Aiccelerate DAO will add vesting structure in response to criticism of launch

Aiccelerate DAO (AICC), a recently-announced investment DAO which seeks to support crypto-AI projects, has become the subject of controversy following its launch, which distributed 100% of the project's tokens to 245 advisors and insiders, some of whom sold their allocations soon after the project ballooned in value. 

Aiccelerate launched on Daos.fun, a "memefund" launch platform on Solana, after raising 943 sol from those invited to the presale round, worth about $175,000 at current prices. Roughly $75,000 came from "VIPs," the project's co-founders and advisors, which include the founder of Eliza Labs, both co-founders of crypto media organization Bankless, VCs from firms such as Coinbase Ventures, and others. The roughly $100,000 remaining came from other insiders, who pledged up to 2 sol each. 

The DAO, co-founded by Markus Jun,  Ejaaz Ahamadeen, and pseudonymous X user Ropirito, quickly ballooned in value — its market cap is currently around $150 million, nearly 1,000 times its initial raise. However, controversy soon arose after some X users noticed that some insiders had seemingly quickly sold their initial allocations. 

Bankless Ventures, a VC arm of the media organization which launched in mid-2023, sold 10% of its allocation soon after AICC's launch. Following criticism on X, the organization later repurchased the tokens. 

"[I] agree that Bankless Ventures should not be selling tokens - that was an impulsive mistake," Bankless co-founder David Hoffman wrote on X.  "We have repurchased all the tokens that were sold, back to the full amount, and are discussing a self-imposed vesting schedule."

"I was not aware they were going to do that, when I found out I immediately expressed my disdain for that type of behaviour," Ahamadeen wrote on X in reference to the Bankless Ventures sale. Hoffman, Jun, and Ahamadeen did not immediately respond to requests for comment from The Block. 

Some X users noticed that certain users who were invited to the presale round had little-to-no activity or following on X. However, technical quirks with the Daos.fun invite system led some users to create temporary accounts in order to receive the allocation. 

"I know a lot of folks moved funds to a more secure wallet vs keeping on a hot wallet," Ahamadeen wrote on X. Another insider described issues with "syncing" his original account. 

AICC responded to the controversy in a post from its X account, which was suspended on Saturday for unclear reasons. In the post, the DAO pledged to "implement a vesting structure for individual allocations [and] are having discussions with advisors to do the same." The DAO also reiterated its intention to build for the long term. 

Amid the controversy, Eliza Labs founder Shaw Walters posted on X that he donated half of his allocation to the ai16z DAO and 20% to other contributors. "Crazy seeing 5 sol turn into $2m," Walters wrote, before acknowledging the criticism. "In the future I'd like to see Daos.fun do some kind of vesting or lockup so it feels a bit more fair launch," Walters said.