Hegic, an on-chain options protocol, recently raised a suspected profit of $17 million through internal transactions by acquiring affiliated project Whiteheart, a hedging protocol. At the end of last month, Molly Wintermute, an anonymous developer from Hegic, announced abandoning the development plans for Whiteheart, stating that Whiteheart would refund $28 million to investors and shut down. The redemption announcement caused a six-fold surge in the Whiteheart token, reaching $3500. Blockchain data reveals that three days before the Whiteheart project closure announcement, Hegic's treasury (separate from Whiteheart's treasury) acquired almost one-third of the WHITE token supply. Added to a prior September purchase of WHITE, Hegic's treasury now holds an amount equal to half of Whiteheart's treasury, amounting to $17 million worth of Ethereum.
Experts suggest that from a securities law perspective, the Whiteheart transactions may raise issues related to trust responsibilities, shareholder rights, and asymmetric information in the cryptocurrency market. While Hegic and Whiteheart are organized differently from traditional companies, and WHITE is not a stock, the involvement of the U.S. SEC in cryptocurrency regulation could potentially alter this scenario.