Berachain airdrop hunters have minted more than 1.7 million NFTs, while the yet-to-be-launched project involved speculators in tasks that could yield free tokens.
Berachain is a layer-1 network powered by proof-of-liquidity and built on the Cosmos SDK, a framework for creating decentralized applications or dapps written in the Go programming language. The protocol also considers itself an Ethereum Virtual Machine equivalent L1.
The blockchain claims to fully implement the EVM code captured in Ethereum’s Yellow Document, a technical document explaining the design and architecture of the Ethereum blockchain. An EVM equivalent protocol is also fully compatible with Ethereum, allowing support for any dapp running on top of Ethereum’s mainnet.
Berachain was in the testnet phase at the time of writing and had social media chatter from airdrop hunters looking for the next batch of free tokens.
The protocol released its so-called “Berachain Farming Vol.1 NFT,” boosting trading activity related to digital collectibles called “Bit Bears” on popular NFT marketplace Opensea. It is unclear whether the two teams are connected.
Bit Bears has seen a 236% increase in volume over the past 30 days and has registered over 5,831 Ether (ETH) worth approximately $14.9 million in all-time transactions.
You might also like: Crypto startups are shifting from airdrops to loyalty points
X-ad scammers also tried to capitalize on the hype surrounding the EVM equivalent Cosmos SDK-supported protocol. One user pointed out an ad on Elon Musk’s social networking giant targeting unsuspecting users hoping to exploit the airdrop, which the Berachain team has neither confirmed nor debunked.
Seeing Berachain scam ads makes me smile and tear up. It’s like seeing pirated merchandise from your friend who got out of the trenches and signed the record deal. pic.twitter.com/XhbyutLmgK
— Kits 🌸 (@0x_kitsune) February 12, 2024
These ads are common on X and scammers are constantly trying to trick web3 users into granting wallet transaction authorization. Once approved, the scammer can sign transactions and drain the wallet’s value before typically transferring the funds to a crypto mixer to be laundered.
This phishing scam is being seen on social platforms as global cryptocurrency adoption increases. SlowMist reported 80% of X responses related to phishing software and scammers, while a handful of high-profile entities such as Trezor and Ripple were targeted by these campaigns.
Read more: Fuvo.io is showing signs of phishing scams targeting high-value cryptocurrencies and NFTs