Plasma ICO Raises $500 Million in Whale-Led Frenzy — Is the Game Rigged for Retail?

Plasma’s highly anticipated ICO (Initial Coin Offering) for its XPL token closed its vaults after raising $500 million from over 1,100 depositors.

The event, which marked a dizzying display of capital deployment and gas wars, has raised concerns among community members.

Plasma ICO Raises $500 Million Amid Whale Frenzy, Expecting $1–2 Billion Unlock?

While the token has not yet been launched, expectations are already swelling that the final unlock could bring in $1 billion to $2 billion, if not more.

“We have reached our deposit cap of $500 million. We are thrilled that 1,100+ wallets participated, with a median deposit amount of ~$35,000. Trillions,” Plasma announced.

Amid the headlines and hype, however, a deeper story is emerging. Concerns extend from whale domination and insider access to a growing sense that token launches are increasingly becoming gated events for the crypto elite.

The numbers show that only a handful of wallets accounted for outsized allocations. More specifically, the top three contributors alone deployed over $100 million collectively.

Top 3 Plasma contributors. Source: Dune Analytics

Perhaps more shocking, one user reportedly paid 39 ETH (approximately $104,871 at current rates of $2,689) in gas fees, which secured them a $10 million USDC allocation.

“This guy spent 100k in gas (230,000 Gwei) to get his deposit in for Plasma,” wrote MonaMoon, the founder of the Duck Frens NFT project.

User pays 39 ETH for a $10 million USDC allocation on Plasma ICO. Source: ManaMoon on X

This illustrates the intensity of FOMO and the lengths participants were willing to go to for early access. Notwithstanding, the frenzy has come at a reputational cost. With whales taking the lion’s share, many are calling this launch anything but fair.

“…it’s an obvious skip for the community…Only 100 wallets with $50 million each… these wallets alone will create an oversubscription of 100x… unfortunately, it’s not a fair launch, even though the price is very attractive,” warned an X user before the raise closed.

Plasma ICO distributions. Source: Penjanga on X

Despite offering just 10% of the total XPL token supply in the public sale at a $500 million FDV (fully diluted valuation), retail users were effectively pushed to the sidelines. They will likely only get in later, at 10x to 16x the price.

Critics Slam Plasma’s Tech and Tokenomics- ICO Was a Lockout, Not a Launch

This sharp disparity has some dubbing it a “whale sale,” rather than a launch accessible to the broader community. Further, there may be more than just bad optics at play. Crypto trader Hanzo raised serious red flags, suggesting possible coordinated insider behavior.

Money laundering or just a huge insider play?

Plasma's ICO got filled in 2 minutes:

• 100 wallets
• $48M funded
• source Coinbase Premium

Must-read TRUTH even if you didn't hear about Plasma before