Ocean Protocol’s sudden withdrawal from the ASI Alliance has led to accusations surrounding a significant token rug pull. Independent on-chain analytics from Bubblemaps indicate that around 270 million FET, valued at approximately $120 million, was moved to exchanges without prior notification to the alliance or FET holders.

The ASI Alliance, inaugurated in March 2024, involved Ocean Protocol, Fetch.ai, and SingularityNET, under a unified token, FET, allowing for the conversion of Ocean Protocol’s OCEAN tokens.

Ocean Protocol Facing Criticism

Despite the merge, substantial OCEAN was kept in team-controlled wallets, supposedly for community incentives and data farming. As per Bubblemaps, by July 1, 2024, an Ocean Protocol wallet converted 661 million OCEAN into 286 million FET, transferring 90 million FET to OTC provider GSR Markets.

By August 31, 196 million FET were allocated across 30 new addresses. By October 14, nearly all these assets were reported transferred to exchanges, totaling about 270 million FET—160 million to Binance and 109 million to GSR Markets. Notably, these transfers coincided with Ocean Protocol’s exit from the ASI Alliance on October 9 without public clarification regarding the community token redistribution.

In response, the FET team publicly accused Ocean Protocol of liquidating tokens meant for community rewards. The CEO of Ocean Protocol rejected these claims as “unfounded and baseless rumors” and promised a formal reply soon.

The on-chain data affirms only the transfer activities, raising concerns over the reasons behind such significant movements of community-dedicated funds without notification.

Demand for Transparency from Ocean

As the situation unfolds, Fetch.ai’s CEO Humayun Sheikh and the wider FET community demand clarity from Ocean Protocol regarding the management of these tokens. Specifically, queries arise concerning the timing of the token conversions, the security structure of OceanDAO’s SAFE wallet, and the handling of the transferred tokens.

“The ASI Alliance was founded on principles of collaboration, transparency, and shared accountability. As this situation evolves, we remain focused on protecting FET holders and maintaining the integrity of the ecosystem. While challenges like this test the strength of our alliances, they also underline the importance of these principles. We expect Ocean to provide answers, and for the community to learn from this to become stronger and more resilient.” — Humayun Sheikh.

In accordance with these assertions, Fetch.ai has initiated class-action claims to assist affected FET holders in pursuing compensation, potentially resulting in multi-jurisdictional lawsuits and increased scrutiny of Ocean Protocol’s governance and token management practices.