Foundation uses financing to package OTC? Celestia token controversy sparks community distrust

Despite a 70% drop in the price of Celestia's token TIA from its all-time high in February, investors remain optimistic. Earlier, we revealed that the Celestia Foundation raised $100 million in its latest round of funding, demonstrating continued market confidence in these leading startups in their respective fields. However, KOL Sisyphus exposed the fact that this round of funding was essentially a way to offload tokens OTC for the foundation, further revealing that this batch of tokens may face a significant unlock next month, causing the initial positive sentiment to sour.

TIA Shrinks by 70%, Celestia Foundation Successfully Raises $100 Million in New Funding

Good Venture Capital or Pseudo Venture Capital? Placeholder Gets Involved in OTC Controversy, Adding Irony

Shortly after Celestia announced its funding news, Sisyphus stated on Twitter: "This was an OTC transaction completed by the foundation a few months ago at a valuation of $3.5 billion, which I believe will also unlock in October."

This round of funding was led by Bain Capital Crypto, with participation from Syncracy Capital, 1kx, Robot Ventures, Placeholder, and other institutions. After raising $100 million in this round of funding, Celestia's total funding amount will reach $165 million.

He later added: "If the investment institutions sell the tokens at a price of $7.5, they will break even. Personally, I don't think TIA will reach $7.5 in October, but Nick White, Celestia's COO, is trying to prove me wrong."

Placeholder was also a participating institution in this round of funding, but its co-founder Chris Burniske had recently clashed on social media. He directly pointed out that what the community dislikes is pseudo venture capital that only thinks about maximizing profits, while quality venture capital willing to assist startups is often not active online. Now the institution is also embroiled in OTC controversies, making his remarks particularly ironic.

Do You See Good Venture Capital or "Pseudo Venture Capital"? Placeholder Founder Points Out Public Ignorance

Funding or OTC? Institutions Have Lockups According to the Disclosure, but Not Many

Sisyphus mentioned that this OTC transaction will unlock in October. According to Token Unlock data, 175 million TIA tokens will be unlocked on October 30, accounting for 16% of the total supply. He later retweeted an article from this article accusing Celestia's token economics as nonsense, claiming that 25% of the tokens have no ownership. According to the official token economics, there should only be 2.69 billion tokens in circulation at the genesis, but in reality, there were already 4.81 billion tokens in circulation initially.

The post also highlighted some suspicious addresses that received a large number of tokens during the airdrop, and some of these addresses have already sold tokens, making a profit of around $6,600. After comparing the data, the author of the post believes that some of these addresses indeed belong to the foundation.

In fact, Sisyphus's revelations may not be groundless. He had already revealed the news of Celestia's upcoming funding on September 7, while the official announcement was made on the 24th. Interestingly, the Web 3 data platform Rootdata has already defined the $100 million transaction as an OTC transaction. From Sisyphus's statement on the 7th that "the transaction is nearing completion," to the unlocking at the end of October, it can only be said that there are lockups, but not many.

In terms of community opinions, most believe that the foundation's actions are misleading retail investors. What was originally positive news about a large funding round has turned into negative news about the foundation's large token sales. Although we are not sure of the specific impact of this unlocking, the foundation may need to spend more time rebuilding trust with the community.

However, institutions disguising themselves as participants in funding rounds in secondary purchases is not uncommon, but this mostly occurs on platforms that mark funding relationships like Rootdata. Therefore, as media, we not only scrutinize the funding amount and institutions but also look into their funding rounds. This event will mainly spark discussions due to the large funding amount, token ownership concerns, and the foundation's official announcements, among other factors.

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