Golem, an ICO project from 2016, strategically moves ETH to exchanges

Golem (GLM), one of the high-profile ICOs from 2016 and among the first projects on the Ethereum (ETH) network, was seen liquidating its treasury. At that moment, Golem managed to raise 820K ETH, making it one of the biggest holders with a long runway for development. 

The Golem ICO sent a big portion of its funds to several exchanges. Golem sits on as much as $400M, coming from the era of big ICO projects where those hauls were not unusual. Now, the project sent as much as $100M worth of Ethereum to various marketplaces. 

The Golem ICO was relatively successful, as the project built a decentralized computation market. The token sale also had significant returns in dollar, BTC and ETH terms. Additionally, the Golem ICO explained it has no desire to quit, and will instead use most of its ETH within the crypto ecosystem.

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The decisions of the Golem team put the spotlight on the fact that the project’s treasury is now larger than the market cap of GLM tokens. GLM is ranked beyond the top 20 of tokens, with a market cap of around $316M. While the ICO has returned 30X to long-term holders, ETH has appreciated by 300X during the same period. 

Golem turns to ETH staking

The Golem team reassured investors that it is not giving up or liquidating its whole treasury. Instead, they announced a readiness to stake some of their ETH to support the network. This would turn Golem into one of the largest node supporters, in addition to granting passive income to the project. 

The Golem team explained that the transactions were sent to exchanges precisely because it was a way to test staking. The Golem team claims it is testing a new approach to staking, which will conclude in August. 

The Golem community remains skeptical, as multiple ICO projects ended up with no discernible product and a crashing native token. 

The current transfers are some of the largest, but analysts noted Golem has been transferring funds to centralized exchanges for the past 37 days. The crypto startup still sits on an estimated 231K ETH, after going through two bear markets and attempting to develop its products. In the past three days alone, on-chain data suggests Golem has sent 24K ETH to exchanges, with the potential to sell.

The recent wallet transfers moved a total of 37K ETH, a significant haul capable of securing multiple staking nodes. ETH staking is already locking up around 27% of the total supply, with an APY of 2.89. 

Has Golem delivered its promised products?

Golem was a high-profile project during the 2017 bull run, easily lining up among top 20 tokens. In 2024, the project has slipped off the radar. Despite its significant treasury, Golem has lagged behind the latest round of Web3 development, and especially decentralized finance. 

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The Golem network has around 2,600 users online, and reports more than 14K computing cores. But the network’s earnings are also less than $50 in the past 24 hours, based on the current GLM price.

Golem does not show any value locked, and does not host decentralized protocols. Despite having its own blockchain, it is also not hosting any games, DEX or other usual apps. In this regard, Golem even lags behind Tezos and Cardano, two other large ICO projects that have delivered lower results compared to other networks. 

The only known utility for the Golem native asset, GLM, is staking. GLM is now trading at $0.32, and has not rallied above $1.08. The big advantage for GLM is that it is an older, low-risk asset, from a project that has survived a record amount according to crypto standards. 

GLM is listed on top centralized exchanges like Binance and Coinbase, but also has a DEX pairing on Uniswap. However, the community is now watching as they hold low-valued GLM tokens, while the team is drawing in millions. 

GLM tokens are turning useful in their obscurity, becoming a source of funding fees for risky short and long positions. 

The current selling of ETH far surpasses the monetary value of the 2016 ICO. The token sale happened while ETH was also in its early stages, and Golem only raised the equivalent of $8.7M. The significant treasury could put Golem as an investor, staker or liquidity whale in multiple scenarios, as the crypto market grew and developed in the past decade. 

Cryptopolitan reporting by Hristina Vasileva