PANews reported on January 12 that according to The Block, the Aiccelerate DAO (AICC), which focuses on crypto artificial intelligence, has launched a project currently worth about $150 million, which has sparked criticism from the community. The project distributed 100% of the tokens to 245 advisors and insiders, some of whom sold their allocations after the token price soared.
Aiccelerate launched on the Daos.fun platform, previously raising 943 SOL from invited participants in the pre-sale round, worth about $175,000 at current prices. About $75,000 came from "VIPs," including the project's co-founders and advisors, such as the founder of Eliza Labs and venture capitalists from Coinbase Ventures. The remaining $100,000 came from other insiders, who each contributed a maximum of 2 SOL.
Aiccelerate DAO was co-founded by Markus Jun, Ejaaz Ahamadeen, and an anonymous X user Ropirito, and its value has skyrocketed, with a current market cap of around $150 million, nearly 1,000 times its initial fundraising amount. However, some X users noticed that some insiders seemed to have quickly sold their initial allocations, and controversy quickly arose.
Bankless Ventures sold 10% of its allocation shortly after the AICC launch. After receiving criticism on X, the organization later bought back these tokens. Bankless co-founder David Hoffman tweeted: "I agree that Bankless Ventures should not have sold the tokens, that was an impulsive mistake." "We have now bought back all the tokens sold and restored the original amounts, and are discussing self-imposed vesting schedules."
Some X users noticed that certain users invited to participate in the pre-sale had little to no activity or engagement on X. However, technical issues with the Daos.fun invitation system led some users to create temporary accounts to receive allocations.
Ejaaz Ahamadeen wrote on X: "I know many people have been moving funds to more secure wallets rather than leaving them in hot wallets." Another insider described issues with "syncing" their original account.
AICC posted a response to the controversy on its X account, which was suspended for unknown reasons on Saturday. In the post, the DAO said it would "increase token allocations for individuals" and was in discussions with advisors. The DAO also reiterated its long-term building intentions.
In the midst of the controversy, Eliza Labs founder Shaw Walters posted on X that he had donated half of his allocation to the ai16z DAO and 20% to other contributors. "I hope Daos.fun will have some form of vesting or locking in the future, so the launch feels a bit more fair."
