Hey, hey, it’s Monday! I’m Juan Aranovich, managing editor of Unchained.

In today’s edition:

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Aiccelerate DAO (AICC), a new investment decentralized autonomous organization for crypto-AI projects, is under fire after insiders quickly sold portions of their token allocations following its launch.

The project, which raised $175,000 in a presale on decentralized hedge fund platform Daos.fun, skyrocketed to a $150 million market cap (now at $90 million) — nearly 1,000 times its initial raise. However, critics argue the token launch unfairly benefited a select group of insiders.

Much of the community’s ire was focused on the cohosts of crypto podcast Bankless for selling their tokens and on their early-stage Web3 venture fund Bankless Ventures, which sold 10% of its allocation shortly after the launch, sparking accusations of cashing in on the project’s rapid success.

Facing criticism, Bankless co-founder David Hoffman called the sale “an impulsive mistake” and said the tokens had been repurchased.

The DAO’s co-founders pledged to implement vesting schedules to prevent future abuses, but the damage to trust has been done.

Decentralized stablecoin platform Usual Protocol addressed concerns over an unexpected change to the code governing its stablecoin, USD0++, which caused it to depeg on Jan. 9.

Usual now plans to introduce new features such as 1:1 early unstaking, which will allow users to claim USD0++ at the pegged $1 rate while forfeiting earned rewards.

The protocol also brought forward the activation of a revenue switch that will distribute a potential $5 million to all USUALX holders on a monthly basis.

Investors were caught off guard when Usual introduced a new floor price of $0.87 for USD0++ redemptions, replacing the previous 1:1 exchange rate with USD0. The change triggered large-scale liquidations and liquidity shifts on platforms including Curve Finance and Pendle.

“The current situation regarding USD0++ stems from a misunderstanding of the protocol’s mechanisms along with a communication that should have been better articulated,” the Usual team said.

Solana-based decentralized exchange Mango Markets is shutting down following a series of legal and financial challenges.

The platform announced its closure with a unanimous governance vote, setting 8 p.m. UTC on Jan. 13 as the deadline for users to exit their positions.

“Mango v4 & Boost are winding down,” the Mango Markets team said on X. “Most borrowing on Mango will be economically unviable going forward.”

The shutdown follows a significant settlement with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission that required Mango Markets and the Blockworks Foundation to pay $700,000 in civil penalties and destroy MNGO tokens.

The platform was also impacted by a major exploit in October 2022 in which trader Avraham Eisenberg manipulated the MNGO token’s price and drained $117 million from the protocol.

The U.S. Department of Justice has indicted three Russian nationals for operating cryptocurrency mixers Blender.io and Sinbad.io, which were allegedly used to launder illicit funds.

Roman Vitalyevich Ostapenko and Alexander Evgenievich Oleynik were arrested on Dec. 1, while Anton Vyachlavovich Tarasov remains at large.

Blender.io operated from 2018 to 2022, and Sinbad.io is believed to have been its successor, launching in October 2022.

Both platforms were linked to the North Korean hacking group Lazarus, and allegedly played a role in helping it launder millions in stolen cryptocurrency.

Singapore has banned decentralized betting platform Polymarket.

The nation-state restricted access to Polymarket’s website, redirecting users to a message from the Gambling Regulatory Authority.

“You have attempted to access an illegal gambling site hosted by an unlicensed gambling service provider,” the notice reads.

The ban is part of a broader crackdown on unlicensed online gambling in Singapore. The country currently restricts online gambling to state-approved operators, with Singapore Pools being the sole licensed provider.

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*All data as of today, 07:57 am ET. Source: CoinGecko

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