Reviewing the collapse of TonUP, the high-profile Launchpad plummeted 99%. Does this symbolize the demise of TON?

Although the market conditions have improved significantly compared to August, the hottest public chain TON ecosystem this year has encountered some setbacks. The TON ecosystem Launchpad's new coin issuance platform, TonUp, has been questioned for its official soft rug exit strategy. From September 23rd to 30th, the weekly decline was as high as 76%. Since its all-time high (ATH), it has plummeted by 99%, almost back to zero. The fact that TonUp, which has received support from multiple venture capitalists and exchanges, has ended up in such a situation, also raises doubts about the future of the TON ecosystem.

Bitget Launchpad Raises 17 Million BGB in One Hour, TonUp Has Gathered Many Resources

TonUp was established in July 2023 and held its IDO in December. As the launchpad for the Ton ecosystem, they recognized the high failure rate of cryptocurrencies, leading investors to lose confidence in IDOs. Therefore, they introduced the CPP protection mechanism community protection plan, which means that if the token price drops unexpectedly due to market factors after the IDO, they will refund under reasonable circumstances.

An inventory of tokens issued on TonUp includes TONTOGETHER TOT, TAP FANTASY, the popular TONX Protocol in Taiwan, meme coin TONG, MAGICDEER, DAOLAMA, METAPHONE PASS, TYPOX AI, PIG OF TON, the previously popular GameFi BOOMUP, and the latest issuance BYIN.

Since its establishment, TonUp has received funding from many institutions, including TonCoin Fund, Foresight X, MEXC Ventures, and others. Centralized exchanges also value TonUp greatly. In addition to MEXC's investment and listing, Bitget added TonUp to its Launchpad lineup in December last year. It raised 17 million BGB tokens within an hour, showing its popularity at the time.

Before the Bull Market Arrives, TonUp Falters, KOL Points Out Flaws in Mechanism

The token price of TonUp reached an all-time high in mid-March along with the market and TON chain frenzy, peaking at 1.6 to 1.7. However, it then plummeted, with a weekly drop of as much as 76% from September 23 to 30. At the time of writing, it is quoted at 0.0227, marking a 99% decline in just six months since its ATH.

Despite the official token burn and redemption mechanism and disclosure of burn records, the price has not seen a recovery. The selling speed far exceeds the platform's income reinvestment in repurchases, and there are even rumors that the official team conducted a large amount of selling before the burn but no concrete evidence has been presented.

Upon entering the TonUp community, it can be observed that doubts have emerged since the latest issuance of BYIN. Mainly focused on listings and breaking, as well as unsatisfactory responses to refunds. In addition, some KOLs in Taiwan have previously accepted promotion invitations from TonUp and Boomup, which may have led many retail investors to overestimate the income after staking Up tokens. You want the interest given by the official, but they want your principal.

Although the official team currently states its intention to continue operations, the community still questions whether they have unloaded all their tokens. Ton ecosystem KOL Jonathan stated in a post: "Despite TonUp attracting investment from the Ton Foundation, KOLs, and Alpha groups, with seemingly comprehensive burn and platform revenue repurchase mechanisms, user-friendly IDO design, it still ultimately comes down to the reality of pumping being the king."

He pointed out, "The fact is that platform revenue is far from sufficient to maintain an adequate repurchase quota, and the price balance can easily be broken. Part of the reason may also be attributed to the user-friendly CPP design undermining the overall revenue situation. Although the community decided to permanently burn tokens in the DAO quota at the end of September, reducing the circulating supply of $UP tokens by 30%, it still cannot prevent the token price from continuing to hit new lows."

Although current cases are not sufficient to prove that TonUp's collapse, like the canary in the coal mine effect, foreshadows the death of the entire ecosystem, it may remind us to face the official mechanism design with a more rigorous and truthful attitude.