Magic Eden’s ME token dips on debut as users report app issues

Magic Eden’s freshly launched token has dipped in value on its release as the non-fungible token (NFT) platform’s users complained of a buggy mobile app and an overly complex claiming process, among other issues.

The platform’s self-titled token, Magic Eden (ME), debuted on Dec. 10 at $6.70 and briefly rallied as high as $13.10 before plummeting as much as 67% to a low of $4.30, according to DexScreener data. 

The price of ME has since rebounded sharply and is now trading for just over $8.60 at the time of publication.  

The price of Magic Eden’s native ME token has whipsawed following its airdrop. Source: DexScreener

The airdrop was marred by complaints from users, who described the process for claiming the token as overly convoluted and said that Magic Eden’s mobile app — needed for the claims process — was glitchy and hard to navigate. 

“My app is stuck, can’t claim, people dumping ME like hot cakes. Awesome,” one user wrote in a Dec. 10 X post. 

“Why make this so complicated — I simply do not understand why you would do this,” another wrote. 

There was also confusion among users on whether the tokens could be claimed via desktop or solely on mobile.

“Can you only claim on mobile? Or can I claim on desktop? Mobile shows unclickable ‘claim now’ and desktop only shows ‘stake now,’” a user asked on X in response to Magic Eden. 

To claim ME, users were made to download Magic Eden’s mobile app, scan a QR code on a desktop device such as a laptop, link their eligible wallets, and then claim their allocated airdrop.

“I would give up 50% of my $ME airdrop just to never use this f*cking mobile app again,” jested pseudonymous crypto user wale.moca in a Dec. 10 post to X. 

Source: wale.moca

There was also a swathe of complaints that the airdrop claims website had suffered intermittent downtime — presumably due to an outsized spike in traffic as claimants rushed to grab their promised ME tokens. 

Related: Magic Eden faces backlash over US service separation

Magic Eden notified users roughly three hours after the claim went live, saying the issue had been resolved. 

ME tokenomics

The ME token, released by the platform’s backing Magic Eden Foundation, has a total supply of 1 billion, with 125 million tokens being made available to the NFT platform’s users until Feb. 1 next year.

Of the total 1 billion supply, 12.5% was allocated to the airdrop, 50% has been reserved for community incentives, and the remaining 37.5% is allocated to contributors and strategic participants.

At the time of publication, the ME token touts a total market capitalization of $776 million and a fully diluted valuation (FDV) — the token’s price multiplied by the total unreleased supply —  of $5.9 billion.  

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