Ex-Cardano Project MELD Closes Amid Suspicious Circumstances

• MELD was on a roll with a string of new developments.
• Investors pulled the plug amid bizarre circumstances.
• Members of the Cardano community call foul play.

MELD positioned itself as a non-custodial DeFi protocol designed to bridge crypto with traditional finance through multi-chain staking, borrowing, and banking integrations. However, the project’s appeal has waned amid prolonged uncertainty over its ties to Cardano, which initially funded its development.

On Thursday, MELD founder Ken Olling abruptly announced the project’s closure, catching the community off guard. This unexpected decision comes despite recent strides in development, leaving many questioning what truly led to MELD’s sudden collapse.

MELD Calls It a Day

Despite significant milestones like the launch of MELD’s lending and borrowing services, a mobile app, and the announcement of a debit card , founder Ken Olling revealed in a Telegram message that the project would shut down. The entire back end is scheduled for decommissioning by January 1, 2025.

Olling attributed the decision to two key factors: heavy sell pressure on the MELD token following the debit card announcement and low user engagement with its mobile app and lending and borrowing features. 

Investor concerns quickly escalated, leading to a withdrawal of funding. Olling noted that, despite reaching out to over 300 potential investors in the past six months, most were only interested in AI, memecoins , or projects with unreleased tokens, leaving the founder nowhere to go.

In his message, Olling thanked those who supported MELD and expressed regret for the project’s outcome, apologizing to the community for not delivering on its original vision.

Is MELD Still a Cardano Project?

MELD operated the first Initial Stake Pool Offering in November 2021, a process involving Cardano users supporting the project by delegating ADA to the MELD staking pool. At one point, over 40,000 delegators supported the project, which raised $10 million over five months.

However, MELD’s decision to expand as a multi-chain protocol last summer raised eyebrows among some Cardano supporters. While Input Output CEO Charles Hoskinson endorsed the multi-chain approach to enhance asset and liquidity pooling, some saw the move as the first step in a departure. 

Some noted that MELD had removed Cardano-related videos from its YouTube channel, intensifying perceptions that it was distancing itself from its original community and fueling suspicions about the project’s true intentions.

Suspicions Raised

With lingering doubts over MELD’s commitment to Cardano, news of its shutdown has fueled suspicion among Cardano supporters.

In response to the controversy, “bobcorn,” self-styled “Cardano resident detective,” analyzed on-chain data tied to the MELD token sell-off following the debit card announcement, noting that a wallet holding 180 million MELD tokens dispersed funds to 40 wallets, which then initiated the sell-off, raising concerns about insider actions.

Coin Bureau’s Bullish Dumpling publicly challenged MELD founder Ken Olling to explain how the project’s initial sign-ups in the tens of thousands dwindled to fewer than 300 active users on its lending and borrowing platforms.

Bullish Dumpling also questioned why MELD, with a suite of completed products, would panic close instead of allowing more time for growth or transferring its work to another team.

Farid from Dapp Central added a counterpoint, suggesting that if MELD had been intended as a rug pull from the start, the team likely wouldn’t have invested time and resources into building applications and protocols.

On the Flipside

• The timing of MELD’s closure is particularly unusual, given that crypto markets are showing strength.
• Cardano‘s DeFi ecosystem is predicted to explode due to the integration of the BitcoinOS bridge.
• Cardano‘s 24-hour performance saw it overtake Toncoin and TRON to become the 9th largest project.

Why This Matters

MELD’s sudden collapse sends a chilling message about the crypto industry’s shifting priorities, where solid fundamentals and working products appear to matter less than hype and speculation.

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