TROVE, the native token of perpetual DEX Trove Markets, plunged roughly 97% following its token generation event, wiping its valuation from about $20 million to under $500,000, per GeckoTerminal.
Market confidence had been fragile after a series of controversies, including last-minute ICO contract changes and an incident tied to Polymarket.
Targeting the booming perpetuals DEX market, Trove Markets promised leveraged access to collectibles, real-world assets, and equities.
Its TROVE token ICO ran from January 8 to January 11 without major issues, until just five minutes before closing, when the team unexpectedly amended the smart contract to extend the sale, creating immediate confusion.
Around the same time, large buy orders emerged on Polymarket’s Trove market, leading traders to bet heavily on the expected extension.
However, minutes after the announcement, the team reversed the decision, sparking an intensified backlash from the community.
One trader placed an $89,000 bet before the market closed and suffered roughly $73,000 in losses after the reversal.
Pivot away from Hyperliquid
On January 18, Trove Markets builder “Unwise” announced that the team would pivot away from Hyperliquid and rebuild on Solana.
We’re pivoting Trove to Solana.
After recent sentiment around Trove, the liquidity partner that had been supporting our Hyperliquid path chose to unwind their 500k $HYPE position. That was their decision and we fully respect it.
This changes our constraints: we’re no longer…
— unwise (@unwisecap) January 18, 2026
The sudden shift marked a major departure from Trove’s original technical roadmap and further unsettled token holders.
Despite these issues, the team remains active and publicly communicating.
BubbleMaps noted that one entity obtained 12% of the $TROVE supply. Investigators also traced approximately 80 recently created wallets, mainly funded via ChangeHero, showing identical funding patterns and no prior on-chain activity.
Most of these wallets are still holding, but it remains uncertain whether this represents a sybil presale setup or another distribution method, and there is currently no proven link to the Trove team.
This is a developing story.
