Solana-based Space responds to backlash over public token sale

Space, a Solana-based leveraged prediction market platform, has moved to address community concerns following its public token sale, which attracted more than eight times its initial target.

The platform published an explanation on Wednesday, January 21, 2026, after its sale received over $20 million in demand against a $2.5 million target raise figure, allocating 19.6% out of the 51% of its total token supply that was set for the community.

The platform also stated that it has returned over $7.3 million after the final runway review.

Space’s tokenomics structure allocates 51% of the total supply to the community, 14% to investors and advisors, and 15% to core contributors and liquidity and listings, respectively. 5% is set for marketing.

The controversy has drawn comparisons to recent turmoil surrounding Trove Markets, another prediction market project that faced backlash over similar fundraising discrepancies.

Is the Space prediction platform’s $2.5 million a soft cap or hard cap?

Space maintains that the $2.5 million figure represented a “soft cap” rather than a hard cap. However, many members of the community claim that the said figure is a hard cap.

In its defense, Space wrote, “This terminology is standard nomenclature among some launchpads, calling their soft cap a target. This structure works because it allows projects to scale responsibly based on real demand rather than being stuck undercapitalized.”

The platform stated that the soft cap was a floor, calling it “the absolute minimum needed to ship safely.”

The platform claims that accepting only the minimum would have funded merely a few months of operations.

The sale cleared at $0.069 per token, representing a $69 million fully diluted valuation (FDV).

To ensure fair distribution at scale, Space stated that it implemented protective measures, which saw large contributions trimmed heavily, while smaller participants received higher fill rates.

The final allocation will be distributed across thousands of wallets, with an additional 31.4% of the community pool reserved for future rewards through airdrops to stakers and liquidity providers.

“This was controlled scaling in response to real demand,” Space stated in its announcement. “With the additional capital, Space becomes adequately funded, which allows us to move faster towards token generation event, rather than waiting months down the line.”

The platform also stated that capital will be deployed to seed and support leverage pools, launch liquidity provision, secure centralized exchange (CEX) listings, build risk management infrastructure, team expansion, security audits, and build platform infrastructure.

Trove Markets was a cautionary tale

Trove Markets recently faced severe backlash after its token crashed over 95% following a platform pivot from Hyperliquid to Solana. The project raised $11.5 million but retained $9.4 million despite returning $2.44 million to participants.

Blockchain investigator ZachXBT had initially called out the team on January 17, 2026, on X, writing, “Want to explain to the community why your team bridged $45K from the Trove Angel Round raise on Jan 11 and deposited it directly into a casino deposit address?”

ZachXBT’s post and Trove’s actions caused confusion in the community, and the attendant result was reduced trust and a crashed token.

Path forward uncertain

Space is expected to address the questions head-on later today.

The platform faces the dual challenge of restoring community confidence while delivering on its technical promises. Space positions itself as the first 10x leverage prediction market on Solana.

Some participants experienced confusion over the refund process, and part of them are those who elected to receive allocations in different wallets for security reasons. Space stated that all returns were processed to designated wallets.

A user with the X handle, @0xLaxo, accused Space of oversubscribing and misleading the public, writing, “Do you know what the word ‘OVERSUBSCRIPTION’ means? now you call 2.5M a ‘soft cap’ after saying the word OVERSUBSCRIPTION multiple times (easy to prove it). You are misleading people and withholding their funds without good reason.”

Many are looking forward to the upcoming space, and industry observers will be watching as well to see how the prediction markets platform navigates this phase.

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