Polygon Dump Incoming? Chinese MLM Scheme-Related Wallet Becomes Fifth Largest MATIC Holder

Avatar, a Chinese crypto project potentially running an MLM scheme, has amassed over 25.56 million MATIC tokens.
The project offers its users to “stake” their MATIC tokens for extremely high rewards and refer other users.
MATIC might see a significant decrease in price if Avatar turns out to be a scam and the founders dump their tokens.

Polygon (MATIC) has a new whale holding millions of MATIC tokens. That new whale is an obscure Chinese staking project that some crypto industry observers call a multi-level marketing (MLM) scheme.

Avatar, which calls itself a decentralized on-chain perpetual gaming finance (GameFi) project, has amassed over 25.56 million MATIC tokens in a few days. The wallet is now the fifth-largest holder and one of the top gas spenders on Polygon.

The wallet address linked to Avatar came to light on Monday after Wu Blockchain, a crypto Chinese reporter, and PeckShield, a blockchain security firm, noticed the rapid rise of MATIC tokens concentrating at one address.

The address 0xc7728354f9fe0e43514b1227162d5b0e40fad410 of a Chinese MLM project accumulated 22.37 million MATIC in a few days, surpassing Binance: Hot Wallet2 became the fifth largest MATIC holding address. This address has consumed 100,000 MATIC gas in the past 7 days.
— Wu Blockchain (@WuBlockchain) February 13, 2023

While there’s not much information about Avatar available on its website or traditional social media channels, some users on Twitter have found possible evidence indicating that Avatar is operating an MLM scheme.

Chinese MLM Scheme Hoarding MATIC Tokens

A whale accumulating one of the top Layer-2 tokens is a welcoming sign for Polygon believers and MATIC holders. However, it seems that the whale, in this particular case, is nothing but an MLM scheme.

A Twitter user called CryptoNasss found out that Avatar is likely running an MLM scheme. The project calls it a “referral staking program,” allowing users to earn a yield on their MATIC tokens for every new user they bring in.

Wonder what the #1 Smart Contract on Polygon that's been eating up gas fees in the last couple of days is all about?https://t.co/feD11vM42f

Avatar - Polygon

A thread.

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— Naz (@CryptoNasss) February 10, 2023

Avatar allegedly lures in new investors by offering enormous rewards for MATIC holders that “stake” their tokens and refer other users. Rewards start from a 1% daily APY and go up for longer lockup periods.

If the fifth-largest holder of MATIC tokens runs an MLM scheme, then MATIC might see a dump in its value in the coming days and weeks.

Is Polygon (MATIC) Dump Incoming?

MATIC has been of the best-performing tokens since the start of the year and recently even overtook Dogecoin (DOGE) by market cap for a few hours.

However, if Avatar turns out to be an MLM scheme and the founders dump their tokens, MATIC may see a significant price decrease.

MATIC is currently trading at $1.16, down 9.3% in the last 24 hours, according to data from CoinGecko. It’s down around 60% from its all-time high of $2.92.