Approximately 16 trillion Pepe tokens, equivalent to $15 million, were illicitly transferred from the Pepe multisig wallet to major crypto exchanges including OKX, Binance, Kucoin, and Bybit. These tokens were subsequently sold, as per a recent announcement.
The alleged theft was orchestrated by three former members of the Pepe team. After accessing the Pepe multisig wallet, these individuals reportedly deleted their social media profiles and distanced themselves from the memecoin project.
The sole remaining team member of the Pepe memecoin project has accused the three ex-colleagues of this theft. The tokens were transferred to the aforementioned exchanges and sold. The multisig configuration was also altered from a 5/8 signer count to a mere 2/8, as revealed in a late Friday announcement.
Multisig wallets, which require multiple signatures to approve transactions, are commonly used in the crypto sphere to bolster security measures.
PepeCoin had gained significant traction since its launch in April, witnessing a staggering 1,500% surge and achieving a peak market capitalization of $1.5 billion by May. At one point, the top 15 Pepe whales had paper profits exceeding $90 million. However, the coin’s value took a sharp downturn subsequently.
The stolen tokens constitute about 4% of the total token supply. The multisig still holds around 10 trillion tokens, which is approximately 2% of the total supply. The remaining signer and spokesperson assured the community of the safety of these tokens and the associated Twitter account.
Onchain analyst, Lookonchain, detected the multisig transfers on August 24.
The remaining signer shed light on the project’s troubled past, highlighting the presence of bad actors driven by “big egos and greed.” These individuals reportedly hindered the project’s progress, especially concerning donations or purchases using the multisig funds.
The spokesperson expressed regret for the turmoil and potential losses the community might face due to these actions. They emphasized that the tokens were never intended for sale. The remaining 10 trillion multisig tokens will be moved to a new wallet, awaiting potential use or burning.
Also read: Memecoin buying Guide: How to buy Memecoins in 2023?
Following these multisig transfers, the Pepe token’s value decreased by around 18%, settling at $0.00000088. It experienced a brief 10% rise post the Friday announcement but declined again. As per CoinGecko data, Pepe is currently trading at $0.000000864873, marking a 1.7% drop over the last 24 hours, and 80% down from its ATH.
In contrast, other memecoins like Dogecoin and Shiba Inu have seen an uptick of 1.1% and 1.6% respectively over the same period.
This incident has raised concerns and questions about the security and transparency of crypto projects, especially those in the memecoin category.
