In less than a day, Trove Markets went from an ICO that garnered community attention to one of the most controversial cases in recent times. And the biggest issue is not the price crash, but the trust that was broken too quickly and decisively.
Below is the entire picture, simplified and easy to follow, based on what has happened.
1. Trove 'turns around' just 24 hours later, narrative collapses
Trove was initially promoted as a project built on the Hyperliquid system, attracting investors with the HyperEVM narrative. However, less than 24 hours after completing the ICO, the team unexpectedly announced a shift from HyperEVM to Solana.
The reason given is that a liquidity partner withdrew 500,000 HYPE. It sounds like a technical incident, but in reality, this is a direct blow to the story that the project used to raise funds. Most investors participated in the ICO due to the Hyperliquid narrative, but when this narrative disappeared, they were not provided with any options: no refunds, no protective mechanisms, and no satisfactory explanations.
Risk, which belonged to the project, has completely shifted to the token buyers.
2. The price crash is just the tip of the iceberg
Right after the TGE, the market cap of Trove plummeted from about 900,000 USD to over 200,000 USD. The current FDV is only around 300,000 USD, while the 24-hour trading volume remains at about 130,000 USD, indicating that liquidation and short-term trading are dominant.
However, the biggest damage is not in the numbers. It lies in how the community reacts.
3. Trove's Telegram 'collapsed': when trust turned into outrage
If the price chart reflects financial damage, then the Telegram groups reflect the collapse of trust.
The group 'Trove Angels (BETA)' quickly transformed from a product discussion place into a chaotic space. Investors publicly demanded refunds, proposing refunds based on the initial narrative. The feeling of disappointment quickly turned into anger.
Some messages contain personal attacks, and even extreme statements indicate that the community's emotions have surpassed rational debate. What is more concerning is the response from the Trove team is almost non-existent. No official announcements, no detailed explanations, pinned messages are still just links to TGE as if nothing happened.
This silence has completely shifted control of the narrative into the hands of the community. And in crypto, when a negative narrative is constructed by the community itself, it is very difficult to regain initial trust.
4. Insider allegations: the unusual footprints of 'hoangtrung99'
After the crash, the community began to dig deeper and a more serious question emerged: was there insider trading?
The focal point is an account on Polymarket named hoangtrung99. This account only spent about 100 USD but bet correctly on the match related to Trove and earned over 50,000 USD. The issue is not about winning big, but the timing almost perfectly coincides with the internal developments of the project.
Immediately after being noticed, this account continuously changed its name: from hoangtrung99 to ht9937, then to onchain-tracking. The timing of the identity changes when being scrutinized led many to suspect this was an attempt to erase traces. The number '9937' corresponds to the license plate code of Nghe An province, while also matching personal information uncovered by the community from Facebook of a real person with the same name.
5. OSINT outside the blockchain: the picture gradually becomes clear
When expanding the investigation to off-blockchain data, the pieces began to fit together. On GitHub, this person uses the username hoangtrung99 and has experience in ReactJS, TypeScript - popular tools for building DEX interfaces, ICO dashboards, and web3 products. On LinkedIn, this person previously held a Team Leadership role at Solashi, indicating that they are not an anonymous developer but someone with management experience and access to project information at a deep level.
This raises questions about the connection with 0xfrenship - the CMO of Trove, a figure active in the Solana ecosystem and frequently appearing in Trove groups. Additionally, the founder of Trove, unwisecap, previously confirmed meeting someone named F33 at the Solana Summit in Da Nang, who claimed to be a co-founder and directly participated in pitching the ICO on Telegram.
Some related accounts even followed investigative accounts like zachxbt and PolymarketStory right after the incident broke out, a behavior that usually occurs when someone is aware that they are being monitored.
Currently, there is no legal evidence to conclude insider trading, but when abnormal profits, precise timing, continuous identity changes, a sufficiently senior profile, and direct connections with the core team are put together, it is very difficult to consider this just a coincidence.
6. OSINT unveils the true identities of the Trove team
Then, the story escalated to a more serious level when an account on X named EyeOnChain published a detailed OSINT analysis chain.
Accordingly, the accounts believed to belong to unwisecap and 0xfrenship were initially registered on Telegram using an Iranian phone number, which was later changed to a virtual number. These numbers match two 'straw' identities: Moslem Gholamvaisi and Nafise Khosravi, indicating a high likelihood that the team proactively concealed their identities from the beginning.
The username history shows that they had previously operated in many crypto groups, meme coins, and old projects before appearing as part of the core team of Trove. EyeOnChain also traced the connection between 0xfrenship and an email associated with the ManifestorDAO project, along with an old X account that had been banned, indicating that this is not a new character in the scam ecosystem.
Some other members like ExilesXBT and aysygng were also traced back through emails, old usernames, and even real-life interview videos, revealing that their true identities are individuals who previously worked in web3 startups in Europe and the Middle East.
From an anonymous project on the blockchain, Trove has gradually been unveiled as a network of real people, real identities, and traceable activity histories. This makes the incident no longer simply a failed ICO or a token price collapse.
What is being raised is the suspicion of a pre-designed structure: hiding identities, creating narratives, raising funds quickly, and ready to disappear when trust collapses.
Trove, at this moment, is not just a lesson about investment risks. It is a reminder that in crypto, what disappears the fastest is not the price, but trust – and once lost, it is very difficult to regain.
