# KENDU's community takeover, measured

From kenduconviction.com (https://kenduconviction.com). What happened when KENDU's founder stepped down in January 2025 and its holders took the project over, each event linked to its source, and what the chain shows before, during and since. On-chain data to 28 Oct 2026.

KENDU (an ERC-20 token on Ethereum, then called Kendu Inu) launched on 21 Feb 2024 and was run by its founder for its first eleven months. Since January 2025 it has been run by its community, and the Kendu name is a permissionless brand: anyone can build under it.

## What happened

- 14 Jan 2025: Wallets holding KENDU on Ethereum peak at 14,849, still the most on any day. (on-chain)
- 18 Jan 2025: Community leaders break with the founder. The official X account announces he has stepped down, ‘paving the way for Kendu to be a 100% community-driven project’. [Source](https://x.com/KenduInu/status/1880553989491900543)
- 20 Jan 2025: The community takeover begins: the founder-era Telegram group is muted and holders regroup in a new community-run group. [Source](https://www.reddit.com/r/KenduInu_Ecosystem/comments/1i60gzw/)
- 21 Jan 2025: The founder’s remaining KENDU, 13.17B or 1.3% of all 1 trillion, goes into the community treasury, not out of it. [Source](https://www.reddit.com/r/KenduInu_Ecosystem/comments/1i6e17r/)
- 22 Jan 2025: The new community lead ends the founder-era practice of muting or banning critics as ‘FUD’ and apologises to the holders it hit. [Source](https://www.reddit.com/r/KenduInu_Ecosystem/comments/1i77usl/)
- 23 Jan 2025: The main KENDU account on X passes to community control. [Source](https://www.reddit.com/r/KenduInu_Ecosystem/comments/1i88rzp/)
- 24 Jan 2025: Mods declare the takeover complete: X and the treasury are in community hands, the domain is moving, and the Kendu Chads platform is dropped, its contracts left with the founder. [Source](https://www.reddit.com/r/KenduInu_Ecosystem/comments/1i8p2em/)
- 7 Feb 2025: KENDU goes live on Base through the Wormhole bridge, with its first pool on Aerodrome. [Source](https://www.reddit.com/r/KenduInu_Ecosystem/comments/1ijrnhh/)
- 8 Feb 2025: The original KENDU Telegram group of over 10,000 members comes under community control, and holders move back into it. [Source](https://www.reddit.com/r/KenduInu_Ecosystem/comments/1iki906/)
- Every event since launch, with sources: https://kenduconviction.com/kendu/history

## The chain before, during and since

| | End of Dec 2024, before | End of Jan 2025, the takeover month | End of Sep 2026, latest |
|---|---|---|---|
| Wallets holding KENDU | 14,603 | 14,756 | 14,071 |
| Wallets holding half | 102 | 104 | 117 |
| Average time held | 156 days | 164 days | 1.46 years |
| Held 1+ year | none yet | none yet | 67.9% |

- Wallets holding KENDU: on Ethereum, wallets with 1 KENDU or more.
- Wallets holding half: the fewest holder wallets that together hold half of the KENDU in holder wallets.
- Average time held: the KENDU in wallets and treasuries, weighted by amount.
- Held 1+ year: of the KENDU in wallets and treasuries, unmoved for over a year.
- Held 1+ year is "none yet" until 21 Feb 2025: no KENDU could be a year old before then.
- Each month in full: https://kenduconviction.com/monthly/2024-12, https://kenduconviction.com/monthly/2025-01, https://kenduconviction.com/monthly/2026-09

## A year on: the end of January 2025 against the end of January 2026

- Of the 9,299 wallets that held 1M+ KENDU at the end of Jan 2025, 5,893 (63.4% of them) held about the same at the end of Jan 2026, within 5% of their bag.
- The rest: 725 held more, by over 5% of their bag; 234 held less, by over 5% of it; 2,447 held under 1M.
- 1,698 wallets that held under 1M then held 1M+ at the end of Jan 2026.
- The 250 biggest holder wallets of Jan 2025 held 590B then and 339B at the end of Jan 2026: 111 still held at least 95% of their bag, 103 held under 1M.
- Holder wallets only. A move to another wallet counts as leaving, even between wallets of the same owner, so these counts differ from the Overview’s, which counts a holder’s own wallets once.
- The full issue: https://kenduconviction.com/monthly/2026-01

## What came after: key events since

- 19 Jun 2025: KENDU drops the ‘Inu’: Etherscan shows the token’s name as ‘Kendu’ instead of ‘Kendu Inu’. [Source](https://www.reddit.com/r/KenduInu_Ecosystem/comments/1lfpupi/)
- 23 Jul 2025: A free KENDU brand guide is published: the Fiery Coral colour, set fonts and logos anyone may use for KENDU products. [Source](https://www.reddit.com/r/KenduInu_Ecosystem/comments/1m7fkrd/)
- 20 Dec 2025: Three Kendu projects back one event, a surf and skate jam at Stuart Beach, Florida: KenduSTREET paints, Kendu Energy pours and Kendu Unleashed brings the decks. [Source](https://www.reddit.com/r/KenduInu_Ecosystem/comments/1ql6lde/)
- 7 Jan 2026: Kendu Spice Co.’s Moon Rock BBQ rub goes on sale on Amazon. [Source](https://www.reddit.com/r/KenduInu_Ecosystem/comments/1q6p29u/)
- 10 Feb 2026: Kendu Racing is introduced: an off-road minibike team of six racers in the southeastern US that also makes parts. [Source](https://www.reddit.com/r/KenduInu_Ecosystem/comments/1r0n712/)
- 6 May 2026: The Kendu Spice wallet starts buying KENDU from the Uniswap pool about once a month: 6 buys from 6 May to 2 October. (on-chain)
- 12 Jul 2026: Kendu Brilliance’s wallet burns 100M KENDU, the first burn of 1M KENDU or more since March 2024. (on-chain)
- Every project built with the name, with sources: https://kenduconviction.com/kendu/projects
- The community treasury's ins and outs: https://kenduconviction.com/#treasury

## How to quote this

- Every number comes from the site's own replay of every KENDU transfer on Ethereum since launch (21 Feb 2024); none comes from a third party.
- Quote numbers with their date (the data date is given), and with their base: "70.5% of the KENDU in wallets and treasuries", not "70.5% of KENDU".
- "Wallets and treasuries" leaves out pools, exchanges, the Wormhole bridge and the burn address. Wallet counts are Ethereum wallets with 1+ KENDU.
- This is on-chain data, not financial advice, and not a prediction. The site does not discuss price targets.
- Today's numbers: https://kenduconviction.com/open/facts.md