MegaETH’s Pre-Deposit Campaign Ends in Turmoil
The much-anticipated MegaETH pre-deposit campaign took an unexpected turn, leaving the crypto community both fascinated and outraged. This liquidity-boosting initiative, intended to prepare MegaETH for its December mainnet launch, became notorious for its technical failures, operational missteps, and the locking of $500 million in contracts. Here’s a full breakdown of events and what they mean for the cryptocurrency’s future.
The Campaign: A Promising Start
Launched on November 25th, the pre-deposit campaign was exclusively available to KYC-verified holders of the Sonar wallet and included attractive incentives. Early depositors were promised a 2.5% $MEGA airdrop multiplier and premium access terms, sparking immediate interest.
Initially capped at $250 million on USDC bridges from Ethereum, the campaign saw overwhelming participation. Within moments of its 9:00 AM EST launch, third-party APIs collapsed under user demand. After a one-hour platform outage, the $250 million cap was reached in just 156 seconds, with whales and bots dominating transactions.
Escalating Problems
The MegaETH team attempted to resolve user dissatisfaction by increasing the deposit cap to $1 billion. However, this decision backfired as it caused a massive 4x dilution for early depositors, who were not pre-warned and left with no withdrawal option.
A further complication arose around 10:30 AM, when the team’s multisig transaction setup for the $1 billion bridge adjustment inadvertently gave any user the ability to execute it. The issue stemmed from setting a 4/4 signature requirement instead of the intended 3/4. At 10:26 AM, a user spotted this error and prematurely executed the transaction, triggering an uncontrollable surge in deposits.
Panic and Damage Control
What followed was a chaotic series of cap adjustments and operational patches. By noon, the MegaETH team abandoned the $1 billion plan altogether and enabled withdrawal options, though less than 5% opted for refunds. Approximately $500 million ended up locked in contracts controlled by the MegaETH team.
Despite the operational mistakes, no exploits occurred, and the contracts had passed reputable audits by Zellic and Slowmist. Nevertheless, the incident revealed glaring sloppiness and amplified user distrust.
Mixed Reactions from the Crypto Community
The cryptocurrency community was divided. On X (formerly Twitter), #MegaETH trended across 50,000+ mentions. While some hailed the demand as proof of the project’s potential in a bear market, others harshly criticized the team, labeling the event a “clown show” and demanding refunds.
The $MEGA token maintained a pre-market value of $2-$3, and it remains unclear whether the negative sentiment will affect its December mainnet launch.
What’s Next for MegaETH?
MegaETH supporters can take solace in the fact that the locked funds and passing security audits could point to the project’s robust underlying technology. However, the team’s operational missteps must be addressed to restore user confidence. With the mainnet launch still scheduled for December, all eyes are on MegaETH to see if it can recover from this misstep and deliver on its promises.
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