We’ve Been Fooled - How FTX Tried to Destroy Internet Computer (ICP)
We’ve been lied to and most of us fell for it. If there is one thing that you need to know in the cryptocurrency market, it is that not everything is how it appears. There are games that are being played that most of us aren’t privy to, don’t have access to, and have no idea what is happening. Games where billions of dollars are at stake, and there aren’t any rules. The only thing that matters is winning and surviving against your rivals no matter the stakes.
Today I will be telling you about Internet Computer (ICP), built by Dfinity, and how Alameda/FTX tried to destroy this project before it ever officially launched.
The Internet Computer blockchain incorporates a radical rethink of blockchain design, powered by innovations in cryptography. It provides the first “World Computer” blockchain that can be used to build almost any online system or service, including demanding web social media, without the need for traditional IT such as cloud computing services. As such it can enable full end-to-end decentralization.
Most people reading this article will already have a certain opinion about the Internet Computer project, which is likely not good. Perhaps you view it as a scam, a pump and dump by its developers, too centralized, a project that has done nothing but drop since its launch. That has been the general consensus since it launched at the peak of the crypto market in May 2021. However, recent revelations in the crypto market have proven that none of these were true. These were all narratives that were fed to us by Alameda/FTX in order to tank ICP before it ever got started. They tried to pull one over on all of us and nearly succeeded.
Why did Alameda/FTX do this?
Simply put, Solana was known as the Sam coin, a blockchain that was heavily backed by FTX and Alameda. Perhaps Solana would have been able to become successful in the future even without the help of SBF, but there is no denying that the project was jumpstarted and boosted significantly due to the support it was receiving. Perhaps FTX was only attempting to trade against ICP to profit greatly, or perhaps it saw ICP as a huge threat in the future to Solana. ICP was a project that had arguably better tech, a much grander vision, and more developers and was being touted as potentially the next big pillar in crypto after both Bitcoin and Ethereum.
And so, they decided to try to put an end to ICP before the project even launched. Which destroyed ICP’s reputation in the short term and set the project back.
FTX did this by launching perpetual futures of ICP days before the mainnet was officially set to launch, and before spot token trading was officially launched for retail users. With these perpetual futures, FTX was able to control the price and they pumped up the price to obscene levels. In the $400–500 range. Which made ICP jump up to number 3 in terms of market cap. This brought a lot of attention and hype to the project. And many questions about what this new project was. As it was brand-new for so many people.
And then, FTX flipped the switch and began tanking the price of ICP. Which caused one of the largest percentage price drops the crypto market has seen on what is considered to be a “big project.” It was a deadly combination for ICP of the token and market mindshare being manipulated by FTX, and also that being the peak of the crypto bull market. With the market only going down since then.
Reaching a peak on the token’s launch day of $428, and now falling all the way down to under $400. Dropping 99%.
This means that if the FUD surrounding the ICP project around its launch that was created by FTX did cause you to lose conviction in the project, then this historic price drop certainly would.
The Truth
The truth is simply that Internet Computer didn’t have a fair launch and has never really been given a fair chance. Without FTX’s manipulation, ICP would have never reached those crazy launch day prices, however, it's likely the project wouldn’t have fallen quite as far. Even more importantly, its reputation would have never been tarnished.
With that said, the Internet Computer team isn’t giving up. They recently learned of how FTX attempted to kill their project before it even launched and have begun to spread the word. Recently the Creator of ICP, Dominic Williams had an interview on Bitboy’s YouTube channel. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DIWDjcgCKnI
The truth is that ICP has had several lies said about it that simply weren’t true. We were all fooled once again by one of the biggest players in the market at the time.
The Potential
I was also one of the people who fell for the manipulation that was given to us about this project. For quite some time before this ICP launched, I was a big fan of the project. Recognizing how ambitious of a project it was, and how it could change everything. However, with everything that happened, I lost my confidence in the project and would sell out of my position. I had been fooled like so many others.
But, recently I have been seeing these new revelations that have come out and watched many of the interviews. This led me to once again do a deep dive back into ICP.
The tech behind ICP and its ambition is something that makes me incredibly excited. It brings me back to the days when I got into crypto in the first place. Many of you will know that I’m deeply into Bitcoin and very passionate about it. The great thing about ICP is that it isn’t an either/or project like Solana. ICP aims to work with other chains. In fact, very soon they will be updating the protocol to allow Bitcoin integration. This will allow smart contracts to be done on Bitcoin while keeping the security of Bitcoin. This is a game-changer.
ICP’s price has dropped by 99% to under $4. I would argue that this is an incredible entry price for people to get into ICP. There is no denying there is a great opportunity here. I have begun taking a position in this project once again. This is a project that is trying to do things the “right way.” By taking its time to do the research before updating. This project is one in which you need to have a much longer timeframe than most other projects.
The team hasn’t stopped developing and that is evident by the huge Bitcoin integration that is soon coming. While the 1st chapter in Internet Computer’s history has been a difficult one. Moving forward, I expect to see much brighter days.
How about you? Were you fooled by the manipulation thrown toward ICP?
As always, thank you for reading!