A new blockchain project, Yellow, that previously attracted $10 million in personal investment from Ripple co-founder Chris Larsen has faced massive criticism from members of the XRP community immediately after the listing of its token. Observers’ attention was drawn to asset-selling operations from a wallet that is linked to the developers.
The project’s token was launched simultaneously on the Ethereum and XRP Ledger (XRPL) networks. Due to the absence of a direct technical bridge between the blockchains and high initial demand, the asset’s price on XRPL turned out to be significantly higher than on the Ethereum network.
The team says it is arbitrage. The community is sure they were simply “used”
During this period, tokens worth about 20,000 XRP were sold on the XRPL market from a wallet associated with the startup’s team. Project representative Burak Cem explained in private chats that these transactions were “team wallet arbitraging,” necessary to reduce the emerging price premium and align the rates.
The team’s actions provoked a mixed reaction in the community. Kaj Leroy, a developer popular in the XRP Ledger ecosystem, expressed doubt about the technical possibility of conducting full-fledged arbitrage trades without a working cross-chain bridge.
According to critics, such operations on the first day of trading effectively amount to “liquidity extraction” at the expense of early retail buyers.
The incident developed in the context of a public discussion started by influencer JC Rivera , who reproached the XRP community for systematic skepticism toward new startups. In response, opponents led by Kaj Leroy justified the community’s wariness with the new project’s on-chain data.
In their opinion, external teams often use rhetoric about “onboarding” users, while their actions lead to locking in quick profits at the expense of XRP holders’ liquidity.
At the moment, the project, which plans to launch clearing solutions for AI agents, has not provided any additional official comments on the situation. The local community’s level of trust in the new startup remains under pressure.
