The billion-dollar valuation project steps out of the "dog line," and the delisting of Meson Network tokens sparks heated discussions in the community

Author: Climber, Golden Finance

On August 7, OKX officially announced the delisting of the project token MSN from Meson Network. The announcement immediately sparked heated discussions in the community, with many questioning why a project that had been listed on OKX Jumpstart for just over three months and had a valuation of up to $1 billion would be delisted so quickly.

In response to the doubts, OKX stated that the decision to delist tokens or trading pairs is based on a comprehensive assessment of multiple factors. In this regard, Meson Network CEO Sherlock Shi responded that the company will continue to strive to comply with OKX's requirements and plans to launch its own chain in the future.

Token Plummets After Delisting, Meson Network Still Claims to Continue Development

On August 7, OKX announced that it would officially delist trading pairs such as MSN/USDT and OMN/USDT on August 9. Just over three months ago, on April 26, OKX Jumpstart launched the new mining project Meson Network (MSN).

However, the token's performance after listing was not as expected. On April 29, after the Meson Network project token MSN was listed on the exchange, it peaked at $10 but quickly fell back to around $3. It then continued to decline to about $0.2.

After the OKX delisting announcement, MSN plummeted by 34% in a short time. As of the writing of this article, the price of MSN is only $0.11, down over 99% from its peak.

Meanwhile, the announcement also sparked heated discussions in the community. Some questioned OKX's lax oversight, claiming that the arbitrary delisting of projects caused investor losses, while others accused Meson Network of being greedy and neglecting the project after securing large funding.

In response to the above doubts, OKX stated that the delisting of tokens or trading pairs is a standard procedure carried out periodically to protect users and ensure high standards for projects. The decision to delist certain tokens is the result of continuous monitoring of multiple factors, including risk assessment, liquidity considerations, development activities, overall trading performance, and regulatory environment. This decision was made after careful discussions with their compliance, product, listing, and market monitoring teams.

Meson Network responded to OKX's delisting announcement and the recent FUD in the community, stating that it will not yield to external pressure and interference, and will continue to adhere to its beliefs in the long term.

Meson Network CEO Sherlock Shi also stated that although OKX's decision is frustrating, the company will continue to work towards its goals and comply with OKX's requirements. He also explained several key aspects of the company:

• The core business of Meson Network is operating a bandwidth market, providing dynamic/static IP proxy services for clients in need of proxy services;
• The company's clients mainly come from the internet sector, and their demand is not easily affected by token prices;
• The choice of a token model is to provide a smoother experience and a more convenient way to access resources;
• The company is developing its own chain to meet market demands;
• The company has found a product-market fit based on residential IP products and will focus on increasing the number of nodes and expanding the revenue scale of these products in the future;
• Additionally, there are plans to launch its own chain (Epic: Meson-3.0).

Reasons for Delisting Remain a Mystery: Community Speculates Founder’s Extravagance and Project Team's Negligence

Meson Network is a project dedicated to creating an efficient bandwidth market on Web3, aiming to replace the traditional labor-based sales model with a blockchain protocol model. The project's goal is to integrate users' idle bandwidth and monetize it.

The DePIN nodes of Meson Network are developed using user-friendly technology and can accommodate various hardware, such as personal laptops, servers, and IoT devices. By utilizing the idle bandwidth of these network nodes, Meson has established an economic cycle that connects idle resources with business needs. Meson Network serves as the data transmission foundation for decentralized storage, computing, and the emerging Web3 Dapp ecosystem.

In terms of project financing, Meson has completed four rounds of financing, and in 2024, it completed two rounds of strategic financing, with a total valuation of up to $1 billion. Notable investors behind it include OKX Ventures, DCG, HashKey Capital, and others.

Many research institutions believe that Meson Network combines two popular narratives: AI and DePIN, and has significant growth potential in the future. However, the reality is that this star project’s token has encountered an unusually short lifecycle. Neither OKX nor the Meson Network project team has provided a clear reason for the delisting. However, many senior community members have offered their opinions.

KOL @AB Kuai.Dong stated that the founder of Meson Network became reluctant to engage with the community after raising millions in funding, and as the project's valuation increased, he began to spend extravagantly. The most puzzling part is that no one, including the exchange, can contact him anymore.

KOL @cxpitter4 believes that the project's inaction is the main reason, as the project team did not conduct market-making maintenance trades during the continuous decline of MSN and did not communicate with the community to resolve issues.

Another community member @wnghil887577 directly pointed out that it was the Meson Network project team that was offloading tokens; otherwise, it wouldn't have dropped so close to zero. Most of the presale purchase points were around $1.75, so there were no profits at all. OKX delisted the token because it saw that the project team was offloading without any bottom line, leading to investor losses.

A deep participant and investor in Meson Network @0xcannn lamented that he started buying in at $1, investing over $21,000 in the project, but his losses now exceed 85%. He stated that he has been in the cryptocurrency industry for seven years and has never experienced such a significant drop in such a short time in any project, nor has he ever regretted his investment as much as he does now.

Additionally, he mentioned that he ranked in the top 700 in the project's testnet but was only rewarded with 14 MSN. Even on the mainnet, he has run over 30 VPS but hasn't even accumulated 1 MSN over several months.

With no progress in the project, no organized AMAs for promotion, and no emergency buybacks to protect the project's value, it makes the project look like a joke.

Conclusion

Once a project that combined the popular narratives of AI and DePIN, Meson Network has left investors with great faith, but with OKX's delisting announcement, it has become a typical example of a project that has squandered a good hand. Although the project’s officials and its CEO are trying to assert that the project will continue to work towards meeting OKX's listing requirements, it is evident that regaining the confidence of a large number of investors is now very difficult. Of course, if Meson Network can compensate for the losses of former investors, there may still be a glimmer of hope.