Crypto staking platform Freeway halts withdrawals, sending FWT token into a free fall

Crypto-staking platform Freeway, which touted up to 43% annual rewards, halted withdrawals and deposits on its platform on Oct. 23, citing market volatility. The platform also deleted its team details, which allegedly hints at a rug pull, according to FatManTerra. As a result, the platform’s native token FWT was down more than 70% over the past 24 hours.

According to the Freeway website, the firm has “decided to diversify its asset base” to avoid future market volatility and increase the sustainability of the platform.

To adjust its investment strategy, the platform will allocate capital to its portfolio and suspend its ‘Supercharger simulations,’ according to the statement. The “Supercharger simulations,” which offer a higher yield, emulate the prices of popular cryptocurrencies, such as Bitcoin (BTC) and Ethereum (ETH), and can be bought using USDT, USDC, BNB, and other cryptocurrencies.

While Freeway is one of many crypto platforms that have halted withdrawals over the past few months, crypto influencer FatManTerra alleged that the project was operating a “Ponzi scheme,” since big withdrawals were getting “delayed” even before the halt. He called the halting of withdrawals a rug pull of over $100 million.

FatManTerra also noted that the project deleted its team biographies. On Oct. 22, FatManTerra said on Twitter that the CEO of Freeway had made false claims about his background, which were removed from the website after FatManTerra confronted him.

Also, FatManTerra alleged that the project had claimed its team consisted of former Google, HSBC, and IBM employees, which FatManTerra could not verify. 

Further, the crypto influencer alleged that Freeway’s legal structure was “shady” and could make it difficult for depositors to recover assets. He further stated that having reviewed the firm’s trading strategy, he was unconvinced that it could be “profitable in the long run.” Freeway claimed that it could generate 30% on customer deposits without putting the assets at risk, which according to FatManTerra, is “unlikely to be true in the current market environment.”

Back on Oct. 22, FatManTerra warned users on Twitter that Freeway “will collapse within the next few months and that all depositors will lose everything.” However, his allegations still remain unsubstantiated at present.

According to CryptoSlate, the Freeway native token (FWT) has lost more than 70% of its value over the past 24 hours after the halt of withdrawals was announced.

Freeway was not a significant or well-known project, with a market cap of less than $70 million before the crash and now $10 million at current trading prices.

Freeway claimed it had $160 million in total value locked via a figure published on its website. Meanwhile, on-chain data suggests that the majority of the largest of the 4,342 token holders received it during an airdrop and were otherwise idle.