According to a September 28 social media post from the official channel, the total trade volume on the decentralized exchange (DEX) Pond0X has surpassed $100 million. When the native token of the exchange, PNDX, was first released, investors lost almost $2 million because of a feature that allowed anyone to transfer it without the owner’s permission. However, proponents argue that the developer is not to blame for these losses.
The official channel provided proof of the Pond0X’s trading activity by linking to a Dune dashboard made by user Mogie that demonstrated over $111 million in total trading volume as of September 29.
On July 28th, the PNDX token was introduced. Some others thought it was a hoax or an attempt to get out of something at the time. The controversy surrounded the unconventional coin launch orchestrated by the project’s creator, Jeremy Cahen (aka “Pauly”). Cahen announced the launch on X (formerly Twitter), where he provided the URL for an app that exchanged a specified number of Ether for PNDX. He also shared the token contract address.
As a result, some investors have begun purchasing PNDX on Uniswap by utilizing the coin’s contract address, while others have begun depositing ETH into the app in exchange for PNDX. Minting PNDX became profitable once its price on Uniswap surpassed the cost of ETH required to create it. Some have argued that the app’s miners gained access to more than $2 million in wealth from Uniswap buyers. Critics claim the whole concept was designed to scam investors out of their money and send it to Cahen since the ETH deposited through the app was sent to a contract with no means of retrieving the funds.
Experts in computer programming also started complaining that the token didn’t have a standard transfer function. Tokens on PNDX might be transferred between users without the owner’s involvement. This meant that at any time, any developer may “steal” a PNDX token using developer tools, leaving any PNDX owner vulnerable to losing their tokens. Blogger and self-proclaimed Solidity expert Sm-stack made the assertion on July 29 that they had conducted a test in Foundry that demonstrated this.
Even though it’s been almost two months since the project’s inception, it has gained a significant following on social media platform Twitter, with hundreds of users regularly retweeting official messages with comments like “FEELS GOOD MAN” and “Best DEX, don’t see a reason for people to use other tbh.”
The app’s smart contract code was reportedly deciphered by cryptocurrency dealer and writer Antony Williams on July 29. Pond0x is “fundamentally an LP Farm” and not a total swindle, in his opinion. Each user receives a unique ID from the app, which is used to allocate a certain number of Pepe tokens to that user. By invoking the “BribeforLevelUp” function, users can raise the amount of Pepe rewards to which they are entitled. The user needs pay 0.26 ETH to use this service. In order to distribute incentives, this ETH is needed to acquire Pepe tokens. A “Score” is also assigned to each user by the trading platform. If everything else stays the same, a higher score indicates a greater potential payoff from trading fees earned.
Also, the creator of the BALD token has denied accusations of a price manipulation when the token’s value dropped by 85% immediately after its release.
Williams could not specify when exactly these incentives would be made available to participants, but he did suggest that the developer “likely” intends to do so. He further suggests that “to avoid legal complications,” the PNDX token was designed to be worthless.
On September 1st, the project introduced a decentralized currency exchange. The Dune dashboard referenced above indicates that the DEX’s trading volume has surpassed $100 million, proving that some investors are unfazed by the criticism leveled at Pond0X.