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{"actor":"system:backfill","investigation_id":"9b99075f-6c7e-42a8-b8c5-82d0ebe7c99c","kind":"publish","page_slug":"aldrin","published_at":"2026-05-31T20:20:59.979Z","sequence_num":1,"snapshot":{"content_type":"investigation","entity_name":"Aldrin","sections":[{"content":"Aldrin was founded by Hisham Khan, a former UX project lead at Bloomberg LP and business analyst at Interpublic Group. The project began under the name Cryptocurrencies.ai (CCAI) and is reported to have been incorporated around 2017–2018, headquartered in Brooklyn, New York. The company rebranded to Aldrin ahead of its 2021 token launch. Aldrin positioned itself as a next-generation DEX on Solana, offering spot trading, futures, an automated market maker (AMM), and orderbook functionality built on top of Project Serum's central limit order book (CLOB) infrastructure. The platform attracted $140+ million in total value locked at its peak following the AMM launch in October 2021, which was described as one of the first audited AMMs on Solana.","heading":"Background and History","severity":"low","sources":[{"credibility":3,"name":"CoinQuora Exclusive Interview — Hisham Khan, CEO of Aldrin","type":"news_article","url":"https://coinquora.com/coinquora-exclusive-interview-hisham-khan-ceo-of-aldrin/"},{"credibility":2,"name":"CBInsights — Aldrin/Cryptocurrencies.ai Company Profile","type":"other","url":"https://www.cbinsights.com/company/cryptocurrenciesai"},{"credibility":2,"name":"DappRadar — Aldrin DeFi Overview","type":"research","url":"https://dappradar.com/dapp/aldrin"}]},{"content":"Aldrin raised approximately $8.48 million across five funding rounds between April and June 2021. Key rounds included Private Round 1 ($2.64M at $1.70/token), a Strategic Round (2.5M RIN at undisclosed price), Private Round 2 ($4.87M at $1.85/token), and two IDO tranches totaling $980K. Investors in Private Round 2 included Alameda Research, A195 Capital, Rarestone Capital, AU21 Capital, and Digital Finance Group, among twelve total backers. The involvement of Alameda Research — the trading arm of FTX run by Sam Bankman-Fried — is a material risk factor given Alameda's subsequent bankruptcy in November 2022. While Alameda Research's investment in Aldrin was a relatively small position, the reputational and ecosystem-level consequences of FTX's collapse materially impacted the broader Solana DeFi ecosystem in which Aldrin operated. Other investors such as Alphabit Fund and MV Global also participated.","heading":"Fundraising and Investor Relationships","severity":"high","sources":[{"credibility":2,"name":"ICO Drops — Aldrin (RIN) Token Sale Information","type":"research","url":"https://icodrops.com/aldrin/"},{"credibility":2,"name":"Chain Broker — Aldrin Investors & Funding","type":"research","url":"https://chainbroker.io/projects/aldrin/"},{"credibility":2,"name":"CoinMarketCap — Alameda Research Portfolio","type":"other","url":"https://coinmarketcap.com/view/alameda-research-portfolio/"}]},{"content":"Aldrin's original DEX was architecturally integrated with Project Serum, the Solana-based central limit order book co-founded and controlled by FTX and Alameda Research. When FTX filed for bankruptcy on November 11, 2022, the Serum program's upgrade authority — held by FTX-affiliated keys — became a severe security liability. Protocols across the Solana DeFi ecosystem rapidly migrated away from Serum. By late November 2022, Serum officially declared itself 'defunct' and promoted a community fork, OpenBook. Solana DeFi TVL fell from approximately $1 billion to $300 million in the weeks following FTX's collapse, and the SOL token price declined from approximately $35 to below $14. Aldrin's DEX, which depended on Serum's CLOB for its orderbook functionality, was directly affected by this infrastructure collapse. Trading activity on the Aldrin DEX dropped to near-negligible levels and has not recovered.","heading":"Serum and FTX Dependency