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Last week, the launch of SatoshiVM and its Ethereum-based token SAVM took the crypto community by storm after a concerted effort by crypto influencers to push the project. Mainly, the large gains from those in the project caught the eye of investors, who watched as the token price continued to soar. However, it seems there is already trouble in paradise as major players in the token’s launch lock horns and scam allegations emerge.
Ape Terminal, MacnBTC, And A Fraudulent Launch
With Ape Terminal becoming a prominent name in the launchpad/IDO space, the SatoshiVM project, a Bitcoin Layer 2 network, launching on it quickly gained prominence. Over 47,000 participants would sign up for the IDO with hopes of getting in.
Ape Terminal’s modus operandi was giving large allocations to a small number of participants instead of small allocations to a large number of participants, as is the norm. This had gone smoothly with around four projects launching on Ape Terminal until SAVM entered the game.
Following the launch of the token, popular on-chain investigator Zachxbt had warned that the project was being shilled by ‘known grifters.’ However, this was swept aside as FUD by the community, and MacnBTC, in what seems to be a move to save face, ended up sending Zach $10,000, which he declined and instead donated to charity.
Now, MacnBTC is a prominent crypto influencer with more than 500,000 followers and his endorsement of the SatoshiVM project drew in a lot of buyers. Mac apparently introduced Ape Terminal to the SatoshiVM team for the launch. However, this claim would be countered by the launchpad not long after.
Mac claims that the launchpad had been scamming its IDO participants by only selecting 10 winners out of the tens of thousands of participants who signed up for the IDOs. He further claims that these spots went to the Ape Terminal team, who used the opportunity to sell the winning wallets and made millions of dollars. Mac claims that the launchpad could not be trusted as they also kept a 25% fee from the sale.
A person I considered a friend and ate dinner with a week ago has lied to my face, betrayed and scammed me, several IDOs and the crypto community.@theapeterminal has scammed all of the IDO launches on their platform
200,000 wallets applied to win the IDOs and 10 winners got…
— Mac 🐺 (@MacnBTC) January 24, 2024
Launchpad Fires Back At SatoshiVM (SAVM) Team
In response to MacnBTC’s allegations, Ape Terminal also made a few shocking revelations of its own. For example, the launchpad alleges that MacnBTC isn’t just an advisor like he claims but is actually the founder of the SatoshiVM (SAVM) project. If this is true, it would mean that MacnBTC had lied from the start and misrepresented his position and influence on the project. However, the influencer has denied these claims.
The launchpad further claims that they have not sold any of the fees generated from the SAVM token. Rather, the fees were all sent to MacnBTC, who corroborated this claim. Additionally, the launchpad accuses Mac of owning large amounts of unlocked SAVM tokens, as well as sniped liquidity and gifting tokens to his friends. So far, they claim the influencer has been able to profit more than $10 million from his activities and is allegedly using Ape Terminal as a scapegoat to take the fall.
FUD, MacnBTC, and SAVM —
SAVM is a project founded by a KOL named MacnBTC.
SAVM is a bittersweet event for Ape Terminal. While we are happy it offered a good opportunity for our community, it, unfortunately, enabled a KOL to harvest his own community for millions in profits.…
— Ape Terminal (@theapeterminal) January 24, 2024
Ape Terminal also shared a Google Doc containing their findings that point to Mac being the founder of SatoshiVM, as well as evidence of his ‘previous projects’ that have gone to zero.
Crypto Community Reacts
While Ape Terminal and MacnBTC have attacked each other on X (formerly Twitter), each trying to shift the blame to the other, the crypto community has voiced its own opinions. Rather than picking sides, both sides have been called scammers and grifters who are now getting a taste of their own medicine.
One X user who goes by @WazzCrypto called the whole thing “an absolute shitshow of epic proportions.” They further warned the crypto community to “Avoid $SAVM. Avoid Ape Terminal. Avoid @MacnBTC and all his scam influencer crew.”
On-chain investigator Zachxbt also responded to the situation, saying, “Nothing better than watching grifters fight each other, lol.” In another reply, Zach cautions investors against taking sides as “both Ape Terminal and Mac are guilty of acting dishonest towards their users/followers.”
Ape Terminal has also been accused of rigging the IDO sales being carried out on the website in favor of its team. An investigation from X user @bx1core has come with some troubling revelations that the SatoshiVM (SAVM) project is not the only one the platform has rigged. Apparently, five wallets have won their IDO selection all of which were funded with $1,000 from the MEXC exchange within seven days of each sale. To read the full investigation, check out bx1core’s thread below:
I did a quick scan of the APE terminal IDO winner wallets
Over 200,000 wallets participated but only 10 won. 5/10 wallets got funded $1000 within 7 days from MEXC (4 of these wallets were funded within an 8 hour timeframe) and they have the same selling patterns and timings
The… pic.twitter.com/oe5KzLPeIH
— bx1 (@bx1core) January 25, 2024
Following the allegations, the launchpad has announced it will be changing its IDO mechanisms and has allegedly threatened to sue MacnBTC for defamation. Ape Terminal also released a statement to its community with its own summary of the events and steps for moving forward.
Statement to Community —
SAVM sale summary, course of events, and actions to avoid such instances in the future.https://t.co/I4d7ndNFFy
We encourage you to read the detailed doc, but a summary is offered below:
— Ape Terminal (@theapeterminal) January 25, 2024
At the same time, the price of SAVM has suffered as a result, falling around 30% in the last day from $11.5 to $7.3 at the time of writing. The price also remains extremely volatile as the situation unfolds.
Follow Best Owie on X (formerly Twitter) for market insights, updates, and the occasional funny tweet… Featured image from Lakin Afolabi Law, chart from TradingView.com
