{"id":199267,"date":"2021-09-25T21:00:22","date_gmt":"2021-09-25T20:00:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cryptoslate.com\/?p=199267"},"modified":"2022-03-20T16:12:40","modified_gmt":"2022-03-20T16:12:40","slug":"exclusive-dfinity-founder-shoots-down-all-rugpull-allegations-around-internet-computer-icp-tokens","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cryptoslate.com\/exclusive-dfinity-founder-shoots-down-all-rugpull-allegations-around-internet-computer-icp-tokens\/","title":{"rendered":"Dfinity founder shoots down all ‘rugpull’ allegations around Internet Computer (ICP) tokens"},"content":{"rendered":"

Headquartered in Z\u00fcrich, Dfinity Foundation<\/a> is a not-for-profit organization that is developing technology for the Internet Computer (ICP<\/a>) blockchain and its aggressively growing ecosystem.<\/p>\n

After five years of development, the project finally launched<\/a> its governance token for public trading in May 2021.<\/p>\n

Following a day of trading carnage, ICP landed among the top 10 cryptos, but the hype was short-lived<\/a> as the token lost over 80% of its value in the following month.<\/p>\n

Artificial drop-in price<\/h2>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s a tidal wave level of misinformation out there, which reflects how big an impact the Internet Computer is making on the blockchain industry,\u201d Dominic Williams, Founder, President and Chief Scientist of the DFINITY Foundation and Internet Computer project told CryptoSlate<\/i>.<\/p>\n

According to him \u201cthis misinformation is created by professionals who were\/are shorting ICP, by shills from competitors, by ambulance-chasing lawyers, and by members of the press who just want clickbait.\u201d<\/p>\n

“The highest real price was recorded for a few hours on the first day, and was just over $450 (see Coinmarketcap.com). After this peak, the price mostly fell pretty consistently for the following month, and then in the three following months until now, has remained relatively stable. Within the last week it touched $88,\u201d Williams commented on ICP\u2019s \u201cartificial drop-in price,” which, as he clarified, lasted only a few seconds when the markets opened.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhy did this happen? We will never know exactly,\u201d he said, adding that \u201cwhat is obvious is that the Internet Computer underwent Genesis on the last day of a huge bull run in crypto,\u201d when the price of Bitcoin (BTC<\/a>) almost hit $60,000.<\/p>\n

Unfortunately, as Williams pointed out, the very next day the market sentiment turned, Bitcoin fell to around $30,000 over the following 9 days and \u201cthe sudden change in sentiment had an outsize effect on ICP, because it is a new token.\u201d<\/p>\n

According to him, \u201ca more mysterious factor is that in the days before Genesis, the ICP price on the FTX futures exchange suddenly rose by several hundred dollars, and this helped set the bullish initial prices on markets after Genesis.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cCertainly, some shadowy players will have then made fortunes shorting ICP, which upsets me greatly,\u201d he concluded, claiming that neither the DFINITY Foundation nor he performed any kind of rug pull.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

He underlined that “the DFINITY Foundation didn\u2019t sell any ICP for the first five weeks after Genesis, and then only to cover tax liabilities created by vesting RTUs paid to staff (Restricted Token Units).”<\/p>\n

“Founders and executives were locked up entirely for the first week. For my part, I have sold substantially less than 5% of my holdings since Genesis – after working day and night on the project for years,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

Ferocious growth<\/h2>\n

ICP\u2019s agenda to directly integrate with the Bitcoin blockchain, along with the network\u2019s promising stats, including 500 developers that are now building on the network and over 250,000 daily active users of dapps, open internet services, DeFi, pan-industry platforms, and websites built on the Internet Computer, boosted the renewed investor appetite.<\/p>\n

\n

1\/ The #InternetComputer<\/a> community is actively involved in designing and shaping the network's Roadmap.<\/p>\n

Voting for Proposal 20586: Direct integration of Internet Computer with #BTC<\/a> network has now begun \ud83d\uddf3\ufe0fhttps:\/\/t.co\/Nil6QMLV8q<\/a><\/p>\n

— DFINITY (@dfinity) September 15, 2021<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n