PepeCoin, the cryptocurrency featuring its signature frog meme, faced a jarring plunge in its valuation, coinciding with hefty token transfers to multiple exchanges. A 20% PEPE crash was captured since last week, as per figures from coinmarketcap.
PEPE Crash: Mystery Transfers Raising Eyebrows
Alarmingly, transactions amounting to $16.85 million of PepeCoin were spotted moving from the team’s multi-signature Ethereum wallet to popular exchanges like Binance, OKX, KuCoin, and Bybit. Typically, multi-signature wallets are known to require approvals from several parties before initiating any transfers.
In a previous article, we did warn about how PEPE project might be just another pump and dump, despite receiving a lot of backlash.
Why is PEPE Crashing?
The events began unfolding yesterday. The multisig wallet managed by the Pepecoin developers was altered to mandate only two, instead of the previous five, out of eight signatures for transaction approvals. Subsequently, a massive transfer of PEPE tokens valued at $17 million was initiated to exchanges.
The once-thriving meme coin witnessed a 17% decline in its value by today’s morning, eroding approximately $77 million from its initial market cap of $376 million. While realizing profits is common, offloading about 4% of the total supply without any prior notice raises eyebrows.
Security Parameters CHANGED?
Further stirring concerns, post these large-scale transfers, there was an unannounced tweak in the wallet’s security protocols. From an earlier necessity of five out of eight signatures to authorize a transaction, the requisite was abruptly lowered to just two out of eight.
I wonder why the @pepecoineth team blacklisted a wallet that bought 2.5 trillion $pepe tokens early on?
Roughly 2.2 million dollars worth at current market value.
The #22 ranked holder in the world.https://t.co/iPHPUrIja7 pic.twitter.com/0gjuHgszNT
Remaining Wallet Balance and Growing Concerns
Despite these transfers, the wallet is reported to still house 10.697 trillion PEPE, valued at roughly $9.61 million. However, the combination of uncommunicated transfers and the sudden shift in wallet security, without any official insight, kindled apprehensions, culminating in hasty selling by holders.
Expert Insights on the Situation
May analysts weighed in on the unfolding events. They highlighted the atypical transaction behaviors coupled with a concerning silence from the project’s end, flagging them as potential red alerts. The latest data pinpoints PepeCoin’s market capitalization at $338 million, and in the midst of these developments, the PepeCoin team has yet to provide a statement. In fact, the account didn’t make any tweet since August 11.
