A Rare Post-Swap Discount Hiding in Plain Sight?

Projects rarely get a second chance for new crypto launches. The first launch is everything. It is when investors decide whether to trust or ignore a project. One mistake, whether it’s a technical failure or a major security issue, can end it for good. By that measure, Griffin AI (GAIN) should have been long gone.

On September 24, 2025, Griffin AI did the impossible: it launched with stunning success. Supported by six major exchanges, including Binance Alpha, HTX, and KuCoin, the $GAIN token exploded on its debut. Opening at an initial price of $0.05, with a $50 million fully diluted valuation, it grew to over 400% to $2.24 within hours, reaching a peak valuation of $224 million. In its first 12 hours, the project saw over $100 million in trading volume.

It was, by all metrics, the perfect launch for a project in one of the industry’s most complex niches: AI DeFi agents.

Then, the perfect launch became the perfect disaster. An exploit led to mint of the fake GAIN tokens and token price collapse. The project’s value crashed from a high of $224 million to just $7 million, a massive 96% drop. For the community, it was a huge blow to confidence. It looked like just another project that had failed and been left behind for the broader market.

Now, the story is changing. This is about a hard lesson and a serious plan to recover. Griffin AI isn’t giving up. The team is coming back with a focus on being open, protecting users, and proving one simple point: the product itself was never the problem.

The Overview of a $220 Million Disaster

For weeks, the Griffin AI team stayed quiet about what exactly went wrong, which led to rumors and hurt community trust. But in a recent update, the team finally explained what happened, and it turned out to be a simple, human mistake that was limited in scope, not a major system failure.

The exploit was not a flaw in Griffin AI’s protocol or its AI agents, according to founder Oliver Feldmeier, while speaking to BeInCrypto. The vulnerability came from a “compromised key to the BNB bridge,” which was temporarily handled by a single team developer who “did not execute proper security diligence.”

The fallout was immediate and decisive. “Immediately after the breach, the developer was terminated with immediate effect,” Feldmeier said, noting the matter was reported to the police, and a criminal investigation is expected.

While this revelation provided a clear root cause, it did little to fix the immediate financial and reputational damage. The team was now faced with an impossible choice: let the project and its community collapse, or attempt one of the most difficult maneuvers in crypto, a full-scale, post-hack remediation.

The “Protect the User” Strategy

Griffin AI’s response has become a case study in crisis management. The team’s first and most critical decision was to prioritize its users over its own timeline or tokenomics. This led to a 1:1 token swap, designed to make every single affected user whole.

This was not an inflationary event. Unlike many projects that print new, dilutive tokens to paper over their losses, Griffin AI’s maximum supply remains exactly 1,000,000,000 GAIN. Not a single new token was minted.

The team and its investors took the hit themselves. To fund the 1:1 restoration for users, the project reallocated tokens from its own internal buckets, moving forward with the vesting of tokens originally meant for the Team and Investors. In short, the project’s backers sacrificed their own locked-up equity to make the community whole, a move that preserved the token’s economic integrity.

This commitment was strengthened by something rarely seen in crypto. In a joint decision with Binance, the exchange stepped in to help, covering about half of the replacement tokens given back to users. It’s highly uncommon for an exchange like Binance to share the cost of a recovery. This action stands as a vote of confidence in the Griffin AI team and its future.

The $2.5 Million Recovery Program

Making users whole was the first step. Rebuilding market confidence is the next step.

To that end, Griffin AI has activated a $2.5 Million Recovery & Buy-Back Program, with an initial $1 million tranche already live. The team has stated this program will run open-market buy-backs and execute monthly token burns, with a fully transparent, on-chain public record for anyone to verify.

In a report released after the incident, analysts explained that the buyback isn’t the main part of the recovery plan. It shows the token swap is complete, helps steady the market by taking extra tokens out of circulation, and sets a stable base for the project to rebuild from. The $2.5 million amount also carries meaning, as it matches the total that the attacker made by selling the fake tokens.

The Unchanged Fundamentals: A Product That Works

The hack never touched the GriffinAI platform “Agent Builder” nor the core product, which remains live and fully functional. Griffin AI’s flagship is the Transaction Execution Agent (TEA) Turbo, a chat AI agent for DeFi that is live on both Ethereum and BNB Chain. Branded as “DeFi Dapps Killer”, it allows users to execute swaps, manage yield, and transfer assets using simple natural-language commands, never touching DEXs or wallets, with routing through major protocols like Uniswap, 1inch, and Aave v3 on the back.

Before the incident, the platform had already attracted approximately 250,000 active users. Furthermore, its no-code Agent Builder has seen over 15,000 community-built agents created, demonstrating an engaged developer base.

To create a direct demand driver for its embattled token, the team has also launched Griffin Premium, a new tier that unlocks exclusive agents and features for users who hold at least 100 GAIN. 

A Discount Hiding in Plain Sight?

A non-inflationary token swap, strong exchange support, an active product with users, and a well-funded buyback plan have created a big gap between Griffin AI’s price and its true value.

Right now, with a market value between $7 million and $10 million, Griffin AI trades 86% below its launch price of $50 million, and 96% below its peak. Yet, as analysts point out, it’s still the same founder, same team, same product, and same exchange listings as before.

At the same time, similar AI and agent-based DeFi projects are valued between $80 million and $300 million, which means GAIN’s current price is far lower than its peers, as if the project had already failed, despite its successful execution of the token swap and Binance financial support. 

In short, the market is still reacting to the reputation damage from the hack and overlooking the transparent, well-financed comeback that’s already underway.

Griffin AI’s story is now about rebuilding. The risk is real because trust in crypto takes time to earn back. But for a market that thrives on comeback stories, Griffin AI has made its move. It has the product, the users, and a $2.5 million recovery fund to prove it’s here to stay.