Fallout","severity":"critical","sources":[{"credibility":1,"name":"The Block — FTX-backed DEX Serum calls itself defunct, promotes community fork","type":"news_article","url":"https://www.theblock.co/post/190566/ftx-backed-dex-serum-calls-itself-defunct-promotes-community-fork"},{"credibility":1,"name":"CoinDesk — FTX Hack Spooks Solana DeFi Community, Igniting Revolution at Alameda-Controlled Serum DEX","type":"news_article","url":"https://www.coindesk.com/business/2022/11/12/ftx-hack-spooks-solana-defi-community-igniting-revolution-at-alameda-controlled-serum-dex"},{"credibility":2,"name":"IHodl — Solana-based DEX Serum Becomes Defunct, Plans Fork","type":"news_article","url":"https://ihodl.com/topnews/2022-11-29/solana-based-dex-serum-becomes-defunct-plans-fork/"}]},{"content":"The RIN token has a total supply of 50 million, with an initial circulating supply of approximately 1.3 million at TGE (June 2021). The token allocation was: Operations Reserve (29.6%), Team (20%), Community Farming (18%), Marketing (10%), Strategic Round (5%), Private Round 2 (5.26%), Private Round 1 (3.1%), and two IDO tranches (approximately 1%). Private and strategic investors received 10% at TGE with six-month vesting; IDO participants received 50% at TGE and 50% claimable on day 30. As of late 2025, approximately 92.77% of all tokens are fully unlocked with a circulating supply of roughly 12.8 million RIN. The RIN token reached an all-time high of $7.69 on October 28, 2021, shortly after the AMM launch. By late 2022 the price had fallen to approximately $1.51, and by 2023 to $0.1082. The token's all-time low of approximately $0.001145 was recorded on January 1, 2026, representing a decline of approximately 99.98% from peak. As of May 2026, the market capitalization of RIN stands at approximately $16,800 with a 24-hour trading volume of under $2, making it a near-zero liquidity token trading exclusively on Raydium. The heavy team allocation (20%) combined with a large, centralized operations reserve (29.6%) under team control represents a concentration risk that has been common in distressed DeFi tokens.","heading":"RIN Token Tokenomics and Price Collapse","severity":"critical","sources":[{"credibility":2,"name":"CoinGecko — Aldrin (RIN) Price, Market Cap","type":"other","url":"https://www.coingecko.com/en/coins/aldrin"},{"credibility":2,"name":"ICO Drops — Aldrin (RIN) Tokenomics","type":"research","url":"https://icodrops.com/aldrin/"},{"credibility":2,"name":"Solscan — Aldrin (RIN) Token On-Chain Data","type":"on_chain","url":"https://solscan.io/token/E5ndSkaB17Dm7CsD22dvcjfrYSDLCxFcMd6z8ddCk5wp"}]},{"content":"Aldrin's AMM, launched in October 2021, was described by the project and third-party sources as 'one of the first audited AMMs on Solana.' DappRadar sources note the audit was allegedly conducted by the same institution that audited Binance, but no specific auditor name or publicly available audit report URL could be verified through open sources during this investigation. The GitHub repositories at github.com/aldrin-labs/CLOB and github.com/aldrin-labs/aldrin-sdk show that code is open-source, which allows community review. No publicly documented exploits, hacks, or smart contract vulnerabilities affecting Aldrin's AMM or DEX contracts were found during this investigation. However, the inability to independently verify the claimed security audit from a named, reputable firm represents a transparency gap. The RAMM (Rebalancing AMM) implementation on Sui, available at github.com/aldrin-labs/ramm-sui, has separate documentation but no publicly linked third-party audit report was identified.","heading":"Security and Audit History","severity":"medium","sources":[{"credibility":2,"name":"GitHub — aldrin-labs/CLOB: Aldrin DEX Rust Monorepo","type":"official","url":"https://github.com/aldrin-labs/CLOB"},{"credibility":2,"name":"GitHub — aldrin-labs Organization","type":"official","url":"https://github.com/aldrin-labs"},{"credibility":2,"name":"DappRadar — Aldrin DeFi Overview (references AMM audit claim)","type":"research","url":"https://dappradar.com/dapp/aldrin"}]},{"content":"The original Aldrin Solana DEX is effectively inactive as of 2025–2026. BitDegree marks the Aldrin exchange as 'Inactive' due to insufficient trading data, and CoinMarketCap's exchange listing reflects near-zero 24-hour volume. The project appears to have pivoted its development focus away from the Solana DEX toward a multi-chain Telegram trading bot product called RINbot. GitHub activity at github.com/aldrin-labs shows active development as recently as December 2025 (abyssbook repo) and ongoing commits in 2025–2026, including the RAMM repository last pushed May 2025 and the RINbot Telegram bot last pushed March 2025. In February 2024, Aldrin Labs announced a beta release of their Telegram bot on the Aptos Network, having previously built a bot on Sui. The aldrin_labs X account posted references to Solana 'agentic apps' in late 2024, suggesting continued interest in the Solana ecosystem, though no active DEX product re-launch was announced. The RAMM whitepaper (aldrin.com/RAMM-whitepaper.pdf) describes a novel rebalancing AMM mechanism being developed on Sui. The pivot to multi-chain bot infrastructure, while showing developer activity, represents a material departure from the original DEX/AMM product that RIN token holders funded via the 2021 IDO.","heading":"Project Activity and Pivot to Multi-Chain Bots","severity":"high","sources":[{"credibility":2,"name":"BitDegree — Aldrin Trading Volume, Rankings (inactive notation)","type":"research","url":"https://www.bitdegree.org/top-crypto-exchanges/aldrin"},{"credibility":2,"name":"GitHub — aldrin-labs/RINbot: Telegram Bot Repository","type":"official","url":"https://github.com/aldrin-labs/RINbot"},{"credibility":3,"name":"X (Twitter) — aldrin_labs announcing Aptos Telegram bot beta (Feb 2024)","type":"social_media","url":"https://x.com/aldrin_labs/status/1761487075499503704"},{"credibility":2,"name":"GitHub — aldrin-labs Organization repo activity","type":"official","url":"https://github.com/aldrin-labs"}]},{"content":"Several centralization concerns are observable. First, the token allocation gave the team and operations reserve a combined 49.6% of total supply (team: 20%, operations reserve: 29.6%), concentrating significant token supply under entity control. Second, Aldrin's original CLOB-based orderbook was built on Serum, whose upgrade authority was held by FTX-affiliated keys — this external single point of failure proved catastrophic when FTX collapsed. Third, no on-chain governance mechanisms or multi-sig arrangements for the operations reserve are documented in public sources. Fourth, the single publicly identified founder/CEO (Hisham Khan) means the project's continuation depends heavily on an individual rather than a distributed organizational structure. Fifth, with the RIN token now having negligible market liquidity, there is no meaningful market-based check on team token sales from the remaining unlocked supply.","heading":"Centralization and Admin Risk","severity":"high","sources":[{"credibility":2,"name":"ICO Drops — Aldrin Token Allocation Details","type":"research","url":"https://icodrops.com/aldrin/"},{"credibility":1,"name":"CoinDesk — FTX Collapse Impact on Serum (Serum upgrade authority risk)","type":"news_article","url":"https://www.coindesk.com/business/2022/11/12/ftx-hack-spooks-solana-defi-community-igniting-revolution-at-alameda-controlled-serum-dex"}]},{"content":"Hisham Khan is publicly identified as founder and CEO of Aldrin, with a verifiable professional background at Bloomberg LP (UX project lead) and Interpublic Group before founding the project. He holds a degree in accounting from Baruch College, New York. Khan has given media interviews and appeared as a speaker at the CoinMarketCap conference. Beyond Khan, no other named team members are consistently documented in public sources. CBInsights lists the company profile as 