Chapter 164: Roona's Downfall
Chapter 164: Roona's Downfall
〈Tayform Labs' Kwon Do-jin Publicly Blasts Kim Shin on Social Media〉
〈Kwon Do-jin: "Roona's F Rating Comes from a Lack of Understanding of Future Financial Systems."〉
A post by Kwon Do-jin, CEO of Tayform Labs, on social media had been blown up into major news coverage by the press.
Some outlets had gone with particularly sensational headlines.
〈Kwon Do-jin Claims Kim Shin Doesn't Want Poor People to Become Rich〉
Coin prices had been soaring since last year, drawing massive media attention to the virtual currency market.
Even so, the level of coverage was probably because of me.
The comment sections on the articles were in chaos.
―Why is rating coins on an exchange kicking away the ladder of wealth? They were just doing their job.
―Source Coin's a C, right? Why's Roona complaining?
―Source Coin's rating doesn't justify Roona getting an F.
―A coin that's fourth in trading volume and ninth in market cap gets an F? This coin rating system's basically designed to kill off competing altcoins.
―What does Tayform Labs even do? Compare that to Earth Resource dominating the internet content market.
―Earth Resource runs department stores and malls too. And exchanges.
―The gap between issuing companies justifies more than a C vs. F difference.
―Lots of alt accounts here. Kim Shin, pay me back my money!
The debate was raging, but thanks to the influence I'd built up so far, most comments were defending me.
Unless they were Roona investors, there was no reason to side with Kwon Do-jin.
"I guess I have to put up with it once."
I could understand the backlash from the coin-issuing companies.
How could they like someone slapping an F grade on their business?
Especially when Earth Resource was raking in massive fees from coin trading.
I believed the coin ratings would settle in after some time passed.
〈Tayform Labs' Kwon Do-jin Fires Second Shot at Kim Shin〉
〈Kwon Do-jin: "Earth Resource Has a CEO Who Lacks Understanding of Decentralized Future Finance."〉
〈Kwon Do-jin's Social Media: "Blasting Kim Shin for Dragging Virtual Currency Market Backward."〉
This coin rating had taken a ton of effort.
We'd hired staff, partnered with Wall Street firms, and meticulously evaluated over $2 trillion in virtual currencies.
'Finance needs trust.'
Without trust in the coin industry, investors could bail at any moment.
I'd met Kwon Do-jin before, and Roona was the top-performing coin this year, with active trading among customers.
"Eddie, I know you're busy, but could you take a look at this?"
I'd even deliberately assigned the Roona and Tay analysis to Eddie.
The development team handled cloud updates and ops, while Eddie focused solely on the OS.
In just ten minutes, Eddie said,
"Is it okay for this to be this sloppy?"
"Huh?"
"They claim to guarantee $1 in all cases, but if Roona's price drops, they won't be able to back it up."
Tay was a stablecoin pegged to $1.
But Tay could only be redeemed with Roona worth $1.
"What do you mean?"
"If Tay's price falls, the algorithm issues more Roona, right?"
"Yeah. They issue Roona and use the funds to buy back Tay to maintain the peg."
"What if both Tay and Roona drop together?"
"Huh?"
"What if everyone just wants to sell Tay and Roona?"
"......"
The two coins were algorithmically linked.
When I'd first seen this setup, I'd thought it was clever but felt uneasy.
It was a system built purely on coins, with no real assets backing it.
If Tay's price fell, the algorithm issued more Roona.
But if Roona's price was already dropping, increasing supply would accelerate the fall.
Roona holders, anticipating the drop, would sell off their coins.
'They have to sell Roona, but the market's flooding with newly minted Roona?'
This created a death spiral in which the two coins dragged each other downward.
Eddie saw it as a fundamental flaw, like a bug exposed during algorithm development.
"How likely is this to happen in reality?"
"No idea."
For Roona, I'd commissioned stress tests from financial institutions.
We got reports from JP Morgan, Bank of America, Goldman Sachs.
[Cannot guarantee value if over 30% coin run occurs in a day]
[High risk of collapse if investor confidence breaks]
Coins had no regulations, but no safety nets either.
Banks had government and central bank backing, plus legal deposit insurance, but Roona and Tay would crumble in a crisis.
With global trading, oversight was impossible.
'The mere existence of collapse risk justified the F grade.'
The accusations of kicking away the ladder of wealth still stung.
Without any bias, to build investor trust, we'd hired staff, spent money, and published the ratings.
I was sipping a cold canned coffee, staring at the monitor, when,
"Shin-ah."
"Yeah?"
Oh Myeong-woo said as he passed by.
"You'll get sick holding this in. They've challenged you to a keyboard battle—if you back down, you'll live with the shame of defeat forever."
"......"
* * *
Kwon Do-jin's estimated net worth: 5 trillion.
The coin boom had likely ballooned his wealth enormously.
Still, in my eyes, he was the underdog, so I'd been generous with my first social media post.
[Earth Resource conducted objective coin ratings for customer safety and trust.]
The statement was brief, but it was an attempt to calm the market.
―We trust you.
―Seeing the detailed info per coin shows Earth Resource really cares about customers.
Public reaction was mostly positive.
