Plasma Founder Denies Insider Selling After XPL Token Plunges 50%

Plasma founder Paul Faecks has pushed back against claims of insider selling after the project’s native token, XPL, lost over half its value within days of its mainnet launch.

Key Takeaways:

• Plasma’s XPL token fell over 50% after launch, prompting insider selling accusations.
• Founder Paul Faecks denied the claims, stating team and investor tokens are fully locked.
• Critics remain skeptical, questioning possible sales of ecosystem-related token allocations.

The token had surged to $1.70 on Sunday before falling to $0.83 by midweek, sparking accusations of market manipulation from community members.

In a statement released Thursday, Faecks rejected the speculation outright.

“No team members have sold any XPL,” he said, emphasizing that all team and investor allocations are locked for three years with a one-year cliff.

Plasma, a layer-1 blockchain aiming to streamline stablecoin payments, went live with its mainnet beta and token on September 25.

The sharp price decline following the initial rally raised eyebrows across the community. Some users alleged that the team had engaged in time-weighted average price (TWAP) selling, a strategy in which large sell orders are split into smaller timed transactions to avoid slippage.

Independent onchain analyst ManaMoon pointed to wallet activity linked to the Plasma team vault, claiming over 600 million XPL tokens were sent to exchanges shortly before the token launch.

“Personally, I believe that someone was TWAP selling an excessive amount of tokens that retail buyers could not withstand,” he wrote on X.

We’ve seen a number of rumors circulating since the launch of XPL and want to set the record straight.

1/ No team members have sold any XPL. All investor and team XPL is locked for 3 years with a 1 year cliff.

2/ Of our team of ~50, three spent time at Blur or Blast. Our team…

Another user, crypto_popseye, went further, blaming both the team and trading firm Wintermute for the price crash. “Plasma $xpl pretty much destroyed their chart and momentum, and I hope their project fails,” he said.

In response, Faecks clarified that Plasma has no relationship with Wintermute. “We have not engaged Wintermute as a market maker and have never contracted with them,” he stated.

“We have the same information as the public on Wintermute’s ownership of XPL.”

I know who we blame for $XPL

Team's Safe (0x000000000000000000000000000000000A11B004) -> … intermediates -> @wintermute_t Bybit pic.twitter.com/r8d4u8Fy8A

Tensions remained high after the statement. Critics questioned whether other categories of tokens, such as those allocated for ecosystem growth, had been sold while the team kept its own holdings untouched.

“You’re wording your tweet to make it seem like nothing was sold,” crypto_popseye replied.

Despite mounting criticism, Faecks said the team remains focused on development and will not be commenting further. “We’re laser-focused on building the future of money,” he said.

On Friday, Aster reimbursed users in USDT after a sudden price spike in the XPL perpetual contract triggered forced liquidations.

The anomaly, which occurred during the transition from pre-launch to live trading, saw the price of XPL briefly surge to over $4, well above its $1.30 average on other platforms.

The exchange responded quickly, completing the first round of reimbursements within hours and compensating affected traders for liquidation and trading fees.

While the exact cause remains unconfirmed, early speculation points to a misconfigured index price or missing sync with live market data. Aster has pledged to continue its investigation into the incident.

The glitch followed the mainnet launch of Plasma, a stablecoin-focused Layer 1 whose native token XPL rapidly hit a $12 billion valuation.

Despite the setback, Aster continues to gain momentum, recently surpassing Hyperliquid in daily perpetuals volume. Its unique “hidden orders” feature has also helped the platform stand out in a competitive market.

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