How to make your Telegram Mini App Sybil Resistant with BotBasher
Telegram Mini Apps (TMAs) are everywhere right now, and for good reason. They’re easy to use, lightweight, and don’t require users to leave Telegram or download anything extra. Whether it’s Web3 games, token rewards, or decentralized services, mini apps make onboarding simple and smooth. You get access to Telegram’s huge user base, a familiar interface, and a frictionless way to engage your audience. They make it easy for projects to connect with users and deliver incentives seamlessly.
But there’s one big headache no one can ignore: bots and Sybil attacks.
If you’ve ever run a mini app, you know the pain. The moment you roll out any rewards or incentives, bots, and Sybil attackers show up. One person might create 50 accounts to grab more rewards, gaming the system. Bots swarm into airdrops meant for real users, draining the incentives and ruining the experience. Meanwhile, your metrics get inflated with fake activity, leaving you with exaggerated numbers that mean nothing.
Incentive structures get distorted, and real users – the ones you’re building for – lose out.
Most mini apps rely on basic identifiers like Telegram usernames and wallet addresses to verify users. But that’s not enough. Sybils can create thousands of usernames. Wallet addresses? Same story.
You need a way to ensure that each user interacting with your mini app is a unique and real human. But you also can’t ask for KYC or personal data — users won’t go for that.
Telegram Mini Apps are great for distributing airdrops, managing whitelists for launches, and running point systems or engagement campaigns.
This is where BotBasher comes in handy. It doesn’t integrate directly with mini apps, but it helps you filter out bots and duplicates by tying one Telegram account to one real human. All you need to do is combine BotBasher-verified groups with your Mini App flow. Here’s how.
Humanode’s BotBasher for Telegram
BotBasher allows you to verify that a user is real and unique by linking one Telegram account to one person. The process is straightforward: a user completes a private, 15-second biometric check, which involves a private face scan. Once verified, their Telegram account is tied to their face.
The key here is to create a Sybil-resistant Telegram group or channel with BotBasher as the admin. From there, you can match the verified Telegram user IDs to the IDs interacting with your mini app, filtering out bots and duplicate accounts. Wondering how? Let’s break it down.
How to Use BotBasher for Your Telegram Mini App
Here’s the step-by-step process to bring Sybil resistance to your mini app:
- Set up a Sybil-resistant Telegram group or channel with BotBasher as an Admin.
- You’ll share a private invite link for them to join.
- Users will need to Prove Uniqueness using BotBasher to join the group/channel.
- Extract the Telegram user IDs of participants in the verified group/channel.
- Use a simple bot to collect these IDs.
- Match IDs against those interacting with your mini app.
- Pull user IDs from your mini app and compare them to the Sybil-resistant channel/group list.
- Filter out the bots and duplicates.
- Matched IDs = real, unique humans.
- Unmatched IDs? Bots or multi accounts.
Why it Works
By creating a Sybil-resistant Telegram group and matching these IDs with accounts interacting with your mini app, you’re solving big problems:
- Stop bots and Sybils from gaming your rewards.
- Ensure fair whitelists and token distributions.
- Build an app that real users can trust.
This method doesn’t require KYC or personal information. Users stay private while proving they’re real.
BotBasher proves uniqueness without storing raw biometric data or compromising privacy. Here’s how it works:
- Biometric data is encrypted before leaving the user’s device.
- Verification happens in encrypted and verifiable Confidential Virtual Machines (CVMs).
- Only a random, encrypted string tied to the Telegram account remains.
No personal information is collected. Once verified, users can interact freely. The BotBasher servers reset approximately every six months removing all user biometric data.
For a full breakdown of BotBasher’s security, check this article.
Summing Up
Telegram Mini Apps are powerful tools for Web3 projects, but they need real users to succeed. Bots and Sybils break everything – rewards, engagement, and trust.
BotBasher helps you fix that. It’s not about adding friction for users. It’s about keeping your Mini App fair, clean, and bot-free.
If you’re building something on Telegram, you know how important it is to get this right. Now, you can.
Check the Humanode Sybil Resistant Chat with real unique users for the demo.
Interact with the BotBasher Bot.