Jupiter Team Accused of Token Dumping

The team behind the DEX aggregator Jupiter reportedly sold a significant portion of their native token JUP, valued at approximately $30 million, on the first day of trading. This was reported by Adam Cochran, managing partner at Cinneamhain Ventures.

So
-gave 50% of token to themselves, it was not their first token
-Used their own platform which also paid self
-Pulled liquidity from the pool in cash
-Gave a cut to the dev team

So cash out $30m day one with no lockup, and still own 50%?

Shitty antics throwing away reputation… https://t.co/HlSFzjHIL0

— Adam Cochran (adamscochran.eth) (@adamscochran) February 1, 2024

The launch of JUP took place on January 31, following a second round of airdrops among community participants. The excitement surrounding this event and its listing on several popular CEX contributed to an increase in trading volume for the DEX aggregator.

At its peak, the price of JUP reached $0.7458, according to CoinGecko. Over the next 24 hours, the rate plummeted by 24.2% to $0.5654.

Cochran attributed this price movement to actions by the Jupiter team, who withdrew some liquidity from the pool without locking their tokens for sale. A portion of the proceeds went to the developers.

The expert explained that the team used their platform to conduct transactions, maintaining control over more than 50% of the JUP supply.

He expressed concern that such actions cast a shadow over the reputation of what could have become a “very prosperous long-term enterprise.”

The managing partner of Cinneamhain Ventures published a screenshot of a conversation with a “trusted source” within the Jupiter team, where the source expressed concerns about their actions.

In response, the founder of the DEX aggregator, known as Meow, stated that “it was an open market sale.” He described the criticism as “fig leaf posting with zero facts.”

Meow promised to conduct a thorough analysis of the asset’s dynamics post-launch.

Later, a co-founder of Jupiter stated that the team sold only 250 million JUP, representing 2.5% of the total supply. Initially, they planned to convert 5-20%. He also noted that the founders could have raised more funds using methods like IDO or OTC.

If Jupiter had used these methods, airdrop participants would have received a large pool for constant sales, which could have deterred potential buyers, Meow explained.

Hi all, i got advice in discord to be even more clear so let me say it simply:

If i did an OTC deal or a regular IDO, we would have gotten a similar amount if not more without any of the confusion that comes with pioneering new concepts and absolutely zero risk. Trust me, that…

— meow ? (@weremeow) February 1, 2024

Cochran himself faced criticism.

You don’t need reputable sources just read Jupiter team’s tweets, discord, livestreams past few weeks. No need to play Sherlock.

Only people outraged went too big trading the hype without paying any mind to the launch curve.

— Joe Kreate (@joekreate) February 1, 2024

“You don’t need reputable sources, just read the Jupiter team’s tweets, Discord, and livestreams from the past few weeks. No need to play Sherlock. Only people outraged went too big trading the hype without paying any mind to the launch curve,” wrote one critic.

Back in November 2023, Jupiter conducted a retrodrop, rewarding early participants.

Earlier, Solana’s price surpassed the $100 mark amid increased on-chain activity.