Stepn is working not only to eliminate cheating and bots but also to limit the platform’s accessibility to users in mainland China.
Stepn, a Solana-based application for move-to-earn, reported multiple denial of service (DDoS), attacks following a platform upgrade that included major anti-cheating upgrades.
Stepn went to Twitter to report the platform had suffered several DDoS attacks, resulting in recovery maintenance issues and improper performance.
Stepn stated that he expected to recover the servers within 12 hours, but that he has not updated for 20 hours as of the writing.
“Our engineers are working hard on the problem. Once recovery is complete, we will post here. We are grateful for everyone’s patience,” Stepn wrote.
These attacks occurred shortly after Stepn launched its anti-cheating software, known as “Stepn’s Model for Anti-Cheating” (or SMAC) on June 3. In an effort to make unfair profits from the platform, the system is designed to remove fake users and prevent fraudulent motion data from the Stepn app.
The description of the anti-cheating system reads: “SMAC system specifically targets movement simulation by amending actual walking/running data. Thanks to our machine learning algorithm,”
Stepn discovered major platform problems shortly after the upgrade was completed. SMAC incorrectly identified some legitimate users as bots, and Stepn reported this to SMAC. Other issues included network problems caused by a 25 million DDOS attack and temporary inability of tracking any bots on platform.
“We are sorry for any inconvenience caused to users. Stepn stated that although the anti-cheating update may seem insignificant, it is an important cornerstone for Stepn’s long term development.
Despite DDoS attacks on the platform, Stepn’s native token the Green Satoshi Token has not experienced any significant decline in the last few days. The GST has risen by around 10% in the last 24 hours, trading at $1.04 as of this writing. According to CoinGecko data, the token’s market capitalization is $624 million.
Stepn was launched in December 2021. It is a major mobile move-to-earn nonfungible token (NFT), game that allows users to walk, run, or jog outdoors wearing an NFT sneaker. The game uses a dual token system that includes the GST token (GMT) and the Governance Token.
This news comes as Stepn prepares for to restrict its platform’s availability in mainland China by mid July.
