This report provides a detailed root cause analysis of the Qubetics public token airdrop executed on July 30, 2025. The airdrop was designed to unlock 10% of public sale token allocations via a trustless smart contract on the Qubetics Layer 1 blockchain. However, due to a deployment environment caching issue, the initial unlock was executed at only 1.11%.
This document outlines the technical factors behind the discrepancy, the behavior of the smart contract under the cached conditions, the scope of impact, and the corrective measures taken by Antier Solutions. It also addresses user concerns related to data visibility on TICSscan, rounding variances (“dust” tokens), and delegator reward transparency.
Executive Summary
On July 30th, 2025, the Qubetics airdrop was initiated via the production deployment pipeline using Docker-based automation. The intended behavior was to unlock 10% of token allocations for all eligible wallets. However, during the execution, the build process retained a previously cached environment configuration, causing the airdrop to launch with an outdated unlock rate of 1.11% instead of the intended 10%.
Despite updating the .env file before deployment, the build container initialized using the stale environment values, which were not recompiled due to how Docker cached the prior state. As a result, the first airdrop batch was processed at 1.11%. Once the airdrop had begun and multiple batches were executed on-chain, the process could not be paused or reversed.
To ensure all users received the correct allocation, a secondary contract deployment was executed the same day to deliver the remaining 8.88%, completing the total 10% airdrop commitment. All tokens remain secure, and no wallet was over- or under-credited in the final state.
This event underscores the importance of deterministic builds and strict runtime environment validation. The incident was confined to deployment orchestration and did not involve any issues with the core smart contract logic or chain performance.
Incident Details
●Event: Qubetics public token airdrop on July 30th, 2025.
●Expected Behavior: Distribute 10% of allocated tokens to eligible wallets as defined in the verified vesting contract.
●Actual Behavior: Only 1.11% of allocated tokens were distributed.
●Impact: Affected wallets received 1.11% instead of 10%, with the remaining 8.88% secured on-chain.
●Scope: All eligible airdrop participants on the Qubetics Layer 1 blockchain.
●Architecture Context: Qubetics is a Layer 1 DPoS blockchain leveraging Tendermint consensus and EVM-compatible smart contracts.
Technical Root Cause
The root cause of the 1.11% airdrop execution lies in a build-time environment desynchronization during deployment automation. The automation workflow used Docker Compose to build and start the airdrop execution environment. Although the .env file was correctly updated to reflect a 10% unlock rate, the Docker build process retained the previous environment configuration cached from an earlier build.
Docker's default behavior can preserve cached build layers unless explicitly purged. As a result, the active runtime used the outdated unlock value of 1.11%—a parameter previously defined for internal simulation and previewing purposes. This caused the airdrop contract to initiate with the incorrect unlock value.
Since the airdrop was already in progress and multiple transaction batches were being finalized on-chain, it was not feasible to halt or rollback the operation mid-flight. Recognizing this, the team swiftly deployed a complementary smart contract to complete the remaining token distribution on the same day.
Docker Layer Caching Behavior
Docker caches layers aggressively, including environment configurations, unless forced to rebuild. This caching resulted in the container using a previous version of the .env file even after it had been updated in the host directory.
Irreversibility of On-Chain Execution
Given the immutable nature of blockchain transactions, once the airdrop began and initial batches were processed, any corrections had to follow up through a new contract rather than altering the current flow.
Corrective Actions
The Antier team has taken prompt and comprehensive actions to both resolve the issue and improve systemic reliability:
Strict Build Revalidation: --no-cache flags and CI/CD environment verification checks have been enforced in all build commands to eliminate usage of stale Docker layers.
Manual Final Confirmation Step: A mandatory operator confirmation gate has been added for production scripts to display and approve live unlock rates prior to contract interaction.
Token Security Assurance
●All airdropped tokens remain on-chain, secure, and unaltered with smart contract.
●Additional monitoring mechanisms have been deployed to ensure real-time visibility into token state.
Follow-Up Airdrop Execution
●An immediate corrective distribution of the remaining 8.88% is in progress.
●Updated logic now applies correct epoch validation and optimized unlock calculations.
Precision Top-Up (Micro-Dust Compensation)
●Final compensation round will correct any residual discrepancies, ensuring every wallet receives exactly 10%.
Airdrop Token Distribution Mechanism
The Qubetics airdrop was executed entirely through deterministic smart contracts deployed on the Qubetics Layer 1 blockchain. The distribution logic was trustless, autonomous, and governed by pre-verified contract conditions, ensuring that no wallet, address, or entity received preferential treatment at any stage. All token disbursements occurred on-chain via immutable transactions, maintaining complete transparency, auditability, and resistance to tampering.
While the underlying vesting logic functioned as designed, an isolated front-end rendering delay on the blockchain explorer (TICSSCAN) temporarily led to discrepancies in token visibility for some users. This UI-layer latency did not impact the actual state of token balances, which remained fully updated and consistent on-chain throughout the process. Importantly, all balances, vesting schedules, and unlock epochs are permanently recorded and publicly accessible via the Qubetics blockchain explorer.
We encourage users to independently verify their wallet allocations and vesting progress using the TICS scanner. This clear separation between application-layer UI and consensus-layer data reinforces the integrity of the airdrop mechanism and upholds Qubetics’ core principles of decentralization, transparency, and verifiable on-chain accountability.
Delegator Portal Reward Visibility Clarification
Following community feedback, it was identified that some users who recently re-delegated their tokens encountered issues in viewing historical reward earnings within the Delegator Portal. This was primarily due to the current portal design displaying only active delegation streams, which resulted in a temporary omission of reward visibility for past delegation cycles.
To resolve this, we will implement a dedicated widget within the Delegator Portal to display previously earned rewards, even for re-delegated or unbonded tokens. This enhancement will ensure users maintain full transparency over their historical staking performance regardless of their delegation status. Additionally, a user-friendly guide will be published within the application interface to clarify how rewards are tracked and displayed across delegation events.
Extensive updates to the Gitbook documentation will also be carried out to clearly outline reward visibility behavior.
Conclusion
This was an isolated deployment-time automation behavior, not a flaw in the contract logic or protocol security. All tokens were disbursed transparently and accounted for on-chain. Moving forward, enhanced environment control and execution validation protocols will ensure this type of variable desynchronization cannot recur.
Antier remains committed to delivering secure, predictable smart contract operations, and we thank the Qubetics community for their trust as we continuously evolve the resilience and transparency of the Web3 ecosystem.
Ensuring Transparency: Qubetics’ Response to Community Concerns
If you have any reasonable questions, clarifications, or concerns regarding the airdrop process, smart contract logic, or the corrective actions taken, please feel free to submit them. We will compile all relevant inquiries and coordinate with Antier Solutions for transparent responses. Our goal is to ensure that the Qubetics community remains fully informed and confident in the integrity of the token distribution process and the technical teams supporting it.