EDGE Token Drops 77% Amid Suspected Market Manipulation

Original author: Ma He, Foresight News

At around 4:00 AM on June 2, the native edgeX token, EDGE, experienced severe abnormal volatility. The price dropped over 77% within a short time, from approximately $1.14 to a low of $0.32, and has since rebounded to around $0.64, with a market capitalization of approximately $250 million.

edgeX responded immediately, explicitly ruling out hacking or platform security vulnerabilities, and pointed to "intentional market manipulation by external specific parties."

edgeX states that its protocol has not been compromised, and there has been no hack or security vulnerability. This price fluctuation is suspected to be the result of intentional market manipulation by an external party, making it a market issue rather than a platform security issue. The team is currently actively investigating and collaborating with relevant exchanges and platforms to identify the responsible parties. A full report of the findings will be published upon completion of the investigation.

edgeX emphasizes that core contracts such as SpotVault are operating normally, with no suspicious activity detected, further narrowing the focus to external market behavior rather than the protocol itself.

On-chain detective ZachXBT spoke out after the incident, pointing out that edgeX's supply has long been controlled by a small group of insiders with low circulating supply, and called on the project team to disclose information about market makers and counterparty parties to enhance transparency.

After the incident escalated, many users directly linked this volatility to the project’s past actions, expressing disappointment in the team’s integrity. One community user bluntly stated: “No one’s talking about EDGE’s crash anymore—this team has no integrity, going back on their word; there’s really little desire to buy the dip.”

After edgeX's token generation event (TGE), the token price rose from $0.7 to $1.5, and has since fluctuated around $1.4. Additionally, the official team launched a dedicated token website to demonstrate transparency. At the end of May this year, the protocol launched V2 and adjusted its tokenomics to allocate all profits toward repurchasing EDGE tokens. According to data on its official website, approximately 36.54 million tokens have been repurchased, with a total value of about $25 million.

Additionally, related information shows that the protocol has received investments from Circle Ventures and Amber Group, though the specific amounts have not been disclosed.

This incident is difficult to separate from the prior controversy surrounding edgeX’s airdrop. In April 2026, the author detailed in the article "The Full Story of edgeX’s Airdrop Failure: A Well-Designed Harvest?" the entire sequence of events that led to community dissatisfaction following the TGE. The project had promised the community a 25% token allocation, but only about 4% was actually distributed to regular traders, while approximately 14% (valued at around $94.6 million at the time) flowed into partner wallets. Arkham’s token flow mapping reveals that at least 80 related addresses, created in 2025, exhibited consistent behavior: small test transactions followed by large deposits, then concentrated withdrawals after the TGE, involving approximately $90 million in token transfers, with some funds directed to exchanges.

The core controversy lies in the opaque points redemption mechanism. Users report massive discrepancies in redemption rates despite identical trading volumes. Additionally, the estimated point value (pre-TGE market expectations of $30–$40 or higher per point in FDV) differs by over 80% from actual payouts. Early contributors and NFT holders have also experienced the "lowest allocation across the network." Community members flooded the official Twitter account with anger, forcing the team to temporarily disable comments.

Afterward, edgeX announced that it would lock the disputed 14% stake for one year and initiate a buyback, but declined the community’s request to burn the tokens on Ethereum.

These lingering issues directly set the stage for current volatility: concentration of tokens in a few addresses or related parties makes it easier for external actors to influence prices through large-scale trades. Low liquidity is not accidental, but an inevitable result of early distribution and lock-up arrangements. When unusual selling pressure arises, the lack of sufficient depth creates a buffer, making it极易演变为连锁反应.

edgeX once held a prominent position in the space with its trading speed, low slippage, and innovations in perpetual contracts. After its TGE, the project experienced阶段性 price increases, and its trading volume and fee revenue frequently ranked among the top in DeFi. According to the latest data from DefiLlama, the protocol generated $10.7 million in total fees over the past 30 days, with perpetual DEX trading volume reaching $42.765 billion over the same period.

From disputes over airdrop allocations to this latest price anomaly, this model of “low circulation + high concentration + opaque market-making” has become a recurring scam tactic for new projects over the past two years. While claiming to prioritize the community, their wallets truthfully dump tokens to affiliated parties—nothing more than a single-player game dressed up as DeFi.

Allegations of external manipulation are difficult to verify immediately, but on-chain traceable abnormal inflows and outflows are sufficient to raise community alerts.

Ironically, just as it faces a vortex of plummeting token prices, its EDGE token price prediction has quietly gone live on Polymarket.

The project team is busy proving their innocence, while trapped retail investors are angrily demanding accountability. Meanwhile, on Polymarket, some traders have already begun betting on how much it will rise or fall this year.