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A serious market manipulation incident involving Polymarket has shaken the Solana ecosystem, overshadowing the initial coin offering (ICO) of Solomon, a new stablecoin project developed by Solomon Labs.
Until now, the community had mostly viewed Polymarket-related “insider trading” jokes with humor, such as Brian Armstrong’s cheeky conference-stage stunt and a market referencing Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s outfit during his meeting with Donald Trump. But this time, the consequences are far more severe.
A Polymarket Prediction Market Targeted Solomon’s Public Token Sale
Solomon Labs is building a yield-bearing stablecoin on the Solana blockchain. To fund early development, the team planned to raise a minimum of USD $2 million through MetaDAO’s public sale, positioning the event as a community-driven Web3 initiative.
The Solomon ICO has officially concluded.
We raised $102,932,673 from 6,603 contributors.
Huge thank you to everyone who backed us.
Now we ship. SOLO token rollout updates coming soon. pic.twitter.com/fMIDp2yEKR
— Solomon Labs (@solomon_labs) November 18, 2025
However, a Polymarket prediction market soon appeared, allowing users to bet on how much the sale would ultimately raise. The market offered ranges from $15 million to $140 million, divided into $5 million increments.
After 45 hours of presale, Solomon had accumulated about $12 million, far from the higher-range predictions. But just hours before the ICO closed, sudden and massive capital injections began. Within minutes, funding skyrocketed from $46 million to $100 million before ending at $102 million raised.
At the same time, Polymarket bettors positioned themselves to profit from this unexpected surge. Several accounts reportedly generated between $5 million and $10 million in profit and some of the betting accounts appear to have been created specifically for this event.
Community Accuses Solomon Team of Engineering the Surge
The Web3 community reacted swiftly, accusing the Solomon team of orchestrating a market manipulation scheme. Critics say MetaDAO enabled the situation by allowing unlimited contributions from a single address, a design flaw that made it easy for a small number of whales to pour in millions of dollars moments before the sale closed.
Polymarket was also criticized for approving prediction markets tied to ongoing ICOs, which many believe introduces perverse incentives ripe for manipulation.
Some community members have already labeled the event “Solana’s biggest rug pull of 2025.”
Retail Investors Diluted as Funding Exceeds Minimum Target 50-Fold
Perhaps the most damaging impact is on retail investors who participated in good faith. The last-minute $100 million surge significantly diluted their allocations, undermining the fairness and transparency of the sale.
The project ultimately raised 50 times its minimum target, and many now argue that such an outcome was artificially engineered to exploit prediction market bettors and ICO contributors alike.
The incident has sparked renewed debate about governance, fairness, and the role of prediction markets in the Web3 ecosystem, raising questions that Solomon Labs and MetaDAO have yet to address publicly.
$100 million committed 🤯
The future of capital formation is Solana https://t.co/c7YADXLX41
— Solana (@solana) November 18, 2025
