Stox, the ICO that was ‘supported’ by Floyd Mayweather, has launched a strong defense of itself in the wake of claims it has just pulled an exit scam. Stox paid Mayweather an unknown sum in order to promote the coin during the height of the ICO boom in 2017. Yet, since then they have, according to one keen-eyed follower, been involved in several activities that have left investors worried about their stake in the project. The critical article levels a number of accusations at Stox, including:
- The team, and one advisor in particular, sold large numbers of their tokens shortly after listing on the Bancor exchange
- The customer relations team disappeared, the CEO resigned, the office has been abandoned, and all the staff fired.
- The team has the ability to return millions of tokens to their wallet whenever they like via a ‘revoke’ function, which they have already done
Fact or FUD?
Many ICOs have proved to be elaborate, or sometimes not so elaborate, exit scams, and so those in the crypto space might not have been surprised to read about such allegations, especially where celebrity endorsements are involved. Ironically Floyd Mayweather is at the heart of a legal case involving another ICO he fronted, Centra Tech, along with DJ Khaled. However, in this case it seems that the attacks may be unfounded. Stox’s response, titled ‘How easy it is to create FUD’, was direct and to the point, stating that the Reddit post was simply a copy and paste from a post made last year, which at the time was quickly rebuffed.
Reiterating the points made at the time, they stated that the revoke function was used straight after the ICO to fix amounts in partner wallets, with the tokens being revoked and transferred in accordance with the white paper guidelines and partnership agreements. Stox also stated that they terminated the contract with the community management company, but are in talks to renew the contract and re-establish the relationship. They did not address the issues over the staff and CEO situation, although further research suggests these accusations to be inaccurate, if not pure invention.
The Proof is in the Project
Given that the ICO space has been riddled with failures, scams, and hacks ever since the DAO hack in 2016, foul play of some sort is almost expected from anything that doesn’t have a working project or huge partnerships out of the gate. With ICOs, it’s no different than any other tech startup, many things can, and will, go wrong. Stox claims that “…this project is continuing to work and move forward” which can only be taken at face value until a working product emerges to put the criticisms to rest.
