Trove Token Listed on Exchange, Trading FDV Drops to Less Than $1 Million, ICO Participants Suffer Heavy Losses

Trove’s TROVE token launched trading on its Perp DEX at 4 a.m. ET on January 20—opening with a $20 million fully diluted valuation (FDV) that’s now plummeted to roughly $950,000. Last week, the project raised $11.5 million via an ICO, announcing it would retain $9,397,403 to build its Solana-based Perp DEX. That move sparked fierce community backlash: ICO participants are facing steep losses and accusing the team of a rug pull. The Block founder Mike Dudas weighed in: “After raising funds from the public on false pretenses, Trove still holds $9.4 million in ICO proceeds. Any service providers, advisors, KOLs, or other parties who received funds from this scam should be exposed and condemned.” Trove has faced prior controversy, too: The community has flagged claims that the project paid KOLs for promotion (with funds flowing to an entertainment platform’s deposit address) and repeatedly changed its ICO deadline. Additionally, the team abruptly scrapped its Hyperliquid integration to rebuild the Perp DEX natively on Solana—while also selling off HYPE tokens. In response to outrage, officials said liquidity providers (LPs) closed a 500,000 HYPE position due to “recent negative sentiment,” shifting the project’s trajectory.