But not even twenty minutes later, Kwon Do-jin fired back on social media.
[Objective evaluation? Evaluations without understanding future finance are worthless. Kim Shin, bloated with success and arrogance, is trapped in his own bias that he's always right.]
"......"
It already felt like a keyboard war had broken out.
Even if I wanted a smooth end, they were coming at me swinging.
"Can't avoid it even if I try, huh."
I posted again on social media.
[We're aware of Tayform Labs' complaints.
We conducted extensive research on Roona, including our own analysis and commissions to major financial institutions, concluding high risk.]
After the post, Roona's price dropped 8.5% in real time.
Coin forums exploded.
―What just happened?
―Kim Shin said Roona's risky.
―Whoa... pulling an Elon Musk?
―More like a keyboard battle with Roona's CEO Kwon Do-jin.
―Gotta watch!
I usually posted about daily life, Earth Channel content, or app store promos.
Even then, tens of millions visited daily, but this time visits spiked several times over.
Kwon Do-jin's page did the same.
[Extensive research?
No research on a leading future finance coin can be objective.
There are many ways to dress up lies, but fancy words with borrowed authority won't change reality.
Kim Shin is lying.]
* * *
Wall Street's big banks and private equity staff perked up in the lazy afternoon.
"Kim Shin's moving!"
"What's up?"
"Looks like he's clashing with the Roona issuer on social media."
Profits from Kim Shin trades, Investor A's moves.
End of last year, he'd even gone up against the Fed—Wall Street's most watched figure.
'Manufacturing needs results, but finance profits when money moves.'
Financial firms were always monitoring Kim Shin's public moves, and now conflict with Kwon Do-jin had erupted.
"Investor movements?"
"What do we do?"
Big institutions watched cautiously, but profit-hungry private equity firms didn't hesitate.
Like hyenas eyeing carrion, they were ready to pounce.
"Talking smack at Kim Shin like that."
"Even Morgan Stanley's chairman wouldn't go that far."
"What happens to Roona's price now?"
"Well, it's up big this year, but the collapse risk warning is real."
Private equity, dealing in money, easily saw through Roona's flaws.
Issuing more Roona to buy back Tay.
A structure where the last Roona holder takes the loss.
"Chance to short with leverage."
Exchanges let you profit on price drops.
* * *
[Kim Shin has turned evil. He's obsessed with money now.]
[He just wants to get rich alone. He's lost fairness and justice.]
Kwon Do-jin flooded social media with posts.
―Isn't this too much?
―Dude hit the panic button hard after that F grade.
―Roona fighting!
Comments were piling up too fast to read.
"This is an opportunity. A chance to make money."
Kwon Do-jin's eyes gleamed.
In the coin world, fame meant money.
"SNS visits are already over 50 million today, and articles about me are everywhere."
Roona got an F, but pulling this much attention would boost the price.
―Jim: Isn't this going too far?
A partner's concern.
It had started as an attack on Kim Shin meant to promote Roona, but the resulting media frenzy now felt like a dead end.
―Kwon Do-jin: We're already riding the tiger. This will make us even richer.
―Jim: You think?
―Kwon Do-jin: Coin market's driven by a few star players. Just opposing Kim Shin gives me his level of influence.
Kwon decided to land a big blow and posted.
[Earth Resource has lost its qualification as a coin exchange. Their shortsighted vision can't handle the coin future. Roona should leave Earth Resource's exchange.]
Declaring exit from the world's #2 exchange.
A powerful card played.
'Earth Resource makes a fortune in fees from Roona—they won't let it go easily.'
If F-graded coins starting with Roona all left, Earth Resource would take a huge hit.
Then, moments later, a post appeared on Kim Shin's social media.
[Earth Resource won't hold back those who want to leave. For customer safety, Roona and Tay trading will end in 3 days.]
* * *
The exchanges allowed investors a three-day liquidation period.
Coin forums buzzed nonstop with Roona posts.
―Can't trade Roona on Earth Resource anymore?
―Yeah.
―What do holders do?
―Your coins don't vanish. Move to another exchange or sell now.
―Kim Shin bro says it's risky, so sell. Was up 20%...
―Gonna keep following Kim Shin bro to get rich?
―Last year he sold stocks too. Guy's a super rich conservative investor now. Different from us.
―Ugh, whatever. Too lazy to sign up elsewhere. Just sell Roona and buy other coins.
Investors agreeing with Kim Shin dumped massive Roona volume on Earth Resource.
Buying and selling surged at the same time.
Amid exploding volume, Roona held a 4% gain.
Three days passed.
[Ending support for Roona and Tay trading.]
Earth Resource removed the two coins as planned.
A week later.
Tay hit 99 cents.
―Huh? Tay pegged at $1, why 99 cents?
―Dunno. It'll recover. Happens sometimes.
Hours later.
〈Roona Coin Crashes 96.9% in One Day〉
〈Tay, Roona Plunge Rocks Global Virtual Currency Market〉
―What the hell?
―Roona suddenly tanking hard.
―Exchanges flooded with supply.
In days, the crisis snowballed.
〈-99.99999% Returns Hit. Roona Crash Triggers Panic Among Domestic and International Investors〉