Original | Odaily Planet Daily (@OdailyChina)
Author | Ethan (@ethanzhang_web3)
Large sales marked as "1inch team" have once again sparked criticism.
Recently, the on-chain data platform ARKHAM showed that three wallets marked as "1inch team" sold a total of 36.36 million 1INCH tokens, worth $5.04 million. According to OKX market data, affected by this, the price of 1INCH token fell 16.7% to $0.1155 in a short time, and is currently reported at $0.1164. Surrounding this sale, a question was quickly thrown to the market: Is this really the project team itself dumping?
Judging from this sale itself, the result was not ideal. On-chain data shows that the aforementioned 1INCH tokens were mainly transferred to the relevant addresses in late November 2024. Based on the price estimate at that time, the cost was around $0.42, corresponding to a value of approximately $15.27 million. Before this sale, the price of 1INCH had fallen back to around $0.14. Combined with the slippage impact due to the large volume during the selling process, the actual loss for this batch of positions alone may exceed $10 million.
Reference: The Trading Style of the 1inch Team in the Past
Previously, the on-chain operations of the 1inch team investment fund during multiple market fluctuations were once regarded by the market as the existence of a "professional trading team".
As early as the period from February to April, the 1inch team investment fund had begun to continuously accumulate 1INCH at low levels. At that time, market sentiment had not yet warmed up, and 1INCH hovered around $0.2 for a long time. During this stage, the team invested a total of approximately $6.648 million to buy 33.19 million 1INCH tokens, with an average building price of about $0.2.
However, this round of buying did not cause significant price fluctuations. What really caught the market's attention was the concentrated buying in early July. From July 6 to 9, the 1inch team investment fund made another move, adding an investment of approximately $4.4 million in just a few days to buy 22.99 million 1INCH tokens. As buying continued, the price of 1INCH rose from around $0.18 to $0.206, a阶段性涨幅 of about 14%. During this period, the team transferred 3 million USDC to Binance and withdrew 1INCH in batches back to its own addresses. The relevant funds were not used up at once, perhaps waiting for the right time, and were still being bought continuously.
After entering July 10, the pace of operations明显加快. On the afternoon of July 10, the team again bought about 4.12 million 1INCH tokens for approximately $880,000, while simultaneously补充 2 million USDT to Binance to prepare ammunition for subsequent transactions. On the evening of July 11, on-chain monitoring showed that the team疑似 bought another 11.81 million 1INCH tokens at a higher price range, with the transaction price already rising to around $0.28. By this point, the address's holdings had once increased to 83.97 million 1INCH tokens, with a book value exceeding $23 million. On July 13, the team continued to withdraw 6.334 million 1INCH tokens from Binance.
If we trace the timeline back to early February, the 1inch team investment fund has累计投入 approximately $13.64 million since the beginning of the year to buy 55.85 million 1INCH tokens, with a comprehensive cost of about $0.244. Against the backdrop of the 1INCH price soaring above $0.39 in mid-July, these positions had浮盈 millions of dollars.
It is worth noting that the team is not "only buying and not selling". On the evening of July 13, it began to小规模兑现收益, selling about 904,000 1INCH tokens at a price of $0.33, exchanging for $298,000; and at an earlier stage, it had already sold部分 1INCH tokens in batches at around $0.28.
At the same time, the team also同步对 another important position进行止盈: the ETH previously bought at an average price of $2577 in February had begun to be sold in batches above $4200, with the ETH position alone realizing profits of millions of dollars.
On August 11, according to on-chain analyst余烬监测, the 1inch team investment fund had begun to兑现部分前期仓位 on-chain. Data showed that it sold 5000 ETH at an average price of $4215, exchanging for 21.07 million USDC;同时 sold 6.45 million 1INCH tokens at an average price of $0.28, exchanging for about 1.8 million USDC.
Judging from the building costs, the aforementioned ETH was bought by the 1inch team in February this year at an average price of about $2577; the corresponding 1INCH was mainly built in July, with a comprehensive cost of about $0.253.仅就本次已卖出的 ETH and 1INCH positions计算, the 1inch team investment fund has realized approximately $8.36 million in账面收益.
If we look further back, the 1inch team's operation path of "buying against the trend and selling with the trend" on BTC is同样清晰. During the period from February to March this year, it bought 160.8 WBTC at an average price of about $88,000 during the BTC回调阶段, and completed清仓 in May when BTC再次逼近 the $100,000 mark, realizing a total profit of nearly $1 million.
综合 BTC, ETH, and 1INCH asset线索来看, the on-chain operations of the 1inch team investment fund are more like a set of capital strategies that have been反复演练: Complete building during market adjustment stages, continuously add positions during the上涨过程, and分批兑现收益 after prices enter high ranges.
But This Time, Was It Really Them Operating?
It should be pointed out that if we compare this large sale that occurred around $0.14 with the past on-chain operations of the 1inch team investment fund, we find: If this sale was indeed directly led by the team, then its execution method itself明显背离 its past trading logic. Whether in the operations of BTC, ETH, or 1INCH history, the team's more common practice is to兑现收益 in batches after the price trend is confirmed, rather than集中抛售 in明显的低流动性区间.
Because of this, some market participants began to question: Was this selling behavior marked as "1inch team" really出自 the team or wallets directly controlled by it.
Subsequently, 1inch official also responded to the relevant controversy. In a statement, it clearly stated that this selling behavior did not occur in any wallet controlled by the 1inch team, entity, or treasury multi-signature, and the team could not interfere with the asset allocation and trading decisions of third-party holders.
In other words, the关联关系 pointed to by on-chain labels does not equate to actual control权. Judging from the execution rhythm and price range, this sale is more likely to come from a third-party holder who has脱离 project control, rather than a shift in the 1inch team's own trading logic.
In a stage with inherently limited liquidity, a single large sale being quickly equated to "team dumping" is itself an interpretation of information that is过度压缩. It ignores the天然断层 between address labels and real control权 after long-term circulation of tokens.
Back to 1inch itself. The official emphasized in the statement that this market fluctuation did not change its core business and long-term direction. Since 2019, 1inch has累计撮合交易量接近 $800 billion, and even during market downturns, it can maintain a daily trading volume of hundreds of millions of dollars. The team also stated that it plans to重新审视代币经济模型 this year to improve overall韧性 in low liquidity and下行周期. Against this background, the discussion surrounding "whether the 1inch team dumped" is more like a误读放大 by on-chain labels, liquidity environment, and emotional interpretation.
However, even if it is eventually proven to be a misreading, this sale still constituted a real secondary impact on the already持续走弱 price of 1INCH. Since the last cycle high of $6, 1INCH has experienced a long-term unilateral decline and is now hovering around $0.11.
On such a trend, the market显然已没有足够的缓冲空间 to消化任何一次突发的卖出信号. This type of放大 selling event ultimately承受情绪冲击的, often falls on the end with the weakest risk tolerance—retail investors.
