Today, just before RED, which has been actively trading on Binance for several days, was officially listed for spot trading, it was urgently halted. The official explanation for this decision was that the project team temporarily changed the community airdrop distribution plan, announcing an additional allocation of 2% of the total RED token supply to community members who were initially overlooked in the airdrop distribution.
Whether this reflects the effectiveness of the community's resistance against unfair airdrop distribution or a compromise by the RED project team to maintain token prices remains unclear.
But at least this time, it shows us that brave voices can make a difference.
Community Uprising: Who Will Compensate Users for Their Time Costs?
As a representative of the new cross-chain oracle, RedStone previously attracted market attention with its innovative multi-chain architecture and strong investment background (including Coinbase Ventures and Blockchain Capital). However, RedStone's recent decisions have sparked widespread discussion within the community, particularly focusing on airdrop controversies and pre-market price fluctuations.
- Lack of Transparency in Rule Adjustments
During the years of project development, many users completed hundreds of tasks, including special tasks during holidays. The official team had repeatedly emphasized, "Complete tasks to accumulate points, and there may be airdrops in the future." However, when the final airdrop rules were announced, an additional "special role" was added as a condition for eligibility, which had not been clearly stated before.
According to RedStone's official post, identity in Discord became the key to obtaining the airdrop. Eligible roles include Vein Master, Deep Miner, Professor, and IRL (those who participated in offline activities). Public data shows that the proportion of people with these roles in the project's DC group is only 2%.
However, community user feedback indicates that the project team had previously promoted RSG as an important credential for obtaining rewards, but after announcing the airdrop, they changed their stance to say that roles were the most important credential.
- Disputes Over Airdrop Eligibility Distribution
According to community feedback, it is estimated that over 98% of users did not qualify for the airdrop, while many active users consistently participated in past tasks and activities. This distribution method has left many community members feeling disappointed, believing there is a significant gap between expectations and reality.
- Reduction in Community Reward Proportion
In early promotions, the project team stated that 10% of the tokens would be allocated to the community, but current estimates suggest that the actual distribution ratio may be less than 2%. According to incomplete statistics, only about 4,000 addresses received the airdrop, raising questions about the fulfillment of commitments.
Community member @snowmawer stated that he "watched the Spring Festival Gala with family during the New Year while doing RedStone tasks on his laptop." Yet, in the end, he still did not receive an airdrop share.
Crypto KOL @KuiGas also believes that the project team issued a bunch of tasks but abandoned everyone once the data came in.
In summary, the lack of transparency in airdrop rules and the unexpected results are at the core of this controversy. RedStone officials emphasized before the airdrop that they wanted to "ensure early participants in the ecosystem receive fair representation" (hoping to consider various contributors), but the actual distribution effect appears to deviate from the principle of fairness, leading to strong skepticism.
Rare "Christmas Tree" Pattern
While the community airdrop turmoil has not yet subsided, RED's trading chart on the exchange exhibited an unusual fluctuation.
On the afternoon of March 6, the Binance RED/USDT pre-market saw a price fluctuation of up to 30% between 11:44 and 12:09 UTC+8.
This situation can easily create the illusion that market liquidity is extremely scarce, with trading primarily relying on market makers' support, and retail participation being very low, with almost no active orders or trades, leading to abnormal price volatility.
RedStone's Chinese community manager, Stephen, later clarified in the comments that the price fluctuations were not caused by market makers. According to his explanation, RED did not introduce market makers in the pre-market, and the actual price changes were due to trading rules—each user could buy or sell a maximum of 5,000 RED per transaction, which affected market liquidity and price volatility.
In the face of overwhelming skepticism, RedStone's official response has been very limited.
As of the time of publication, the project team has not issued a formal statement regarding this controversy on their official blog or Twitter. After the airdrop distribution, the RedStone team provided a brief explanation in the Discord channel, stating that airdrop rewards were calculated based on users' contributions across different dimensions, including but not limited to task points, community activities, partner tasks, and contribution quality. However, these explanations lack quantitative details, making it difficult for users to be convinced. Some community members have requested the team to publicly disclose specific calculation formulas or data verification but have not received a direct response.
Breaking the Silence: Winning the First Shot for Retail Investor Rights Protection
In this turmoil surrounding the RedStone airdrop distribution, the community's voice ultimately received a response, and retail investors' rights protection achieved a phased result.
Binance's last-minute decision to urgently halt RED's spot listing was clearly not an easy decision. As a top global trading platform, Binance's action is not only a direct response to the RedStone project's decision change but also a recognition of the community's collective protest.
In the Web3 world, true decentralization is not only reflected in the technical architecture but also in the power of the community—when users bravely speak out, unjust rules can be forced to yield.
From RedStone's additional allocation of 2% tokens as compensation, it appears that the project team chose to compromise in the face of community pressure.
At this moment, we might say, the rules of the game in the Web3 era have changed; users are no longer silent executors but capable subjects who can influence rules and fight for fairness.
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