1intro LBP flipped, KOL's calls are no longer effective?
It is obvious that 1intro is suffering from a barrage of negative information.Author: Deep Tide TechFlow
On the evening of April 14, 1intro, claimed to be the first native LBP project on Solana, launched the sale of its token $1INTRO through LBP.
As a public chain that has seen continuous trading heat this year, Solana has produced many wealth-generating projects; however, it has also seen a proliferation of low-quality projects, with various wild projects previously calling for pre-sales and ultimately executing rug pulls, causing losses for players.
Therefore, a native LBP belonging to Solana seems timely and can fill the narrative and token issuance gap in the Solana ecosystem.
But the higher the expectations, the greater the disappointment.
If you search for 1intro on Twitter, you will find that a large number of KOLs were promoting this project and had high hopes for it just 1-2 weeks ago;
However, the price fluctuations of LBP are the most honest indicators.
When $1INTRO opened, the price peaked at $1.13, translating to an FDV of about $1 billion; soon after, the price rapidly plummeted, and upon waking up, it was around $0.11.
At the same time, the pre-designed LBP aimed to raise 200M, but as of the time of writing, it had only completed 4M, making progress very slow.
Why did a project that KOLs collectively favored fail to ignite market enthusiasm?
Criticism of Overvaluation and Marketing Failures
Price is a comprehensive reflection of all market information, and it is clear that 1intro is suffering from a barrage of negative feedback.
Three hours after the launch of the 1intro LBP, its official Twitter account shared various achievement data, such as 5,000 participants in the LBP and raising 6,300 SOL, etc.
However, in stark contrast to these shiny achievements, the comments section was filled with various doubts, the most glaring of which was the criticism that KOLs had a token acquisition cost of only $0.02.
Even at the $0.11 price at the time of writing, KOLs have already made a 5x profit on $1INTRO; if calculated at the opening price of $1.1, the profit would reach an astonishing 50x.
Good news rarely leaves the house, while bad news travels far and wide. Once the news was digested, it was natural for the market not to buy in, and the slowing price drop of LBP is understandable.
Moreover, the low acquisition price for KOLs does not seem to be unfounded.
Well-known on-chain detective ZachXBT (@zachxbt) posted under 1intro's official Twitter, revealing various documents and forms from the private fundraising round where 1intro solicited KOLs, which clearly stated:
Total FDV is $20M, with 25% of the tokens released at TGE, and the remainder released at 5% monthly.
If calculated based on the total token supply of 1intro being 1 billion tokens, the price given to KOLs is indeed $0.02, making the on-chain detective's claims highly credible.
If the current price remains until the end of LBP, KOLs would net a 5x profit, and due to the immediate unlocking of 25%, theoretically, $5M worth of tokens would be sold into the market, creating selling pressure.
Ironically, in another screenshot revealed by the on-chain detective, 1intro was already asking KOLs to sign a precautionary clause:
"Do you agree to sell tokens in small batches with a respectful attitude… and do you agree that irresponsible selling of tokens may lead to the need for refunds?"
Clearly, the project team has anticipated that the unlocking terms would lead KOLs to sell tokens, thus preemptively setting rules to warn KOLs.
However, this may not be a particularly clever measure; essentially, it is still a joint promotion between the project team and KOLs, where KOLs first gain substantial profits, while retail investors are left holding the bag, just with an agreement to make the process look more presentable.
At the same time, this sparked a wave of criticism against 1intro.
Video creator Erica Anderson stated that 1intro's official Twitter used her video in promotional materials without her consent;
Meanwhile, a developer from another Solana ecosystem project, sanctum, @soleconomist, directly criticized 1intro, questioning the project's description as confusing:
"1INTRO redefines the financial ecosystem on Solana through a smart platform that uses AI to improve liquidity guiding pools (LBP), DEX, and token deployment, enhancing user experience and operational efficiency. By significantly improving and simplifying our services, AI ensures a smooth, enlightening, and secure journey for our users."
He also expressed that such a project description seems to misuse AI concepts and bluntly stated, "What the hell does this mean? It's complete nonsense."
With KOLs having too low of an acquisition price and the promotional situation being chaotic, amidst the public relations storm, only the unsold LBP remains confused in the wind.
However, engaging KOLs for promotion is not an unpresentable act.
For crypto projects, from planning to listing, some early tokens must be sold. They can either be sold to VCs for funding support or to KOLs for greater marketing influence.
Current crypto projects seem to gradually realize that KOLs' influence is increasing in the new cycle, making it more beneficial for project marketing. Sharing some profits with KOLs is understandable, but in terms of economic design and promotion, it is also necessary to consider the feelings and interests of all parties.
Launching LBP with overvaluation, frequent promotional loopholes, and KOLs showing excessive paper profits, the retail investors who have been educated through a cycle of bull and bear markets are not fools and will not willingly take the losses.
Finally, the on-chain detective summarized several key points of 1intro's failure, which are enough for retail investors to use as a cautionary tale and a guide to avoid pitfalls:
- Newly created accounts with particularly high follower counts
- Little interaction with the Solana ecosystem
- Every KOL commenting in the comment section
- Lack of technical documentation
- Riding on the coattails of the well-known DeFi project 1inch
- Too short of a token unlocking period
For players, avoid projects that meet the above conditions; for project teams, do not make the mistakes that meet the above conditions.
