Kled team wallets from the Solana AI project liquidate $800,000 in tokens following a commitment to a $500,000 buyback initiative.

Two wallets associated with Solana-based Kled AI (KLED) transferred 58.25 million KLED from an address between May 31 and June 7, subsequently distributing the tokens across 99 new wallets shortly after announcing a buyback initiative.

As per a June 10 report by Dashcoin Research founder Nicholas Wenzel, the transferred amount was valued at $800,000, significantly overshadowing KLED’s initial public buyback of $50,000 declared on May 28.

In addition to the initial acquisition, Kled AI committed to ongoing repurchases of tokens from the market as part of a $500,000 buyback strategy.

On-chain analysis conducted by CryptoSlate revealed that KLED-related wallets converted the majority of the tokens into USDC and sold around $221,000 through ChangeNow.

On-chain connection between the wallets

Wenzel asserts that wallets Ejc28…1ax15 and FopPe…d3UMR are connected to the team behind KLED.

On-chain data indicates this connection, as KLED’s deployer initially funded both wallets.

After the funding from the deployer address, the wallets received tokens from address 52T4z…kxyvJ, which Kled AI founder Avi Patel stated on June 11 is the wallet responsible for liquidity provider rewards.

Ejc28 obtained 30 million KLED and distributed it among 56 wallets. However, only 27 of these received $10,000 or more.

Simultaneously, FopPe received 28.25 million KLED and allocated the amount across 41 wallets. Similar to Ejc28, only 19 wallets received notable amounts of $6,000 or more.

Wallets received funds from addresses FopPe (left) and Ejc28 (right). Image: Arkham

The 46 wallets that received significant amounts of KLED subsequently began exchanging the amounts for Solana (SOL). Analyzing the token sales alongside KLED’s price chart indicated that the average correction during sales ranged from 2% to 3%.

Following the conversions, another series of swaps took place, changing most of the KLED tokens into USDC.

This process transpired between June 2 and June 12.

Patel’s clarification

Patel acknowledged the divestment in direct messages later shared by Wenzel. He stated that “we had a ton of expenses” related to ambitious 100-day milestones and claimed the team “sold on buys so the market didn’t get hurt.”

Patel also mentioned that Believe co-founder Ben Pasternak “suggested we just smartly liquidate,” a point Pasternak allegedly refuted in private messages sent to Wenzel.

Importantly, while publicly responding to Wenzel on his publication, Patel noted he had previously clarified that the liquidation decision was “not something pushed by Believe.”

Despite addressing the token movements after Wenzel highlighted the issue publicly, neither Patel nor the Kled AI team communicated with the community regarding the token movement.

Moreover, the amount converted to USDC constitutes approximately 3% of KLED’s diluted supply, which is enough to significantly influence prices.

As of the time of reporting, KLED has risen by nearly 30% in the last 24 hours, priced at $0.031.

Status of holdings

As of June 13, the following wallets held around $480,000 in USDC, converted from the 58.25 million KLED:

• FoMJ6…sNosF: $108,000.
• Chfnh…LAyKv: $19,300.
• DdkrC…2DcXh: $114,600.
• GR8rS…VSuxE: $58,000.
• 2Htt7…2jTQpq: $60,700.
• EsV6yp…5iPiP: $64,000.
• HgCfA…aKXvQ: $55,000.

Notably, Chfnh’s wallet still contained approximately $65,000 worth of KLED, bringing the total hold amount to $545,000.

Additionally, 25 wallets had their $221,000 worth of USDC balances transferred to two separate addresses linked to ChangeNOW. Given that ChangeNOW is an exchange service, these transactions may have been withdrawals to fiat currencies.

Finally, $81,000 from address HgCfA was converted back to 554 SOL and sent to address Crq7h…yTA1b.

This transaction could be related to an alleged $100,000 token buyback announced by Patel on June 12, as the transfer occurred close to the publication time, and the address Crq7h was previously identified by the Kled AI founder as the wallet responsible for buybacks.

The buyback wallet currently holds only $208 worth of SOL as of the time of reporting.

Interestingly, Arkham’s tracing tool indicated that the conversion process for address Ejc28 typically routed the funds through intermediary wallets before reaching their final destination.

The broader buyback discussion

Token buybacks are frequently presented as the crypto equivalent of corporate share repurchases, and have sparked debate among market observers.

Two prominent examples are Hyperliquid’s and Jupiter’s buyback initiatives. Hyperliquid allocates 97% of every trading fee into an autonomous Assistance Fund that perpetually purchases HYPE on the market.

Jupiter directs 50% of protocol fees into hourly JUP purchases, subsequently locking the accumulated amount for three years in a vault referred to as “Litterbox.” Initiated on February 17, this scheme reduces the current float while preserving a deferred treasury, although critics argue that the post-lock cliff could still provide insiders with a considerable windfall.

Proponents label these mechanisms as “flywheels,” but skeptics caution that the constant bid can also obscure insider offloads unless treasury flows remain entirely transparent.

Critics contend that projects with substantial pre-mines can sell into their own bid, transforming buybacks into exit liquidity rather than authentic yield.

Regulators have yet to specifically address token buybacks, but legal analysts caution that nondisclosure of insider selling could lead to enforcement actions similar to those in equity market insider-trading cases.

Contacted by CryptoSlate, Ben Pasternak and Avi Patel have not responded prior to publication time.

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