DrewX8

The second article in my series on Bitcoin and Quantum risk is out: murmurationstwo.substack.com/p/bitcoin-and-…

Time To FUD My Own Bags I’m known for calling things the way I see them - no BS, no hidden angles. In a space where everyone assumes every opinion is secretly sponsored, my voice has never been for sale. It never will be. But now I’m in a situation I’ve never dealt with before. And if my whole thing is honesty, then I don’t get to suddenly go quiet when something feels off - even if it means publicly throwing questions on a project I am STILL invested in. Integrity > comfort. A while back I started digging into a smaller mcap project, @AdrenaProtocol There was potential I liked and problems they clearly needed to fix, but the runway was interesting enough that I did what I always do with these types of opportunities: I reached out, asked my questions, and offered to help if it made sense. My potential involvement - which wasn’t even close to finalized - got leaked. And the moment that leak hit, people started front-running it. The ADX token immediately spiked almost 40% on nothing but speculation of my potential involvement. So now imagine the position this put me in. For a team raising a sizable round, a normal OTC structure often includes a discount from current spot price. But “spot” had suddenly been inflated because people ran ahead of the information. To avoid being completely front-run I invested roughly $100,000 into the ADX token on the open market while my due dilligence was still on-going on the chance I would see what I needed to see. Considering it hedging. As the conversations continued, though, the red flags started piling up. They had mismanaged their token supply. They needed capital - but somehow didn’t have tokens available to sell. They had no meaningful war chest to survive a bear market. And instead of tightening their focus and improving what they already had, their grand solution was to bring in an external CEO and start building entirely new things. I was exploring a potential seven-figure investment. None of this inspired confidence. So I walked away. Naturally, since I was considering long-term involvement, I had my $100,000 of tokens staked. Locked. Not liquid. Aligned with long-term protocol success (as I should have been as a potential investor). Then out of nowhere, Adrena posts on X - and has since deleted - that the protocol is basically sunsetting. Token nukes 80% almost instantly, and anyone locked in long-term staking? Completely trapped. Rug pulled by this announcement. Curious (and mildly annoyed), I started digging on-chain. Was someone scooping up the implosion for cheap? Yes. And not just “someone.” One of the founders. He purchased over $40,000 worth of ADX after the price collapsed - which would’ve been the equivalent of dropping over $200,000 at pre-announcement levels. And right after that bargain-bin accumulation? Boom. The protocol suddenly walked back the sunset announcement. “Just kidding, guys! Not shutting down. We’re forming a new partnership to take things to the next level.” How…convenient. I can’t say for sure what happened. But I can say this: inside their Discord, mere hours after the sunset post, the team was already reassuring everyone with “Don’t worry, we’ve already got someone ready to take over - Adrena isn't going anywhere!” Then why make the public announcement in the first place? Let’s zoom out: They mismanaged their token supply to the point of non-existence when capital still needed to be raised They were running out of money They had no tokens available to sell They needed capital A sudden “we’re dying” announcement nuked price A founder bought the crash Then the protocol magically wasn’t dying anymore Maybe it was innocent incompetence. Maybe they accidentally posted the wrong announcement, one of the founders simply believed in the project, and he used the dip to double down out of conviction. Maybe. Or maybe the self-inflicted FUD conveniently solved a structural problem: reclaim supply cheaply, wipe the slate, then pivot to the “new partnership” that was already lined up. Only they know the truth. But one thing is certain: Adrena, which once had vibrant potential to become something more than “just another perps DEX,” is now a hot mess. As for me? I still have a lot of days left on my staking lock. We'll see how it goes. TLDR: I'm not bitter. This is part of the game. I was hedging a potential investment. It is what it is. For the sake of my bags, I do wish them well. But funny business is still funny business. 🫡 From the depths — The White Whale 🐋

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