The sharp decline sparked accusations of insider selling, but founder Paul Faecks insists the team has not offloaded any tokens.
XPL Price Collapse Raises Suspicions
Plasma went live with its mainnet beta and XPL token on September 25, positioning itself as a layer-1 network for faster, cheaper stablecoin payments. The token initially surged to nearly $1.70 over the weekend before collapsing to $0.83 by midweek, according to TradingView.
The steep drop fueled speculation across social media, with community members suggesting the team may have used time-weighted average price (TWAP) strategies to gradually unload tokens into the market. Some onchain analysts highlighted movements of over 600 million XPL tokens from the project’s vault wallet in the days leading up to the launch.
Founder Denies Wrongdoing
Faecks publicly rejected the accusations, stating that team and investor allocations are locked for three years with a one-year cliff. “No team members have sold any XPL,” he wrote, stressing that Plasma is “laser‑focused on building the future of money.”
The team also denied links to algorithmic trading firm Wintermute, which some users had blamed for XPL’s crash. “We have not engaged Wintermute as a market maker and have never contracted with Wintermute for any of their services,” Faecks said.
Community Remains Skeptical
Despite the clarification, critics were quick to point out what they saw as loopholes in the wording. Some questioned whether the project’s “ecosystem and growth” token allocations may have been sold, even if team holdings remain locked. The ambiguity has only fueled more suspicion, leaving the community divided on whether Plasma’s troubles stem from insider activity or broader market weakness.
For now, Plasma’s first week on the market highlights the challenges of launching a new token in an environment where investors are quick to scrutinize wallets, liquidity flows, and every price move.
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