ChainArgos, a blockchain data analysis company, has accused Polygon of having suspicious token flow issues that are inconsistent with its publicly claimed token distribution plan.
First, ChainArgos identified the token unlocking plan released by Polygon in previous years and created a table based on time, quantity (total unlocked to date), and category.
ChainArgos then used on-chain fund flows to identify Polygon’s “token lock-up contract” and “foundation-controlled contract address” on the blockchain. The following chart was created by ChainArgos based on the fund outflow data from the token lock-up contract, which, however, shows dates and shapes that are completely different from Polygon’s promised unlocking plan.
Furthermore, ChainArgos also analyzed the foundation-controlled contract address, where the largest amount of 1.9 billion MATIC tokens were allocated for the Binance Launchpad portion, which was not problematic. However, the portion attributed to “staking” showed abnormal fund flows.
ChainArgos discovered that since the deployment of the staking contract in June 2020, the amount of MATIC flowing into the contract increased from 0 to 800 million tokens, whereas according to the official initial release plan, it should have increased from 400 million to 1.2 billion tokens. In other words, 400 million MATIC tokens disappeared inexplicably.
Further investigation revealed that the 400 million missing MATIC tokens were actually sent to an address labeled “Binance 33,” which later transferred 300 million MATIC tokens to an address starting with 0x2f4. It is worth noting that this address starting with 0x2f4 also received 467 million MATIC tokens from the “Matic: Marketing & Ecosystem” wallet address, and ultimately, all these MATIC tokens flowed to the Binance exchange, most likely for selling.
These transactions mainly occurred between 2021 and 2023, and based on the market value during that time period, the total value of 767 million MATIC tokens is approximately $1 billion.
Through the evidence presented above, ChainArgos has indicated that the Polygon team did not distribute tokens as promised, and may have collaborated with Binance privately to sell MATIC tokens and profit from investors. As of the transcription of this article, the Polygon team has not responded to ChainArgos’s accusations.