AInsider Sales 😡

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

In today’s edition:

• 🔥 Aiccelerate insider token sales sow mistrust

• 🔗 Usual’s stablecoin stumble prompts $5M pivot

• 💔 Mango Markets closes its doors

• ⚖️ Crypto mixer crackdown reveals shady ties

• 🌐 Polymarket hits a wall in Singapore

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What’s Poppin’?

By Juan Aranovich and Tikta

Aiccelerate DAO Faces Backlash Over Insider Token Sales

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.

Usual Protocol Brings Forward Revenue Switch After USD0++ Depeg

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.

Mango Markets to Shut Down

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.

Mixer Operators Face Money Laundering Charges

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 Bans Polymarket, Labels it ‘Illegal Gambling Site’

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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• 🎯 New York Attorney General Letitia James filed a lawsuit against unnamed crypto scammers who stole $2.2 million from fake job offers, serving the accused parties via an NFT airdrop into their digital wallets.

• 🎤 Heather "Razzlekhan" Morgan released a final music video, "Razzlekhan vs. The United States," reflecting on her crypto money-laundering case before starting her 18-month prison sentence for laundering stolen Bitfinex bitcoin.

• ✂️Blockchain research firm Messari laid off 15% of its staff amid a wave of crypto industry cuts, citing efforts to streamline operations and focus on its core product growth.

• ⚖️ Outgoing U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission Enforcement Director Ian McGinley, known for leading cases against Binance, KuCoin, and FTX, is stepping down, paving the way for potential shifts in the agency’s crypto enforcement agenda under new leadership.

Today in Crypto Adoption...

• 🌍 Kenya’s Treasury announced plans to legalize cryptocurrencies, aiming to capitalize on their financial potential while addressing risks such as fraud, money laundering, and terrorism financing.

• 🇭🇰 The Hong Kong Monetary Authority launched a supervisory incubator to help banks adopt blockchain technology safely, focusing on tokenized deposits and managing risks in integrating distributed ledger systems with legacy infrastructure.

What Do You Meme?

📈 Your Market Update 📉

• BTC is down 3.7%, trading at $90,793

• ETH is down 5.9%, trading at $3,055

• BTC dominance: 54.83%

• Crypto market cap: $3.28T

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

Recommended Reads

1. Full Steam Ahead: All Aboard Fiscal Dominance by Sam Callahan, author of TheNewsBlock newsletter

2. DL News: Stablecoins seen more than doubling to $500bn this year. Here’s what will drive the boom

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