Binance launches ‘initial DEX offering’ called Raven

We’ve seen initial coin offerings, initial exchange offerings and now…initial DEX offerings?

Today a thing called Raven Protocol—a “fully decentralized” blockchain/AI startup which hopes to “pull the power of AI/ML out of the hands of mega-corporations like Amazon/Facebook/Google and put it into the hands of the community”—announced that it would be running a token sale on Binance DEX, the titanic crypto exchange’s recently unveiled decentralized exchange, which is run by 11 “validators” closely affiliated with the flagship company.

Of the 10 billion Ravens in circulation, 300 million will be allocated to the sale, and will sell at 0.00005 the price of a BNB, Binance’s own native token. That’s around $0.0015 a piece. The sale, which will start June 17, will end either the following day or “when the hard cap”—$500,000—is reached. Though it’s running on a (supposedly) decentralized protocol, investors have to go through the usual know-your-customer proceedings; upload a selfie, submit a proof of address, etc.

Raven is eager to stress that the imminent sale is “NOT something initiated by Binance, Binance Chain, or Binance DEX,” and was instead Raven’s own prerogative, supported unanimously by the DEX’s 11 validators. “All 11 out of 11 Binance Chain validators voted YES for Raven Protocol to be listed,” Raven trilled in a blog post on the development.

So this is, once again, a form of initial coin offering—but this time, with zero accountability to a central party. Other than that, Raven is short on specifics. “What is an IDO?” ponders Raven in its blog post. “We don’t know. Because Binance DEX is so new, this is something that’s never been done before.”

This all comes, rather interestingly, at the same time Binance has blocked all US customers from trading on its platform. We wonder what the SEC will make of this…

We’ve reached out to Raven and Binance and will update when we know more.