From Sahara to Tradoor: A Look at Recent Altcoin "Fancy Drop" Schemes

Written by: Asher, Odaily Planet Daily

Despite a recent market rebound, the crypto world remains shrouded in a cloud of gloom that’s hard to dispel since the “1011 Crash.” Notably, a batch of newly launched altcoins seem to have collectively pressed the “down switch,” repeatedly experiencing dramatic crashes: halving in a single day, dropping over 80%, surging at launch only to decline steadily, and airdrops being rapidly dumped… It’s worth noting that most of these anomalies have occurred with new projects listed on Binance Alpha.

Within just a few weeks, multiple “bizarre decline” incidents have unfolded in succession. On-chain fund movements, market maker operations, and project teams’ responses (or silence) piece together fragments of the story behind this turmoil. Below, Odaily Planet Daily reviews the most discussed and representative recent cases of “fancy declines.”

Sahara AI: Over 50% Plunge in Minutes, Triggered by Large-Scale Perpetual Liquidations + Concentrated Short Selling

On the evening of November 29, Sahara AI’s token SAHARA plunged more than 50% in a short span and has yet to recover significantly, now trading at $0.03869.

SAHARA K-line Chart

The next day, the Sahara AI team quickly issued a statement to reassure the market, focusing on three main points:

• No team or investor dumping: All are still in the lock-up period; the first unlock isn’t until June 2026, a full year away.
• No smart contract issues: No hacks, no tampering, no unexplained token transfers.
• Business is adjusting but nothing went wrong: Internal resource integration is ongoing, with focus on accelerating growth areas.

While these statements sound “harmless,” community discussions focused elsewhere. KOL “Crypto Fearless” posted on X that SAHARA’s abnormal price drop was caused by “a major market maker being repeatedly liquidated”: a market maker operating several projects was targeted by an exchange, causing all related positions to be risk-managed, with SAHARA being collateral damage.

However, Sahara AI quickly denied this, emphasizing that their market makers are only Amber Group and Herring Global—both operating normally, not investigated or liquidated. The team’s version is that the crash mainly resulted from large-scale perpetual contract liquidations plus amplified short selling. In other words, “It’s not our fault; it’s a structural stampede in the market itself.” The team is still in direct communication with relevant exchanges and will disclose more verified information as it becomes available.

aPriori: 60% of Airdrop Claimed by One Entity, Token Down Nearly 80% Since Launch

aPriori is a high-profile project in the Monad ecosystem. Its token APR chose to TGE “early” on BNB Chain before Monad’s mainnet launch. On October 23, APR launched on Binance Alpha and Binance Futures, briefly surging above $0.7 at opening but then steadily declining to $0.13. The weak post-launch price already sparked community concerns, but the real trigger came weeks later.

APR K-line Chart

The most glaring news: 60% of the project’s airdrop was claimed by a single entity using 14,000 addresses. On November 11, Bubblemaps’ on-chain data showed that 60% of aPriori’s airdrop tokens were claimed by one entity through 14,000 interlinked wallets. Each wallet deposited 0.001 BNB on Binance in a short period, then transferred APR tokens to another set of new wallets.

APR “insider wallet” bubble chart

More upsetting to the community than the data itself was the project’s total lack of response. On November 14, Bubblemaps said they had already contacted the aPriori team seeking an explanation for the “60% airdrop claimed by 14,000 addresses” situation, but no response had been received as of then.

Additionally, blockchain detective ZachXBT posted on X that he had privately messaged aPriori’s co-founder about the “insider wallet” issue but had not received a reply as of November 18.

Meanwhile, the official X account went silent, Discord admins all but disappeared, and community sentiment shifted from disappointment to anger:

“Did the team just run away?” “Is the team off building their next project?” “How can a highly funded project do something like this?”

It wasn’t until November 21 that the team finally spoke up—but didn’t really address the core issue, merely stating “no evidence found of team or foundation claiming airdrops” and attempting to shift attention to Monad mainnet airdrops, promising the Monad community “a large amount of non-locked APR airdrops.” This only intensified skepticism, with many community members seeing it as dodging the real issue.

Worse, on Monad mainnet launch day, aPriori’s airdrop event received almost no attention, and official channels fell silent again. From a well-funded star project to rapidly losing community trust, it all happened in under a month.

