Sible Network Suspends Mining Functionality with Three Accounts on One Device

Sible Network suspended the proposed mining feature with three accounts on one device less than a day after the announcement. The decision was made following complaints from users and ambassadors about the risk of fake accounts, unfair reward distribution, and potential Sybil attacks. The proposal from November 1 would have allowed three different people to mine SIB tokens from a single smartphone, switching between accounts without separate devices. The announcement slogan was: "One device. Three accounts. More mining flexibility."

On November 2, the company confirmed the policy "One person = One account": each person is allowed only one account, creating additional ones for rewards is prohibited. Sible explained that the proposal was aimed at families who cannot afford separate smartphones: the company received messages from people whose spouses and children wanted to participate but did not have the necessary devices. According to the team, it was about three different people with one phone, not one participant with three accounts.

Initial defense and criticism

Initially, Sible defended the proposal: the limit of three accounts was supposed to prevent users from running multiple accounts on one device, and rules and penalties were promised for intentional abuse. However, this did not address the question of whether separate accounts could be reliably linked to separate individuals.

Crypto commentator Vindicated Chidi questioned the incentive structure: in his opinion, the feature creates opportunities for fake identities and collecting additional rewards. "My biggest issue is the incentive structure," he wrote, wondering if users would start focusing on creating accounts instead of contributing to the network. He also asked whether accounts would require independent identity verification and whether mining rates would change if multiple people used one device. However, Chidi did not claim that Sible had already suffered from a Sybil attack: it was about potential abuse of the proposed feature.

Similar concerns arose when criticizing Sybil protection in the zkSync airdrop, and the alleged $4 million Sybil attack on Avantis showed how multiple wallets can become a problem in reward distribution.

What's next

Sible calls the suspension temporary and does not rule out returning to access for shared devices with other guarantees. The company will consider ideas for identity verification, but has not announced a replacement for the feature or a timeline for its implementation. The rule of one account per person remains in effect.