Balance: How did the scam project make it to Binance Alpha? Deceiving the community and harvesting retail investors, their crimes deserve punishment
This is not an ordinary harvesting of leeks, but a publicly staged scam performed in broad daylight, with Binance as the stage, Balance as the actors, and the ticket price being the trust of the entire community.Author: Ice Frog
To be honest, I've seen quite a few projects in the crypto space that exploit investors, but it's rare to find a project like BalanceWeb3 that deceives while burning, and then bites back in the end. They wrap their scam in "node incentives" and "airdrop mechanisms," dressing it up as long-term project development, which is merely a premeditated zero-sum scam.
What is most disgusting is that this project not only aims to drain the community but also seeks to exchange the blood of community users for a cash-out channel on Binance.
1. The Start of the Scam: Fake Roadmap, Fake Financing, Fake Airdrop, Real Insider Trading, Real Deception
1) Fake Roadmap: The official website initially promised a TGE in November 2024, but later quietly changed it to March-April, deleting the original page and banning questioning users. Behind the secrecy lies the scammer's guilt.
2) Fake Financing: They claimed to have secured $40 million in financing with A16Z's participation, which is misleading. In reality, that was the cumulative figure from historical financing; A16Z did not participate in Balance's investment at all. They deliberately posted "big-name endorsements" just to attract retail investors.
3) Fake Airdrop: When selling nodes, they claimed it was a "unique airdrop opportunity," but the airdrop distribution was the same as for other users—there was no uniqueness, only dictatorship.
4) Real Insider Trading: Nine out of the top ten addresses on the NFT whitelist are suspected to be reserved for the team, with no interactions, no activities, and uniform gas fees, showing clear signs of manipulation.
Verification links:
5) Real Deception: The NFT promised "significant incentives," but in the end, it was just discount coupons; mining nodes promised "exclusive rewards," but were maliciously locked for 120 days.
The most ironic part is that the earlier users participate and the more they spend, the harder they get exploited.
2. The Climax of the Scam: From Temptation to Backlash, Everything Was Premeditated
Please see the final announced airdrop claiming mechanism:
1) Claiming Issues: Trading started at 8 AM, claiming began at 8 AM, yet users still couldn't claim after 9 AM;
2) Binance Alpha Users: Each received 3500 $EPT, about $12, immediately unlocked;
3) Hardworking Mining Users: After months of effort and a purchase cost of up to $600, only received 6000 EPT, needing to be locked for 120 days;
4) If withdrawn early: Only 15% can be claimed, the remaining 85% is destroyed by the project party. You paid to mine, and still have to pay extra.
Combining the above four points, this is not a so-called technical issue of the project, but purely a part of a scam operation. The project party constructed a legal robbery system disguised as a mechanism with "user lock-up + punitive destruction."
The entire scam logic is:
Using node sales to deceive users into paying; Using token distribution to deceive users into mining; Using punitive mechanisms to prevent user withdrawals; Finally, diverting all value to Binance users, completing targeted cash-outs through delayed airdrop claims.
All these signs, from the beginning to the final mechanism adjustments, prove that the project is not a makeshift operation, but a long-planned collusion scam.
3. The Role of Binance in the Scam
When the scam project feeds itself with community resources and packages into Binance Alpha, we cannot help but ask: Binance, are you really screening projects, or are you screening "projects that can bring in money"?
The official introduction of Binance Alpha states: "Tokens on the Alpha platform are selected through industry expertise and advanced analysis… We focus on the deep integration of community enthusiasm, growth potential, and crypto ecosystem trends."
So the question arises:
Where did your expertise go? Can't you see the financing fraud? Can't you see the misinformation? What is your advanced analysis? Is it merely recognizing that "the project party exploits heavily" as growth momentum? Is your "trend judgment" simply: as long as it can suck blood, even if it's community blood, it's all accepted?
Stop using "Binance does not endorse listing projects" as a cover. You accepted the project's tokens, and these tokens are all blood-stained chips, each one representing the blood of community users. Do you have no respect at all?
Is Binance Alpha going to become a high ground for scam projects to launder their reputations? Ultimately leading to the starting point for retail investors to jump off buildings?
This is not an ordinary exploitation; it is a publicly conducted scam performance in broad daylight, with Binance as the stage, Balance as the actor, and the ticket price being the trust of the entire community.
Balance must be held accountable for this, and Binance must also be responsible for opening the door to thieves.
Today's outcry and rights protection are not just FUD because of losses, but a public trial of these wrongdoers. Even if my power is weak, I must say: scams deserve to die, Balance deserves to die.
Finally, I sincerely hope that Binance, as an industry leader, will truly take responsibility, stop deceiving itself, and stop pretending to be deaf and dumb. As a platform that carries the expectations of many users, it should at least not condone scams, and at least not tolerate these projects that recklessly exploit users.
I believe Binance is still the dragon-slaying youth.
