Infinex still faces fundraising difficulties after adjusting the public sale rules, with $3.5 million remaining to reach the $5 million target.

The fundraising journey of the cross-chain aggregation DeFi platform Infinex is a bit awkward. After announcing significant adjustments to the public sale rules on January 5th, the fundraising status still shows no signs of improvement. As of January 7th, the project has only raised $1.55 million, still $3.5 million short of the $5 million funding goal, with a completion rate of just 30%. This is not just slow fundraising; it reflects deeper issues within the project itself.

Sincerity and Dilemmas in Rule Adjustments

Infinex founder Kain Warwick acknowledged the flaws in the public sale mechanism on January 5th and made two important adjustments:

• Removed the $2,500 investment cap per user, allowing users to decide their own investment amounts
• Changed from a random allocation to a “max-min fair distribution” to ensure all participants receive equal shares

These adjustments appear sincere and have indeed improved some issues. According to relevant information, before the adjustment, the project raised only $600,000; after the adjustment, it increased to $1.55 million, a nearly 160% increase. However, this increase is still far from reaching the target.

Why Progress Remains Difficult After Adjustments

On the surface, it seems to be slow fundraising, but the underlying reasons deserve attention:

Overly harsh valuation and lock-up conditions

Selling 5% of the total supply at a FDV valuation of $99.99 million is not low for an early-stage cross-chain DeFi platform. More critically, investors need to lock their tokens for one year to unlock them. This combination offers limited appeal to ordinary investors.

Lack of community confidence

According to relevant information, community feedback on the project is not optimistic. An observer bluntly stated, “Infinex ICO is a failure, but they stubbornly persist,” believing that merely removing account limits is insufficient to solve the fundamental issues. This reflects a low overall market expectation for the project.

Fundraising difficulties under high valuation

In comparison, other DeFi projects tend to raise funds more quickly. Infinex needs to raise $5 million to support a $99.99 million valuation, which means the project relies heavily on market confidence in its future growth. But reality shows that this confidence is still insufficient.

Founder’s Confidence and Market Response

Interestingly, Kain Warwick stated on January 5th, “The first 18 months I operated entirely with my own funds, and if needed, I would do it again.” This demonstrates the founder’s commitment but also indirectly highlights the difficulties in fundraising—that the founder has to personally fund operations.

According to Polymarket’s prediction market data, after the rule adjustments, the market’s forecast probability of “public sale exceeding $5 million” rose from 57% to 78%, indicating some optimism. However, based on actual fundraising progress, this optimism may still be overly idealistic.

Future Focus

Infinex’s fundraising progress over the next few weeks will determine the project’s direction. If it cannot achieve its funding goals within a reasonable timeframe, the project may face the need to readjust valuation or fundraising targets. The founder’s self-funding commitment shows sincerity but is not a sustainable long-term solution.

Summary

Infinex’s story teaches us that adjusting rules only addresses surface issues. Whether the project can successfully raise funds ultimately depends on market recognition of its value. With only $1.55 million raised, there is still a large gap in market acceptance. No matter how well the rules are adjusted, if the project cannot convince investors of its worth, the fundamental problem of fundraising difficulty remains. This is also the core reason why the founder has to operate by self-funding.