Days after listing Floki Inu-backed TokenFi, crypto exchange Bitget made a surprise move to delist the token, citing fraudulent market activities by the meme token project. Almost immediately, Bitget suspended both the deposit and trading services of TokenFi at 16:00 on October 31, 2023 [UTC+8], and all pending orders were duly canceled. Here’s what transpired.
In accordance with the press release, the trading platform entered TokenFi [TOKEN] in its Innovation Zone within the Spot market on October 27, 2023, at 23:00 [UTC+8]. However, this seemingly positive development quickly took a different turn after the newly listed token reportedly posted severe price fluctuations shortly after the commencement of trading.
Upon careful scrutiny, Bitget stated that the team associated with TokenFi [TOKEN] had contributed a small amount, less than $2,000 worth of tokens, to the liquidity pool of decentralized exchanges [DEXes]. The exchange suspected potential market manipulation, raising the possibility that the initial liquidity might have been manipulated intentionally. Moreover, a comprehensive investigation into the TokenFi project highlighted other issues, such as an ambiguous token economy structure and a vesting schedule that lacked transparency.
Meanwhile, the Floki Inu team issued a rebuttal to the delisting. In the post titled “Setting the Records Straight,” the team explains that they submitted a DAO proposal for launching the Floki staking program and a reward token targeted at a trillion-dollar industry. The token resulting from the vote was named TokenFi with the ticker TOKEN.
Bitget: Floki Inu Issue Rebuttal
Before the DAO vote, Floki Inu contacted their exchange partners, requesting that they not list TokenFi until seven days after its launch, as they planned to propose a DAO vote for the listing. The majority of top-tier exchanges agreed to this arrangement, except Bitget, which they claimed listed a fake version of the token. Floki Inu shared links to the multiple announcements clarifying that no exchange was authorized to list TOKEN.
The meme coin project also criticized Bitget for trading tens of millions of dollars in TOKEN volume without proof of owning any actual tokens. It further cautioned users against trading or holding FLOKI on Bitget, expressing concerns about the exchange’s credibility. At the time of writing, Bitget has yet to respond to the rebuttal.