PANews reported on July 27 that KOL Irene Zhao released a statement on the X platform to respond to questions about her past cryptocurrency projects and clarify the relevant allegations.
1. IreneDAO : IreneDAO is a proof-of-concept project that started with Telegram stickers and unexpectedly generated millions of transactions in a short period of time. Irene clarified that she did not keep or sell any NFTs, the funds were managed by a multi-signature wallet, and donated $100,000 to ECPAT, an NGO against child sex trafficking in Southeast Asia.
2. SO-COL : Irene's original intention in launching SO-COL was to bring Web2 users to Web3, and to achieve this goal through creator NFTs. Despite the initial success, NFT trading volume plummeted due to the cryptocurrency winter. In February 2023, in response to financial pressure, Irene accepted a $1.5 million investment from DWF to maintain liquidity and order book depth. This decision was later suspended, but Irene clarified that the original intention was to solve funding problems and it was not a scam.
3. Konomi : Irene joined Konomi as Chief Marketing Officer in 2021. She was mainly responsible for hosting AMAs, building partnerships, etc., and was not involved in project development and strategy. In early 2022, she left Konomi to focus on the SO-COL project.
4. Response to other allegations : Irene clarified the allegations related to $IRENE, Rug by @Pauly0x and fake Instagram accounts, emphasizing that these projects have nothing to do with her or that she is not involved in them.
5. ASIANMOM : Based on past experience, Irene launched the ASIANMOM project, emphasizing extreme transparency and establishing an 18-month lock-up period and a 9-month contributor lock-up period to ensure long-term support.
Irene also specifically mentioned that she understood that she made mistakes as a first-time founder, but hoped that everyone could distinguish between failed projects and scams. She welcomes further questions or criticisms and is willing to have an open dialogue.
