Tokens on Circle's new Arc blockchain experienced significant declines in the past 24 hours after traders cited the appearance of an Indian guest as a selling trigger. According to reports from CoinDesk, TOLLY token fell roughly 68% and ARGUS token dropped approximately 50% following the incident. The decline affected launchpad and meme assets rather than Circle issued tokens, with no ARC token trading yet available. The selling wave occurred within an hour of the guest appearance during the mainnet launch livestream.
Circle opened Arc's public mainnet on Wednesday with a broadcast from New York featuring keynotes from CEO Jeremy Allaire and roundtables with major institutions including BlackRock, DTCC, and Aave. As reported by CoinDesk, the Developer Pre-Show included partner highlights and community drop-ins, where Panchu Vijay Pal appeared from a home setup with a gaming chair. Pal runs XyloNet, a third-party stablecoin exchange that Circle's Arc team featured as a partner in June. A screenshot of the guest segment spread on X within the hour, with one trader telling 764,000 viewers he had exited the tokens.
According to CoinDesk reports, speculators had spent weeks positioning for a meme coin rush on Arc, with launchpads generating 82% of the chain's $410.8 million first-day DEX volume. The selling wave arrived over a face rather than fundamental concerns, as the tokens that fell were launchpad and meme assets rather than Circle issued tokens. GeckoTerminal data on Thursday showed the significant decline in both TOLLY and ARGUS tokens following the incident.
The incident sparked discussions about racial bias in the cryptocurrency market, with replies to the clip escalating from mockery to dehumanizing slurs aimed at Indians as a group. As reported by CoinDesk, Crypto with Khan pushed back against the bias, listing Indian-born CEOs at Google, Microsoft, IBM, and Adobe. Alphractal founder Joao Wedson posted that 'bias and racism are still very visible on X, especially in the crypto market', noting that innovation from the U.S. or Europe is often treated with credibility by default while Asian innovation faces more skeptical reactions.
