DeFi
This Ethereum DeFi trader turned $30,000 into $1.1 million in just five days – or did he? – DL News
- A DeFi trader’s apparent $30,000 to $1.1 million gain on Pandora was largely due to receiving tokens through Sablier, not just marketplace purchases.
- Hourglass is a DeFi platform used by projects to distribute tokens on a payroll or as part of a token vesting schedule.
The apparent success of a DeFi trader turning nearly $30,000 into $1.1 million in five days has sparked widespread fascination.
The anonymous trader, owner of the Ethereum wallet 0x88invested in Pandora, an Ethereum that is making the buzz token and hybrid NFT. And DeFi users eager to monitor on-chain data – DeFi trading is transparent thanks to public blockchains – note their alleged million-dollar winnings.
The story of instant wealth inspires hope in many DeFi bettors.
But a closer look by DL News suggests that the situation is more complex than initially thought.
Analysis of the trader’s portfolio history shows that he did not purchase all of the Pandora tokens on the market that he ultimately sold; instead they received more than half of the tokens from hourglass.
Hourglass is a DeFi platform used by projects to distribute tokens on a payroll or as part of a token vesting schedule. Typically, tokens are only acquired if there has been a token presale or similar agreement.
But according to the messages seen by DL News on a Telegram channel managed by the Pandora team, no pre-sale was carried out. Pandora did not immediately respond to DL News” request for comment.
Pandora appeared last week as the first implementation of the new – untested and experimental – ERC404 token standard which exists as both a token and an NFT.
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In order to hold the NFT, a user must purchase at least one entire fungible token. If they then sell that token, or a fraction of the token, the NFT is burned or removed from supply.
Opening Pandora’s Box
The mysterious trader held a total of 78 Pandora tokens worth $2.5 million at the token’s peak. Although the trader purchased tokens from the project in the beginning, not all of his earnings came from purchases on the market. Most of the winnings came from tokens received through Sablier.
The story began on February 4 when the Pandora project gave them what is called an Hourglass Lockup NFT, which represents ownership of 45 Pandora tokens.
After receiving 45 Pandora tokens via Sablier, the mysterious trader also made a series of symbolic purchases. They purchased 33.59 Pandora tokens at an average price of $889, before spreading their sales across 35 transactions as the token rose by approximately 3,500%.
The trader’s wallet has had direct interactions with a few other wallets, indicating that they may be connected in some way, either that the same individual controls them all, or that the wallets are part of a larger group of individuals.
The first, the wallet 0x22, appears to be a transit wallet without any special functionality. Another wallet, 0x0d has a balance of $172,000 and is actively airdropping on protocols such as Manta, Blur, and Blast. Finally, the wallet 0x2cwhich is only two days old, already holds almost a million dollars, coming directly from the merchant’s Pandora wallet.
Since its launch on February 2, the project has made more than one $550 million in trading volume on decentralized exchanges and more 3 million dollars in volume on NFT marketplaces on Ethereum.
Pandora’s success also led to dozens of other projects launching ERC404 collections, leading to gas spikes on the Ethereum mainnet and numerous suspected rug pulls.
The total market value for ERC404 projects stands at $151 million, with a total trading volume of almost $21 million in the last 24 hours.
Ryan Celaj is DL News’ data correspondent based in New York. Contact us with advice at ryan@dlnews.com.