The long-awaited launch of the GUN token has triggered frustration among early investors after unexpected changes were made to its vesting schedule.
Investors who backed the project up to five years ago were told they would not receive tokens at launch, despite earlier expectations of partial unlocks. The update came just before the token generation event (TGE), leaving some backers feeling sidelined as the token began trading publicly.
The changes appear to have reduced the circulating supply of GUN at launch, contributing to an inflated fully diluted valuation (FDV) relative to the market cap. Gunzilla Games, the studio behind Off the Grid, has offered investors the option to accept the revised terms or request a refund.
What was the controversy all about?
According to a widely shared tweet by @graildoteth, investors who had committed capital as early as five years ago were informed via email of a revised vesting schedule for their tokens. Initially expecting a partial unlock at the token generation event (TGE)—5% for seed investors and 2% for strategic investors—the new terms now impose a 12-month cliff with no tokens released at launch.
The email from Gunzilla Games offered investors the option to accept the updated terms or request a refund. It cited the need to “foster a robust and healthy foundation” for the project’s token economy, based on insights from the past year of testnet activity.
The change has drawn criticism for being introduced at the last minute, particularly from investors who had held their positions for up to five years. Grail.eth described the move as a “pretty bad treatment” for investors, arguing that it concentrates token supply and inflates the market value whilst excluding early backers from initial gains.
How has the token performed since launch?
The GUN token launched on Monday and initially rose to a peak price of $0.115 before falling more than 30% over the course of the day.
It is currently trading just above $0.064, according to CoinGecko. Only about 6% of the total 10 billion token supply is in circulation, most of which is allocated to exchange rewards programmes.
This small float has resulted in a market capitalisation of under $50 million, but the FDV—based on the total supply—briefly surpassed $1 billion during peak.
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