Notcoin loses 85% value in first week as investors sell airdropped tokens

Social media giant Telegram-endorsed cryptocurrency, Notcoin (NOT) has experienced a dramatic over 85% drop in value within the first week of its listing.

According to a report, the sharp decline was attributed to investors quickly selling off their airdropped tokens to secure profits rather than holding onto them for potential future gains. This massive sell-off led to a significant oversupply in the market, driving the price down further. Consequently, investors who bought the hype are now facing heavy losses.

Co-created by Open Builders founder Sasha Plotvinov, the Notcoin game is based on the Telegram messaging app.

The token became very popular about a month ago owing to widespread engagement of a game that allowed Web3 enthusiasts to earn coins by tapping on phone screens while using a Telegram bot. According to its founders, around 35 million people globally mined Notcoin via this activity.

Notcoin debuted on the Toncoin network last week. Nearly $1 billion worth of NOT tokens were airdropped to eligible investors. Within 24 hours of its listing, the crypto coin reached the eighth position in trading volume and exceeded $1.4 billion in total value.

Read our review: $NOT token launch: Here is all you need to know about Notcoin

Additionally, gamers earned extra tokens by completing quests that usually involve actions such as following a Twitter account or joining a Telegram community as well as “boosts” or power-ups in the game that increased their earning potential. 

On the first day of April, Notcoin ended its mining phase. It also secured high-profile listings on major exchanges, including Binance. Initially, the buzz around Notcoin saw it achieve an all-time high of $0.037.

The project gained significant traction mostly owing to endorsements from Telegram founder, Pavel Durov. On May 17, Durov expressed his gratitude for a generous donation of over 1 billion NOT tokens, valued at approximately $6.8 million, from the Notcoin community.

He also publicly praised the coin on his Telegram channel, highlighting the project’s rapid growth and its transition from an in-game currency to real money for its users. In fact, he announced to his users that he would hold the tokens till their valuation grows by 100 times- that is $680 million in total worth of the same coin.

In response to the price volatility, the team has outlined initiatives: campaigns, products, and offers to boost user engagement and token stability. These include extending staking benefits and providing access to exclusive allocations from other launches for Gold and Platinum level users.

Meanwhile, the Notcoin team also indicated that while they plan to encourage users to stake their tokens, they do not intend to initiate a lock feature or force anyone to stay. “You are free to unstake your Notcoin and withdraw it on-chain anytime. Yes, you’ll lose your Level benefits and access to the pools. However, we don’t want to lock or force anyone to stay. Notcoin is a free choice,” the team wrote.

It appears the team is fighting a trend it may have encouraged at the beginning. Recall that during the mining phase, the team introduced something called the NFT voucher programme.

The programme allowed gamers who had earned over 10 million Notcoins to convert them to NFT vouchers which could be bought, sold, or traded before the launch of the $NOT token.

The effect of this was that gamers were allowed to speculate on the eventual price of the real token. At the height of this activity, a Notcoin Voucher (10 million Notcoins) exchanged hands for around $230.

It is important to see how the Notcoin team will be able to arrest the falling value of the coin when most of the holders probably acquired them to sell rather than hold.