Vitalik-backed MegaETH sees token fall 55% on first day trading

MegaETH’s token is off to a shaky start.

On Thursday, the layer 2 blockchain, which lists Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin among its early investors, launched its MEGA token, airdropping some 500 million tokens to those who bought them during the project’s October public token sale.

The token began trading at 11 am London time and initially rose to an all-time high of $0.38, according to CoinGecko data.

But it quickly began to sell off, dropping some 55% to trade at around $0.17.

Despite the volatility, those who bought the token during the public sale are still in profit. MegaETH sold the tokens at a clearing price of $0.0999 each, raising just under $50 million.

The project also sold 500 million tokens via a $10 million funding round on Echo, the early stage investing platform, at $0.02 each.

MegaETH’s wobbly launch comes as investor appetite for new crypto tokens dwindles.

The crypto market has been in the lurch since October, when it experienced a huge, structural crash that triggered over $19 billion in leverage liquidations.

Since then, investors' interest has been mostly limited to established cryptocurrencies, such as Bitcoin.

Slow start

MegaETH is an Ethereum layer 2 network which touts itself as the first “real-time blockchain” capable of over 100,000 transactions per second.

The project previously secured $30 million in venture funding, almost $28 million by selling NFTs, and another $50 million selling tokens, bringing its total raise to around…