The CEO of Ice Open Network stepped forward this week to explain the sudden and sharp crash of its ION token, but the explanation has done little to quiet a community that is divided between sympathy and outright accusation.
According to the CEO, the ION crash was not caused by the core team’s selling. For over four years, the project operated without traditional banking by relying on token-based agreements with service providers who supported development, marketing, and operations in exchange for token allocations.
When market conditions deteriorated, one major long-term backer lost confidence, waited for its tokens to unlock, and exited by selling its entire position. That single exit caused the price collapse.
The CEO also disclosed that the project has spent nearly $18 million to date, with monthly expenses running at approximately $400,000. The core team took no salaries. A significant portion of the token supply was consumed by exchange listings, liquidity provision, and promotional costs, expenses the CEO said are far higher than most community members realise.
The project still holds over 1 billion tokens, but the team is now considering cutting costs and selling some tokens to stay operational.
His statement ended with a conditional commitment.
“We will watch the coming days carefully and assess whether there is enough confidence and momentum for us to continue building. If there is, we will keep going. If there is not, we will be forced to consider shutting the project down. And if that happens, I want to be clear: we will burn our remaining tokens, not sell them.”
The CEO has also faced serious allegations before this incident.
In 2018, a project associated with him reportedly raised approximately $43 million in an ICO that left investors with significant losses. In 2025, he launched multiple Tap2Mine projects that reportedly generated around 500 million ICE tokens, later migrated into ION through fees. A public promise was made to burn these tokens. That burn never happened.
Two days before the ION crash became public, the price collapsed heavily. Shortly after, the shutdown announcement followed.
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