This week, the cryptocurrency community was shaken after Kaden announced a sudden shutdown, causing the price of KDA to increase demolition by more than 60% in a few hours. It caused a huge drop in prices huge sale as investors struggled to make sense of the sudden shutdown of a once-promising blockchain project. Soon after, a shocking revelation by analysts revealed that the problems were far deeper market conditionsindicating serious internal misconduct and mismanagement.
Kadena scandal exposed after the drop in KDA prices
A day after the drop in KDA prices on Tuesday, cryptoanalyst Lovrin discovered on social media X that several Kadena employees were allegedly caught shorting the token with leverage just before shutdown announcementssecuring tens of millions of dollars in profits. Reports indicate that crypto exchanges allegedly facilitated these trades, giving the impression of being coordinated internal manipulation.
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Adding fuel to the scandal is the viral X post by crypto market commentator @Katexbt exposed additional charges against Kadena leadership. The post claimed that Kadena founders Stuart Popejoy and Will Martin were allegedly being sued by family members over a personal loan used to finance Kadena, raising questions about its financial transparency from the start.
Katexbt argued that the blockchain is effectively dysfunctional, claiming a permeability of 480,000 transactions per second, but it lacked real users or wallets. The partnerships and institutional engagement that have been publicly touted are allegedly exaggerated or fabricated, adding further doubts to the legitimacy of the Kadena project.
The team reportedly hired ia Agency KOLprioritizing selling tokens for real money over paying a marketing company for its services. Additional allegations point to complex ties between Kadena management and related companies, including the Kaddex domain, said to be registered under Popejoy’s family-run Kadena Eco golf club in Italy.
Katexbt claimed that the blockchain project got sued at some point, but it didn’t make much of a difference because the team was hiding behind a maze LLC companies. More shockingly, a crypto commentator claimed that the Kadena team worked with Francesco Melpignano, the former CEO of Kadena Eco, to extract large amounts of KDA, which were then sold near peak prices, bringing in an estimated profit of $20-80 million. Afterward, community members reportedly fired Melpignano, though Katexbt claims the former CEO remains on the fake company’s payroll.
About closing Kadena
On Tuesday, Kadena released a public statement confirming the cessation of all business activities. The team emphasized that, despite the organization’s shutdown, the Kadena blockchain will continue to operate independently under decentralized model.
Related reading: $19 Billion Bitcoin and Crypto Crash: What Caused XRP Price to Drop 50% in One Candle?
The announcement described the closure as a response to market volatility and adverse conditionsexpressing gratitude to staff, partners and the community. The Kadena team clarified that the blockchain itself is not owned or operated by the company, emphasizing that independent miners and maintainers would manage it in the future. They also noted that around 566 million KDA remain to be distributed as mining rewards until 2139, while 83.7 million tokens are scheduled to come out of lockup by November 2029.
Featured image from Getty Images, chart from Tradingview.com
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