Bankless Under Fire for Alleged $AICC ‘Pump and Dump’ on Solana

Social media slams Ethereum’s favorite media company for involvement in ‘Influencer Grift’.

Published: Jan 13, 2025 at 14:04
Edited: Jan 13, 2025 at 14:09

Bankless, one of crypto’s most popular podcasts, is facing overwhelming criticism for dumping seven figures worth of $AICC tokens on the token’s launch day.

The $AICC launch debacle kicked off a chain reaction of slander, with multiple anonymous sources expressing disappointment in the media company and its associated VC fund.

Bankless has since acknowledged its “impulsive mistake”, claiming to have rectified its behavior and recommitted to the Aiccelerate DAO. However, social media commentators are adamant that the damage has been done, decrying exploitative VC culture in the crypto space.

What happened?

Bankless Caught in “Impulsive Mistake”

In what was the most controversial token launch of 2025 so far, Bankless has come under fire for netting enormous profits after a 5 SOL presale investment. While selling tokens after making substantial profit is hardly surprising, the crypto community has slammed Bankless for what is widely considered unethical behavior.

In the weeks leading up to the $AICC launch, Bankless featured the project heavily on its podcast, inviting Aiccelerate co-founder ejaaz to speak on multiple occasions. Bankless reportedly provided little to no value to the Aiccelerate DAO, an organization that reportedly has yet to make any tangible contribution to the crypto X AI space.

Despite being vocally bullish on Aiccelerate DAO, Bankless members David Hoffman and Ryan Sean Adams, as well as Bankless Ventures partner Ben Lakoff, wasted no time liquidating their bags.

In the interest of transparency, daos.fun, the protocol hosting the launch, requires investors to connect their 𝕏 account to their contribution wallet.

Network participants have speculated that Bankless may have been unaware of this feature, believing that their selling behavior wouldn’t be traced back to their public accounts.

According to whistleblower ayyyeandy, a multitude of founders have anonymously come forward to share their negative experiences with Bankless as a VC partner.

Bankless Repurchases Tokens

In the face of overwhelming criticism, Bankless released a statement via their Discord server and publicly acknowledged their “impulsive mistake”.

In the announcement, Bankless co-founder Ryan Sean Adams asserted that neither he nor fellow co-founder David Hoffman had sold any tokens. Adams instead shifted blame to Bankless Ventures partner Ben Lakoff, who is reportedly “devastated” by his “huge mistake”.

Bankless has since repurchased its allocation, albeit making a considerable profit from selling the highs and rebuying the lows.

bankless allocs

According to a comprehensive dashboard tracking $AICC allocations created by 0x_ultra, Hoffman’s personal holdings have been transferred to a cold storage wallet, while Adams’ allocation remains untouched.

dumpers

Other prominent KOLs from across the crypto industry benefitted handsomely from the launch. Based on 0x-ultra’s dashboard, thegolden_eel was the biggest winner, profiting 1,567 $SOL without making any social media posts. Meanwhile, some KOLs foreshadowed the “cabal presale”, before finding themselves highlighted in the list.

$AICC Launch Reignites Anti-VC Sentiment in Market

The controversial $AICC launch has illustrated market participants’ growing frustration and disappointment with venture capital firms. Throughout this bull cycle, crypto traders and investors have shunned VC coins, which have been slammed for predatory tokenomics and over-inflated valuations.

Crypto enthusiasts have argued that this anti-VC sentiment has been a key driving force behind the overwhelming success of memecoins throughout 2024. Tired of serving as VC exit liquidity, investors have frequently chosen to trade simple memes as opposed to complicated, tech-heavy projects, as evidenced by the viral Murad Thesis.

Daos.fun founder baoskee contends that the platform has shone a spotlight on VC trading behavior, highlighting how this trend has existed for over half a decade. While Bankless Ventures certainly won’t be the last firm to dump token allocations on launch day, protocols like daos.fun will hopefully continue to bring greater clarity to this often opaque area of crypto markets.