<p>On December 19, the person behind Grimace pulled off what seemed like a New Year’s miracle. Live on stream, they made their followers several million dollars richer. This grand event was unintentionally funded by MEXC, an <a href="https://thenewscrypto.com/news/exchange-news/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">exchange </a>that decided to list the token on its futures market without the community’s consent.</p>
<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-the-backstory-a-detailed-look-at-the-dispute">The Backstory: A Detailed Look at the Dispute</h2>
<p>Back in spring 2023, a crypto project named Grimace burst onto the scene and quickly became a big deal. Early supporters who also donated to charity saw their investments grow rapidly. The community was lively, with money being given away and large-scale tournaments in games like poker and chess, and even rap battles, offering hefty cash prizes.</p>
<p>Grimace made its debut on the MEXC exchange on June 12, 2023. At first, users were happy with the low fees it offered. But the atmosphere changed in October when MEXC listed Grimace on its futures market without asking the community. This move was seen as a direct manipulation and wasn’t what the Grimace team had in mind.</p>
<p>Efforts to settle the issue calmly didn’t work. In response, a community leader named Odysseus <a href="https://twitter.com/GrimaceOdysseus/status/1712525740476916139" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow"><strong>called</strong></a> for everyone to pull their tokens from MEXC and switch to BitGet, leaving MEXC’s trading platform empty. As a result, the percentage of tokens held on MEXC plummeted from 40% to a mere 1.5%.</p>
<p>Ignoring the exchange’s lack of reaction, Odysseus issued a clear warning. He told the community to set up certain trades on Grimace futures, planning to first lower the price to trigger these trades and then rapidly increase it. This maneuver wasn’t too costly because the regular buying and selling market was quiet.</p>
<p>The exchange’s automated trading system, which usually makes money from price differences, ended up losing all its funds in this event, benefiting the Grimace community instead.</p>
<p>This incident cost the exchange a few hundred thousand dollars. Afterward, MEXC’s leaders quickly got in touch with Grimace’s creators. Still, there was no removal from the futures market, which led to more <a href="https://t.me/doge1/9940" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow"><strong>moves</strong></a> of the same kind. The final and most damaging hit to the exchange came later.</p>
<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-december-19-a-landmark-triumph-for-grimace">December 19 – A Landmark Triumph for Grimace</h2>
<p>On that day, Odysseus shared plans for a live stream on the <a href="https://t.me/invsignals" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow"><strong>INV TRADING channel</strong></a>.</p>
<p>He aimed to enact a bigger New Year’s miracle this time, enriching his viewers at the exchange’s expense. He set up trades at lower prices and then dramatically raised the price, multiplying it by ten to $358 per coin. This move brought incredible profits to those who followed his lead, especially with the added leverage.</p>
<div class="wp-block-image">
 <figure class="aligncenter"><img decoding="async" src="https://lh7-us.googleusercontent.com/eSprarCeAH_rQC1GC4Ly_vkzig4ORkH2xh-QP0Ne_VB9Gl-OKKDV2723gB8yKeeFhIXwriFQBmYTRyNnsSEZG698COr2IBYfrvMXXtIrS7SpI6kLpX1_WZAj9MG_mdkS_GbHP0MsH-jr736BcKuXI58" alt="">
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<p>At the same time, the regular market saw the price jump to $852. MEXC’s automated trading couldn’t keep up due to a shortage of funds, leaving Odysseus’s followers and INV TRADING to enjoy the windfall.</p>
<div class="wp-block-image">
 <figure class="aligncenter"><img decoding="async" src="https://lh7-us.googleusercontent.com/SWiOurP15SdmBan6EIY18kFK-luQrV-oemFp_H21kj_jcyVmBDpVOxet2netoPU_KYs1sNlexZjPYflEJdC2V3kTCdIyv-8XiC156SN2NHOWHk52rYThIR1yzFjyQzjdmo0ZOyRQyIgRZdvqEITUxc8" alt="">
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<p>Eventually, the platform struggled to even show the extremely high profit percentages.</p>
<div class="wp-block-image">
 <figure class="aligncenter is-resized"><img decoding="async" src="https://lh7-us.googleusercontent.com/ndgF8AiPL4kf_LChH7JRVh0OaJ2euthtdmbmbQjoXIGFoV6EwpJkF19qqShzd1JgsOvcTAttIqg4a4ceGsFIsJxJ3lDKhY1Vx5WJ1PmAW9nsIOKo7rnVOOlzCsiH9NokiXYzrP4QJcLqAGW-6PNyoVk" alt="" style="width: 100%;height:auto">
 </figure>
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<div class="wp-block-image">
 <figure class="aligncenter is-resized"><img decoding="async" src="https://lh7-us.googleusercontent.com/D8DeCfu7RSuNn_EveMu79Q7xhTXOe8_ulIczeM73rpCh3PGwdyQYr7FZed5W3Yb8haVpBW8rdNNBCWn0GNwa3NC11aFPArhZNelPhd1AztcoqQycdUHtSvrmVFkkgvnZflRwSlQJn7ppG8olYwjEPzI" alt="" style="width: 100%;height:auto">
 </figure>
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<p>An hour after these events, MEXC announced it would remove Grimace from its platform. Usually, such announcements come with a week or a month’s notice, but this time, users had less than two days to act.</p>
<div class="wp-block-image">
 <figure class="aligncenter"><img decoding="async" src="https://lh7-us.googleusercontent.com/cDKGdTFz08SLM81NF8oyh3nswfIlTxPWIMY1Ev9NWFmqeGvrCGS6g2g7u0pgf2uoE94UBFMmI5kyg5iQiWp7tdnzDc1EtIM5abEJgP2mAfd49SwadE24SE-AcGNFYlCwIb8bKfpFMuT1gQFZfhtVATM" alt="">
 </figure>
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<p>This marked a clear win for Grimace. We’re staying tuned to the latest from this highly active crypto community: <a href="https://twitter.com/GrimaceOdysseus" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow"><strong>https://twitter.com/GrimaceOdysseus</strong></a>.</p>

MEXC vs. Grimace: The Exchange’s Expensive Lesson

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