launched in December 2024, has garnered an extraordinary response with over 3 million unique wallet registrations in just a month. This impressive milestone reflects the campaign's appeal but it also raises a pressing question: how many of these are bots?

Automated registrations threaten to dilute Node Points (NP) distribution. Node Points are intended to reward real contributors participating in sign-up, referral, deployment, and community engagement quests.

NodeOps Network is determined to overcome this challenge and ensure genuine user growth amidst a wave of bot-generated entries. Our approach was to apply a comprehensive Sybil detection framework to separate authentic users from computerized bots, preserving the campaign's integrity. The filtering process was divided into two strategic phases: screening and validation.

Phase 1: Interaction-Based Screening

This phase focused on behavioral patterns to flag suspicious entries:

1. Quest Participation: Wallets completing only sign-up and referral quests were flagged as suspicious. Genuine users typically engage in a variety of quests.

2. Email Verification: Wallet entries without an associated email were marked as potential bots.

3. Referral Codes: Registrations using KOL referral codes or other validated codes were classified as genuine.

This strategy successfully filtered out a significant chunk of bot accounts, identifying a portion of the total registrations as likely to be authentic.

Phase 2: Activity-Based Validation

For the remaining wallets, we introduced more stringent checks based on wallet activity data:

1. Minimum ETH balance: Wallets with negligible balances were flagged.

2. Chain activity: Analysis of transaction patterns across popular blockchains helped identify inactive or suspicious wallets.

3. Layer Zero Sybil wallets: Cross-referencing against the Layer Zero Sybil wallet addresses list eliminated pre-flagged entries.

Through these advanced checks, an additional portion of the entries were verified as authentic, refining our user base significantly.

Mission Accomplished: Genuine Growth Restored

After these two rigorous phases, we successfully reclaimed the campaign's essence by eliminating bot registrations and validating genuine users. With this refined user base, we ensure that Node Points are distributed fairly, rewarding actual contributors who drive our growth.

In conclusion, the NodeOps Network Testnet Campaign stands as a testament to our commitment to authentic user engagement. As we say goodbye to bots, we look forward to fostering a thriving, genuine community.

Bye Bye Bots!