Poloniex Enters Controversial IEO Space With Tron-Only Platform

Poloniex revealed its forthcoming Tron (TRX)-powered initial exchange offering (IEO) platform on April 5.

Projects seeking to conduct their offerings on Poloniex’s LaunchBase platform face the stipulation of issuing tokens in exchange for TRX, and will be considered on a “first-come, first-serve” basis.

Poloniex announces Tron-powered IEO platform

Poloniex asserts that LaunchBase is intended “to help quality blockchain projects grow and further develop their ecosystem,” stating that it will “offer professional advice and guidance” to assist partner projects.

In addition to agreeing to raise funds in TRX, partner projects will be subject to “eligibility and screening requirements.” Entities located in “certain jurisdictions” may not be eligible due to regulatory considerations.

Poloniex states that more details regarding LaunchBase will be disclosed in the coming days.

Just to conduct first offering through LaunchBase

The first project slated to conduct an IEO with Poloniex is a Tron-based stablecoin lending platform called Just (JST).

Just is a decentralized lending platform where users can stake TRX to generate the USDJ stablecoin — which can be used to pay for interest, maintenance, and other activities. 

On Twitter, Tron founder, Justin Sun, described Just as building a decentralized finance (DeFi) lending and governance protocol.

Sun was among a consortium of Asian investors who purchased Poloniex in October 2019. Poloniex is the 15th-largest crypto exchange by volume.

IEOs face criticism over token allocations

IEO’s have emerged as an alternative to initial coin offerings (ICOs) where the issuing exchange handles considerations including regulation, marketing, and market making in exchange for a significant share of a token’s distribution.

Many projects launched through Binance’s Launchpad platform have been criticized for their token distribution allocations and centralization.

Only 19% of Matic Network's (MATIC) total supply was allocated for distribution through its IEO on Launchpad. 11 months after its IEO, the top 100 MATIC wallets hold 98.62% of supply.

Harmony (ONE) launched on the platform the following month — issuing just 12.5% of its total sale to the public. Today, 99.47% of Harmony’s supply is held in ust two wallets.

In July 2019, Wink (WIN) went on to issue just 5% of its supply via Launchpad IEO.