Trove Markets token sales cause confusion after changes affect bets on Polymarket

Source: PortaldoBitcoin Original Title: Sale of Trove Markets tokens causes confusion after changes affect Polymarket bets Original Link: A public sale of Trove Markets tokens, which raised approximately US$ 11.5 million, ended amid controversy after last-minute changes to the sale contract and contradictory communications from the project team caused confusion among investors and directly impacted the prediction market.

The episode led to accusations of governance failures, significant losses for secondary market participants, and a public apology from those responsible for the initiative.

Until the final minutes, Trove’s initial coin offering (ICO) proceeded without apparent issues, with the fundraising deadline approaching as per the original schedule announced by the project.

The situation changed when users noticed that the sale contract had been updated to extend the deposit period until January 20, allowing new funds to enter after many investors believed the fundraising was about to close. The change surprised participants who had already made decisions based on the previous deadline.

Almost simultaneously, large buy orders began to appear in a prediction market that allowed bets on the final amount raised by Trove’s public sale. The event recorded unusual movements in the final minutes, with orders estimated between 100,000 and 300,000 shares appearing near the order book’s close.

Screenshots and transaction data shared on social media raised suspicions that some of these orders might be linked to wallets associated with the project itself, although this connection has not been officially confirmed.

Shortly after, Trove Markets increased uncertainty by announcing a five-day extension for the token sale, claiming that the measure aimed to ensure a fairer distribution. The announcement immediately affected the market, with prices soaring as investors tried to reposition their bets in light of the prospect of higher fundraising.

However, the additional window lasted only a short time. Subsequently, the team posted a new message stating that there would be no extension and that the original plan would be maintained, leaving investors who had adjusted their positions with no time to react.

Social media reports indicate that a user made a bet of approximately US$ 89,000 near the market close, based on the expectation created by the supposed extension. The position, which could have yielded about US$ 200 if successful, resulted in estimated losses of US$ 73,000 after the reversal of the announcement, becoming one of the most cited examples of losses caused by the confusion.

Trove Markets apologizes

In response to the negative reaction, the Trove Markets team issued a public statement. In an initial declaration, they stated that the sale had raised over US$ 11.5 million and that proportional refunds and token allocations would be made before the token generation event, justifying the brief extension as an attempt to preserve the “integrity of the distribution.”

However, the message was later replaced by a more detailed apology. “We made a mistake in announcing an extension and are correcting it,” the team said, acknowledging that they paid excessive attention to a small group of allocators at the expense of the broader community.

One of the project’s key members, known by the pseudonym “Unwise,” provided more context in a separate post, stating that the team had identified what appeared to be a coordinated group of wallets in the final moments of the sale. According to him, there was concern that a single participant could concentrate a disproportionate share of the proceeds.

With about 25 minutes remaining and other stages of the launch ongoing, the extension seemed, at that moment, to be the safest option, a decision he later described as “obviously wrong” in light of the market reaction.

In response, Trove Markets announced that it would commission an independent third-party review of the entire fundraising and wallet distribution process, with a promise to publicly disclose the results. For now, the project states that the fundraising is officially closed and that focus has shifted to the product launch.