Irys: One Entity Claimed 20% of Airdrop via 900 Wallet Cluster, Already Dumped $4 Million

Irys is a Layer 1 focused on “data intelligence” with nearly $20 million in funding, but its airdrop and pre-mainnet on-chain activities triggered suspicions of “insider wallet” dumping.

Day Before Launch: 900 Addresses Funded in Clusters

On November 28, on-chain analytics platform Bubblemaps revealed that, the day before IRYS mainnet launch, a total of 900 addresses were funded from Bitget exchange in several time windows. These addresses shared the following traits:

• No prior on-chain history (brand new wallets)
• Similar amounts of ETH received
• All claimed IRYS airdrop on launch day

These addresses together claimed about 20% of the IRYS airdrop.

Further Analysis: Classic Sybil Cluster

Bubblemaps divided the 900 addresses into 20 funding batches, each with about 50 addresses. The investigation showed:

• Timing: November 21-24, Bitget sent out 20 rounds of funding
• Highly consistent pattern: Each batch received small amounts of ETH, with nearly identical address creation, activation, and operation paths
• Feature: Addresses were active simultaneously with similar behavior

This pattern fits the classic “Sybil cluster” profile, indicating a planned and organized operation.

Transaction Path: From Airdrop to Exchange

Tracking 500 of these addresses showed they followed an identical process:

• Claim IRYS airdrop
• Transfer all tokens to a new wallet (“washing address” step)
• New wallet sends IRYS to Bitget exchange
• Most likely dumped on the exchange

To date, about $4 million worth of IRYS tokens have flowed to Bitget via this route.

IRYS “insider wallet” bubble chart

Irys Official Response: Sybil Airdrop Cluster Not Team or Investor Related

Regarding the recent on-chain analysis showing an IRYS airdrop Sybil cluster, the project team conducted an internal investigation and confirmed with partners and exchanges. The official statement:

• Unrelated to team or investors: The investigation showed the Sybil wallets are not linked to team, foundation, or investor wallets. Tokens held by the team, foundation, and founders remain locked and unsold per vesting rules.
• Airdrop design and Sybil prevention: The project used multiple anti-Sybil mechanisms before launch, successfully filtering some arbitrage, but couldn’t fully stop Sybil clusters. The team admits the flaws lie in airdrop design, not execution, and pledges to improve in the future.
• Future plans: The team will regularly update on project progress, network growth, ecosystem building, and major company developments. They’ll continue to optimize the protocol, expand integrations, advance data applications, and support long-term users and developers.

The team emphasized this incident won’t affect IRYS mainnet operations or change long-term project goals. They aim to win community trust through ongoing development and transparent communication, not just words.

Tradoor: Top 10 Holders Own 98% of Supply, Nearly 80% Crash in Hours

Binance Alpha project Tradoor’s token TRADOOR hit an all-time high of $6.64 on December 1, then plunged nearly 80% to $1.47 within 24 hours. It’s now at $1.39.

TRADOOR K-line Chart

On-chain data shows Tradoor is extremely centralized: only 10 addresses control 98% of total supply, with one address holding as much as 75%. The remaining circulating supply is negligible, and DEX liquidity pools total under $1 million—a single large order could crash the price instantly.

Additionally, airdrop delays and staking mechanism issues further eroded user trust: the promised airdrop was pushed from “soon” to February 2026, and staking mechanism loopholes left retail investors with nowhere to run during the crash. Notably, the TRADOOR plunge happened between 4-5 AM local time, when most retail holders were asleep and could not react.

“Take Profits When You Can” Is the Way

As crypto trader Ansem posted on X, the main phase of value accumulation in crypto is “basically over”—the vast majority of tokens (“95% junk”) are unlikely to gain lasting value. Real value in the future will be captured by stablecoins and blockchain infrastructure built by established fintech companies like Stripe, Coinbase, and Robinhood on their own chains, not by most current token projects.

Therefore, even if the crypto market is showing signs of recovery and high-profile altcoins may see short-term rebounds (giving investors a “quick win”), this doesn’t mean you can let your guard down or blindly chase massive returns. “Fancy declines” in altcoins will keep appearing. In the current environment, “taking profits when you can” remains the safest strategy.