The first shot in community rights protection! Uncovering the ins and outs of the RedStone listing controversy
Is Binance still that dragon-slaying youth?Author: Scof, ChainCatcher
Editor: TB, ChainCatcher
Just today, RED, which has been actively trading on Binance for several days, was urgently halted right before its official spot listing. According to the official explanation, the reason was that the project team temporarily changed the community airdrop allocation plan, announcing that an additional 2% of the total RED token supply would be allocated to community members who were initially overlooked in the airdrop distribution.
Whether this reflects the effectiveness of the community's resistance against unfair airdrop distribution or a compromise made by the RED project team to maintain the token price, we cannot know.
But at least this time, it shows us that brave voices can make a difference.
Community Uprising: Who Will Compensate Users for Their Time Costs?
As a representative of the new cross-chain oracle, RedStone previously attracted market attention with its innovative multi-chain architecture and strong investment background (including Coinbase Ventures and Blockchain Capital). However, RedStone's recent decisions have sparked widespread discussion within the community, particularly focusing on airdrop controversies and pre-market price fluctuations.
- Lack of Transparency in Rule Adjustments
During the years of project development, many users completed hundreds of tasks, including special tasks during holidays. The official team had repeatedly emphasized, "Complete tasks to accumulate points, and there may be an airdrop in the future." However, when the final airdrop rules were announced, an additional "special role" was added as a condition for eligibility, which had not been clearly stated before.
According to RedStone's official post, the identity in Discord became the key to obtaining the airdrop. Eligible roles include Vein Master, Deep Miner, Professor, and IRL (those who participated in offline activities). Public data shows that only 2% of the members in the project's DC group hold these roles.
However, community user feedback indicates that the project team had previously promoted RSG as an important credential for receiving rewards, but after announcing the airdrop, they changed their stance to say that roles were the most important credential.
- Disputes Over Airdrop Eligibility Distribution
According to community feedback, it is estimated that over 98% of users did not qualify for the airdrop, while many active users consistently participated in past tasks and activities. This distribution method has left many community members feeling disappointed, believing there is a significant gap between expectations and reality.
- Reduction in Community Reward Proportion
In early promotions, the project team stated that 10% of the tokens would be allocated to the community, but current estimates suggest that the actual distribution ratio may be less than 2%. According to incomplete statistics, only about 4,000 addresses received the airdrop, raising questions about the fulfillment of promises.
Community member @snowmawer stated that he "watched the Spring Festival Gala with family during the New Year while doing RedStone tasks on his laptop." Yet, in the end, he still did not receive any airdrop allocation.
Crypto KOL @KuiGas also believes that the project team issued a bunch of tasks, but once the data came in, they abandoned everyone.
In summary, the lack of transparency in airdrop rules and the unexpected results are at the core of this controversy. RedStone officials emphasized before the airdrop that they wanted to "ensure early participants in the ecosystem are fairly represented" (i.e., hoping to consider various contributors), but the actual distribution results appear to deviate from the principle of fairness, leading to strong skepticism.
Rare "Christmas Tree" Pattern
While the community airdrop turmoil has not yet subsided, RED's trading chart on the exchange exhibited an unusual fluctuation.
On the afternoon of March 6, the Binance RED/USDT pre-market saw a price fluctuation of up to 30% between 11:44 and 12:09 UTC+8.
This situation can easily create the illusion that market liquidity is extremely scarce, with trading primarily relying on market makers' support, and retail participation being very low, with almost no active orders or trades, leading to abnormal price volatility.
RedStone's Chinese community manager Stephen later clarified in the comments that the price fluctuations were not caused by market makers. According to his explanation, there were no market makers introduced in the pre-market for RED, and the actual price changes were due to trading rules—each user could only buy or sell a maximum of 5,000 RED per transaction, which affected market liquidity and price volatility.
In the face of overwhelming skepticism, RedStone's official response has been very limited.
As of the time of publication, the project team has not issued a formal statement regarding this controversy on their official blog or Twitter. After the airdrop distribution, the RedStone team made a brief explanation in the Discord channel, stating that airdrop rewards were calculated based on users' contributions across different dimensions, including but not limited to task points, community activities, partner tasks, and contribution quality. However, these explanations lack quantifiable details, making it difficult for users to be convinced. Some community members have requested the team to publicly disclose specific calculation formulas or data verification but have not received a direct response.
Breaking the Deadlock: Winning the First Shot for Retail Investor Rights Protection
In this turmoil surrounding the RedStone airdrop distribution, the community's voice has finally been heard, and retail investors' rights protection has achieved a certain degree of success.
Currently, Binance has gradually resumed the listing of RED, postponing the originally scheduled trading for RedStone (RED) from March 6, 2025, 13:00 (UTC) to March 6, 2025, 16:00 (UTC).
From RedStone's additional allocation of 2% token compensation, it appears that the project team has chosen to compromise in response to community pressure.
In the Web3 world, true decentralization is not only reflected in the technical architecture but also in the power of the community. Only when users bravely speak out can unjust rules be forced to yield.
