Mercurial Finance Rebrands and Issues New Token to Distance from FTX
Mercurial Finance, a DeFi exchange providing stablecoin liquidity on Solana, is relaunching with a new token, MET, to replace MER in a bid to distance itself from the fallout of FTX.
This move is part of Mercurial Finance's broader strategy to rejuvenate the project following its association with the FTX collapse. The platform will rebrand as Meteora and distribute the new MET token to current MER holders at a 1:1 ratio.
However, the supply of the new MET token will be limited to 100 million tokens, only one-tenth of the previous MER supply. Of this, 20 million MET will be in circulation and liquid, while the remaining 80 million will be allocated to the DAO for governance.
Mercurial Finance announced on Twitter:
“We’re grateful to be doing this with you because we know that this is one of the best communities in crypto – we built it together. So let us build the future of Meteora and kick off a new era of Solana DeFi! 2023, let’s go!”
To implement this restructuring, Mercurial Finance will undertake the following steps:
- Snapshot of all circulating MER tokens will be taken during the first week of January 2023.
- For MER holders with tokens locked from the seed investment round, including team members, investors, and key partners, Mercurial will reimburse 50% of the token value.
- MER tokens stolen in the FTX hack (valued at $800,000) will not be considered for conversion. The DAO will decide on future actions once more clarity is achieved.
Sources close to the matter have indicated that the FTX hack, occurring after the exchange filed for bankruptcy, was the "biggest catalyst" for Mercurial’s decision to overhaul its entire protocol. Previously, the DEX had only planned to upgrade its trading platform. Mercurial Finance (MER) had its IEO on FTX in May 2021.
Mercurial stated on Twitter:
“New technology alone isn’t enough. Due to the events surrounding FTX/Alameda, we need to relaunch the token to attract user interest, rebuild market trust, and establish a solid platform, community, and ecosystem to ensure long-term success.”
Since FTX’s collapse in early November, the price of MER has dropped by over 46% to $0.008, according to CoinMarketCap. However, it has recently rebounded by 40% in the last 24 hours due to news of the new token airdrop.
Mercurial Finance (MER) price movement over the last 3 months, screenshot from CoinMarketCap as of December 28, 2022
Despite these efforts, the Solana ecosystem has been in a freefall since the FTX collapse. Leading DeFi project Serum (SRM) has ceased operations, and top NFT project DeGods has announced a move to Ethereum and Polygon.
The TVL on Solana has plummeted from $1 billion in early November to $214 million, making the prospects of reviving the ecosystem more tenuous than ever.
