Jade Protocol Faces Calls to Liquidate $31M Token Treasury

The native token of crypto club Jade Protocol surged Wednesday after a longtime member proposed the decentralized autonomous organization (DAO) liquidate its $31 million treasury and issue redemptions to token-holders.

Jade Protocol is an investment group that sources early-stage crypto deals. Its JADE token – which trades on the Avalanche and BSC blockchains – is currently an access ticket into the community. Under the “Dissolve DAO” call-to-action posted earlier this week, JADE would instead become a cash out.

In his Sep. 25 proposal, a member with the screen name VampireOfCrypto cited darkening regulatory skies that he said are slowing Jade’s progress and imperiling all DAOs, which are crypto collectives whose token-holders have a say in decision-making.

Stormy legal questions and the brutal crypto winter have combined to freeze out crypto trading volume as well as Jade’s deal flow, according to the investor, who joined Jade’s Discord server in July 2022. “The DAO poses a major investment risk to all token holders,” VampireOfCrypto said in the post.

“Distributing all treasury funds back to all token holders without delay is the ultimate win-win situation for everyone,” he wrote. VampireOfCrypto did not respond to a request for comment.

Jade is the latest crypto project to face pressure from its investors to shut down.

In the past 12 months a group of activist investors have pushed for "rage quits” and treasury redemptions in many DAOs. They claim cash-outs are the only way to protect investors from floundering DAOs, receiving pushback and plenty of profit. Some of those investors have been joining Jade, according to a statement in the Discord server from Jade’s press liaison Jon Ray.

But Jade’s dissolution proposal does not appear to be their doing.

“It is a sad and frustrating reflection on the state of legislation in our space that one of the most positive, supportive and oldest members of the community is bringing this forward,” Kevin Randleman, a high-ranking DAO member, said in the Discord.

Nonetheless, Randleman conceded in the Discord that “the challenges Jade faces are real” and said it will be up to the community to decide its future.

He outlined a series of bureaucratic and technical barriers that need to be cleared before a redemption could happen. He further called for the creation of a $2 million “legal defense fund” to help core contributors wind down the DAO if the dissolution is approved.