On January 19, 2026, @DidiTrading opened a slash against @waleswoosh on Ethos over an undisclosed paid promotion. Ethos called it the largest ever slash on the network at the time, with 792 users potentially affected.

The case showed how a slash on Ethos reaches beyond one account. People who had positively reviewed Wale had their own credibility score on the line, so the vote tested whether endorsements hold up when the person behind them is found to have done something wrong.

The accusation

@DidiTrading’s slash said Wale was:

“involved in an undisclosed ad where he got paid $8000 USDC for promoting $TROVE ICO which turned out to be an absolute scam.”

The slash was posted on Ethos here.

What was at stake

Ethos laid out the stakes when the slash opened:

• 16,000 credibility score was at stake if Wale was successfully slashed
• The average supporter, meaning someone who had positively reviewed him, would lose 20 credibility score if the slash succeeded
• Supporters could avoid that loss by voting “slash”

That last point made the vote a choice for everyone who had vouched for Wale’s reputation: stand by the endorsement, or vote to slash.

Wale’s response

On January 20, 2026, Ethos said Wale had addressed the slash on Ethos, pointing to a post from @Glenn6 summarizing the response. According to @Glenn6, Wale said he was paid by Trove, but not to endorse the ICO. @Glenn6 wrote that Wale apologized, said he should have disclosed the payment, and accepted the slash as deserved. @Glenn6 called that “fair play.”

The result

On January 21, 2026, Ethos reported the outcome. With the largest voter turnout it had seen, the slash passed:

• For: 92.5%
• Against: 7.5%

@waleswoosh was slashed for 203 credibility score, which dropped the account from “Reputable” to “Known.” 732 people lost credibility score for what Ethos called misplaced endorsements.

The Validator question

Wale was also a Validator, and some users had staked their XP in Wale’s validator. Ethos said it did not expect a Validator to be slashed before Season 2 started, and that the mechanism for handling it had not yet been developed. Ethos said the effect on the XP of people who staked in Wale’s validator would be revealed at the start of Season 2. These posts do not record what that effect turned out to be.

Why the case mattered

The slash put a reputation network’s core idea into practice. An undisclosed paid promotion cost the promoter credibility, and it also cost the hundreds of people who had positively reviewed him, unless they voted to slash. Endorsements on Ethos carry weight because they can also carry consequences.

This story first appeared on X.