The US-listed company AlphaTON Capital (NASDAQ: $ATON), holding TON tokens, announced a strategic financing of $30 million for the US defense technology startup Anduril, but was vetoed by Anduril founder Palmer Luckey. Subsequently, AlphaTON released another press release stating that it would cancel its investment in Anduril and tokenize private equity. Palmer countered that AlphaTON canceled its investment because it never actually held any shares.
TON DAT announced an investment in the defense unicorn Anduril, but was contradicted by its founder.
US-listed company AlphaTON Capital (NASDAQ: $ATON), primarily holding TON blockchain tokens, announced a strategic investment of $30 million in the US defense technology startup Anduril Industries on December 16. The announcement indicated that AlphaTON Capital is focused on the future of defense technology and the integration of decentralized artificial intelligence with the next generation of national security.
Unexpectedly, Anduril Industries founder Palmer Luckey immediately appeared in the comments section, clarifying that AlphaTON Capital is not an investor in Anduril and questioning why such fraudulent behavior is taking place.
AlphaTON cancels the transaction, founder sarcastically remarks: you have no shares at all.
AlphaTON Capital stated that they are acquiring the economic rights of Anduril shares through a Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV), rather than making a direct equity investment in Anduril Industries. According to the explicit terms of the signed contract, the company originally intended to list this investment on its balance sheet. They also plan to concurrently issue derivative tokenized products in conjunction with other similar secondary products in the technology industry to meet the growing market demand for risk exposure in innovative technology companies that are difficult to invest in directly.
It was stated that due to transfer restrictions on the economic benefits corresponding to common stock of Anduril Industries in the contract, Anduril will not agree to any such transfers. Therefore, AlphaTON has decided to cancel the tokenized investment plan for Anduril and will not proceed with this transaction.
Unexpectedly, Palmer Luckey retaliated: The reason you can 'cancel the investment' is that you never actually held shares of Anduril. Your 'clarification' is yet another scam; you know in your heart that this is not just a matter of share transfer restrictions, you have lied about owning these shares from the very beginning. He stated that AlphaTON Capital's latest press release is also a lie.
Anduril co-founder Matt Grimm posted that this is simply fraud. He stated: $ATON claims to have invested $30 million in Anduril, but we have no idea who they are, and they certainly do not have shares in Anduril. Such statements, while regrettable, are quite common in the intricate web of Special Purpose Companies in the private market. However, AlphaTON is a publicly traded company, and they seem to be lying to their shareholders. He further hopes the SEC and NASDAQ will launch an investigation.
This article claims that TON DAT falsely invested in a defense technology unicorn, facing continuous rebuttals from Anduril's founder. It first appeared in Chain News ABMedia.
