I can't properly remember but I think what you're referring to was in 2017, It was a Korean exchange that helped ION hit a high of $8
with a daily trading volume in the $millions. An un-forecasted opportunity that proved to be quite a lucrative one.
From what I understood from posts I've seen, it may have been a Korean exchange but it was closed down soon after the donations were taken. Besides, you're missing the point - I suspect deliberately - which was that it appears that they had to ask for money to fund that from their community. As I said before, you can't with any confidence say that you fully know the financial situation of the team as they never discuss it.
What you've described actually
is the signature of a focused agile team. Ionomy is not perfect but who is when it comes to real-world implementation. Although I did make a perfect telephone call a few months ago

it was perfect.
Right, so the fact that they've so far produced nothing in 4 years of work that's ever appealed to more than what, 50 or 60 people at the absolute peak is a sign of success in your eyes? And from this you conclude that they'll somehow now pull a magic rabbit out of their hat and start producing something that'll bring in 1 million users?