Insider Trading Fears Drive 50% Drop in Venice AI’s VVV Token

Venice AI’s VVV token plummeted by as much as 50% after allegations of insider trading surfaced, casting a shadow over the initial excitement surrounding its launch.

Launched on Monday, Venice AI is an AI platform built on the Base network, offering users private access to China’s DeepSeek without per-request fees. The platform gained significant attention, quickly surging from a market cap of $20 million to $1 billion, thanks to its promise of secure, uncensored AI inference.

The excitement was further fueled by its listing on Coinbase (COIN) on the same day as its launch, a rare achievement for new tokens. However, the mood soured on Tuesday evening when reports emerged suggesting that two contributors from launch partner Aerodrome Finance had made significant token purchases just after the platform went live—before any official announcements were made. Their positions reportedly grew from $50,000 to $1 million in less than an hour.

This raised suspicions of insider trading, and Aerodrome Finance moved quickly to address the issue. The company suspended the two contributors within hours of the incident after flagging the trading activity through internal monitoring. The team initiated an investigation, emphasizing that they would take appropriate action as needed.

“We are continuing our investigation and will take all necessary steps,” Aerodrome Finance stated in response to the allegations.