'Unclaimed,' suggesting limited official verification. The absence of a publicly disclosed engineering or core development team beyond the CEO is a transparency gap common in smaller DeFi projects of this vintage but nonetheless represents a risk factor for accountability. GitHub contributions to the aldrin-labs organization provide some evidence of ongoing developer activity but do not identify specific engineers.","heading":"Team Transparency","severity":"medium","sources":[{"credibility":2,"name":"CBInsights — Aldrin CEO and Founder Profile","type":"other","url":"https://www.cbinsights.com/company/cryptocurrenciesai/people"},{"credibility":2,"name":"CoinMarketCap Conference — Hisham Khan Speaker Profile","type":"other","url":"https://conference.coinmarketcap.com/speakers/hisham-khan"}]},{"content":"No SEC enforcement actions, CFTC proceedings, DOJ investigations, or court filings naming Aldrin, Cryptocurrencies.ai, or Hisham Khan were identified during this investigation. The project has not been subject to known regulatory scrutiny as of the investigation date. Alameda Research, one of Aldrin's investors, was subject to significant regulatory action: the CFTC obtained a $12.7 billion judgment against FTX and Alameda in 2024. This regulatory action is against the investor entity, not Aldrin itself, but it contextualizes the risk environment in which Alameda-backed projects operated.","heading":"Regulatory and Legal Record","severity":"low","sources":[{"credibility":1,"name":"CFTC — CFTC Obtains $12.7 Billion Judgment Against FTX and Alameda","type":"regulatory","url":"https://www.cftc.gov/PressRoom/PressReleases/8938-24"}]}],"sources_used":[{"credibility":2,"name":"CoinGecko — Aldrin (RIN) Price, Market Cap, History","type":"other","url":"https://www.coingecko.com/en/coins/aldrin"},{"credibility":2,"name":"ICO Drops — Aldrin (RIN) Token Sale Information","type":"research","url":"https://icodrops.com/aldrin/"},{"credibility":2,"name":"Chain Broker — Aldrin Investors & Funding","type":"research","url":"https://chainbroker.io/projects/aldrin/"},{"credibility":1,"name":"CoinDesk — FTX Hack Spooks Solana DeFi Community, Igniting Revolution at Serum DEX","type":"news_article","url":"https://www.coindesk.com/business/2022/11/12/ftx-hack-spooks-solana-defi-community-igniting-revolution-at-alameda-controlled-serum-dex"},{"credibility":1,"name":"The Block — FTX-backed DEX Serum calls itself defunct","type":"news_article","url":"https://www.theblock.co/post/190566/ftx-backed-dex-serum-calls-itself-defunct-promotes-community-fork"},{"credibility":1,"name":"CFTC — $12.7 Billion Judgment Against FTX and Alameda","type":"regulatory","url":"https://www.cftc.gov/PressRoom/PressReleases/8938-24"},{"credibility":2,"name":"CBInsights — Aldrin/Cryptocurrencies.ai Company Profile","type":"other","url":"https://www.cbinsights.com/company/cryptocurrenciesai"},{"credibility":2,"name":"CBInsights — Aldrin CEO and Leadership","type":"other","url":"https://www.cbinsights.com/company/cryptocurrenciesai/people"},{"credibility":2,"name":"DappRadar — Aldrin DeFi Overview, TVL Analysis","type":"research","url":"https://dappradar.com/dapp/aldrin"},{"credibility":2,"name":"DefiLlama — Aldrin TVL & Volume","type":"research","url":"https://defillama.com/protocol/aldrin"},{"credibility":2,"name":"BitDegree — Aldrin Trading Volume, Rankings (inactive status)","type":"research","url":"https://www.bitdegree.org/top-crypto-exchanges/aldrin"},{"credibility":2,"name":"Solscan — Aldrin (RIN) Token On-Chain Data","type":"on_chain","url":"https://solscan.io/token/E5ndSkaB17Dm7CsD22dvcjfrYSDLCxFcMd6z8ddCk5wp"},{"credibility":2,"name":"GitHub — aldrin-labs Organization","type":"official","url":"https://github.com/aldrin-labs"},{"credibility":2,"name":"GitHub — aldrin-labs/RINbot Telegram Bot Repository","type":"official","url":"https://github.com/aldrin-labs/RINbot"},{"credibility":2,"name":"GitHub — aldrin-labs/CLOB DEX Rust Monorepo","type":"official","url":"https://github.com/aldrin-labs/CLOB"},{"credibility":3,"name":"X (Twitter) — aldrin_labs Aptos bot announcement","type":"social_media","url":"https://x.com/aldrin_labs/status/1761487075499503704"},{"credibility":2,"name":"CryptoRank — Aldrin (RIN) IDO Token Sale Review","type":"research","url":"https://cryptorank.io/ico/cryptocurrencies-ai"},{"credibility":2,"name":"CoinMarketCap — Aldrin (RIN) Token Data","type":"other","url":"https://coinmarketcap.com/currencies/aldrin/"},{"credibility":2,"name":"Solana Ecosystem — Aldrin Listing","type":"official","url":"https://solana.com/ecosystem/aldrin"}],"summary":"Aldrin (formerly Cryptocurrencies.ai) is a Solana-based decentralized exchange and AMM protocol that launched its RIN utility token via IDO in mid-2021, backed by investors including Alameda Research. The project's original DEX product experienced severe activity decline following the FTX/Alameda collapse in November 2022 and the concurrent implosion of the Serum orderbook infrastructure it relied upon. As of 2025–2026, Aldrin Labs has pivoted to multi-chain Telegram trading bots (RINbot) on Sui and Aptos, while the original Solana DEX is effectively inactive with near-zero TVL and the RIN token has lost approximately 99.98% of its all-time-high value.","timeline":[{"date":"2017-01-01","event":"Cryptocurrencies.ai (CCAI) founded by Hisham Khan; approximate date, year-level precision only","source":"CBInsights company profile","source_url":"https://www.cbinsights.com/company/cryptocurrenciesai"},{"date":"2021-04-30","event":"Private Round 1 closes: $2.64M raised at $1.70/RIN from investors including MV Global and AU21 Capital","source":"ICO Drops — Aldrin token sale data","source_url":"https://icodrops.com/aldrin/"},{"date":"2021-05-13","event":"IDO on Launchpool: $480K raised at $1.78/RIN","source":"ICO Drops — Aldrin token sale data","source_url":"https://icodrops.com/aldrin/"},{"date":"2021-05-20","event":"Private Round 2 closes: $4.87M raised at $1.85/RIN; investors include Alameda Research, A195 Capital, Rarestone Capital","source":"Chain Broker — Aldrin investors and funding","source_url":"https://chainbroker.io/projects/aldrin/"},{"date":"2021-06-09","event":"IDO on Zendit: $500K raised at $2.00/RIN; Token Generation Event (TGE) completed","source":"ICO Drops — Aldrin token sale data","source_url":"https://icodrops.com/aldrin/"},{"date":"2021-10-01","event":"Aldrin AMM DEX launches on Solana, described as one of the first audited AMMs on the network; attracts $140+ million TVL","source":"DappRadar — Aldrin DeFi Overview","source_url":"https://dappradar.com/dapp/aldrin"},{"date":"2021-10-28","event":"RIN token reaches all-time high of $7.69","source":"CoinGecko — Aldrin price history","source_url":"https://www.coingecko.com/en/coins/aldrin"},{"date":"2022-11-11","event":"FTX and Alameda Research file for bankruptcy; Serum infrastructure on which Aldrin's CLOB orderbook relied is compromised","source":"CoinDesk — FTX hack spooks Solana DeFi","source_url":"https://www.coindesk.com/business/2022/11/12/ftx-hack-spooks-solana-defi-community-igniting-revolution-at-alameda-controlled-serum-dex"},{"date":"2022-11-29","event":"Project Serum declares itself 'defunct' and promotes OpenBook community fork; Aldrin's orderbook-based DEX loses its primary infrastructure","source":"The Block — Serum declares defunct","source_url":"https://www.theblock.co/post/190566/ftx-backed-dex-serum-calls-itself-defunct-promotes-community-fork"},{"date":"2024-02-01","event":"Aldrin Labs announces beta launch of Telegram trading bot on Aptos Network, following earlier Sui bot deployment; RIN used as access token","source":"X (Twitter) — aldrin_labs announcement","source_url":"https://x.com/aldrin_labs/status/1761487075499503704"},{"date":"2026-01-01","event":"RIN token reaches all-time low of approximately $0.001145, reflecting a 99.98% decline from its October 2021 peak","source":"CoinGecko — Aldrin price history","source_url":"https://www.coingecko.com/en/coins/aldrin"}]},"v":1}