$50M crypto OTC scam.
Top KOLs, whales, and VCs â all rugged.
A thread đ§”
1 / Between Nov 2024 and Jan 2025, an unusual OTC offer began circulating in Telegram VC chats.
Top-tier tokens like $APTOS, $GRT, and $SEI were offered at 50% discounts (4â5 month vesting, smooth deliveries).
Investors got their tokens â right on time.
The game was psychological: trust earned = volume scaled.
2 / Starting Feb 2025, the offers exploded (bigger tokens, bigger allocations).
Projects like #SUI, #Near, #Axelar, and #Grass entered the OTC scene â with similar pitches.
Only this time, something was different.
Buyers were paying millions⊠but delivery slowed.
Excuses flowed: KYC delays, exchange congestion, devs traveling.
3 / By May 2025, founders started speaking out.
SUIâs core team publicly warned: âThere are no OTC deals. If youâre buying, youâre being scammed.â
MultiversX cofounders echoed the alert.
But the market ignored them â addicted to cheap tokens and past success.
FOMO overrode logic, ponzi kept spinning.
Deals from:
Nov '24 â Jan '25: Aptos, Sei, Swell, Coti, Kava, Fluid, OG, Aethir.
Feb '25 â Jun '25: Sui, Near, Aptos, Sei, Highstreet, Altlayer, Graph, Celestia, LayerZero, Berachain, EGLD, Wormhole.
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