Uncovering 1intro: Analyzing the Incident and Project-KOL Agreements

On the evening of April 14th, 1intro, claimed to be the first native LBP project on Solana, launched its token $1INTRO through the LBP mechanism.

Solana, as one of the hottest trading blockchains this year, has seen many projects with significant wealth effects. However, it has also seen a large number of fraudulent projects, with many wild projects that initially promised pre-sale payments ultimately pulling the rug, causing players to suffer losses. Therefore, a native LBP on Solana seems timely, potentially filling the narrative and token issuance gap in the Solana ecosystem.

But the higher the expectation, the greater the disappointment.

If you search for 1intro on Twitter, you will find that many KOLs were promoting this project enthusiastically 1-2 weeks ago, placing high hopes on it. However, the price changes in the LBP process tell the most honest story.

At the opening, $1INTRO surged to a high of $1.13, translating to a fully diluted valuation (FDV) of approximately $1 billion. However, its price quickly plummeted, with the token price dropping by over 90% within just one day.

Additionally, with a pre-set token sale quantity of 200 million, only 62.27 million had been sold by the time of writing, showing slow progress.

Overvaluation and KOLs Holding Underpriced Chips

The price is a comprehensive reflection of all market information, and it's clear that 1intro is currently facing a barrage of negative information.

Just 3 hours after the start of the 1intro LBP, their official Twitter account showcased various performance data, such as 5,000 participants in the LBP and 6,300 SOL raised, and so on.

However, contrasting with these seemingly impressive achievements, the comment section was filled with various skeptical voices. Among them, the most glaring criticism was directed at KOLs, pointing out that their cost for obtaining the coin was only $0.02.

Even calculated at the price of $0.07 at the time of writing, KOLs have made a profit of 3.5 times on $1INTRO. If calculated at the high opening price of $1.1, the profit would be an astonishing 50 times. After the news was digested, it's natural that the market was skeptical, explaining the slowed down drop in the LBP price.

The low participation price of the KOLs was exposed. Well-known blockchain detective ZachXBT (@zachxbt) commented under 1intro's official tweet, revealing various documents and forms used by 1intro to raise funds from KOLs. It explicitly stated:

The FDV is $20M, with 25% of the tokens released at TGE, and the rest released at 5% monthly.

If calculated based on the total supply of 1 billion tokens as set by 1intro's tokenomics, the price given to KOLs is indeed $0.02, making the evidence presented by the blockchain detective very compelling.

If the current price is maintained until the end of the LBP, KOLs would net a profit of 3.5 times, and due to the instantaneous unlocking of 25%, theoretically, a total of $5M worth of tokens will be sold into the market, creating a selling pressure.

What's both amusing and frustrating is another screenshot revealed by the blockchain detective. In it, 1intro has already made KOLs sign a 'precautionary' clause:

'Do you agree to sell the tokens in small batches in a respectful manner... and do you agree that irresponsible selling might lead to the need for a refund？'

Clearly, the project team anticipated that under their unlocking terms, KOLs might sell their tokens causing selling pressure, so they set these rules as a warning to the KOLs.

However, this may not be a particularly clever move; fundamentally, it's a joint scheme between the project team and KOLs for promotion. KOLs first reap substantial profits, and in the end, it's the ordinary investors who foot the bill.

Operational Mishap

Another issue that 1intro has been criticized for is its project operations.

Video artist Erica Anderson stated that 1intro's official Twitter account used her created video materials for promotion without his consent:

Moreover, a developer from another project in the Solana ecosystem, @soleconomist of Sanctum, unusually directly criticized 1intro's project introduction as incomprehensible:

“1INTRO redefines the finance ecosystem on Solana with a smart platform that uses AI to improve Liquidity Bootstrapping Pool (LBP), DEX, and token deployment, elevating both the user experience and operational efficiency. By significantly refining and streamlining our services, AI ensures a smooth, enlightening, and secure journey for our users.”

He also believed that such a project description seems to haphazardly apply the concept of AI.

With the early availability of low-priced chips and a significant marketing mishap, 1intro struggles to attract users to invest their funds amidst this public opinion storm. The blockchain detective has also summarized several key points of concern regarding 1intro, which can serve as a reference for users when evaluating projects:

• The account was newly created, yet it has a surprisingly large number of followers.

• Limited interaction with the Solana ecosystem.

• Every KOL is commenting in the comment section.

• Lack of technical documentation.

• Rode on the coattails of the well-known DeFi project 1inch.

• A too-short token unlocking period.