Massive Pepe coin theft sparks allegations of insider trading

Aug 26, 2023 at 7:47 PM UTC

Edited by Anthony Patrick

News

Massive Pepe coin theft sparks allegations of insider trading

Deflationary meme currency Pepe Coin is embroiled in a web of controversy surrounding a significant token theft and accusations of insider trading.

As the Pepe Coin saga unfolds, an on-chain analyst known as Yazan alleges that individuals with privileged access have commenced the liquidation of their PEPE holdings, with a substantial volume of approximately 400 billion PEPE tokens already divested.

Update: The number is now up to 665 billion $PEPE and the wallet selling still has 346 billion $PEPE.

0x22f6215b40434D9135B06f1C676fd9291936Aac3
— Yazan (@YazanXBT) August 26, 2023

Yazan has issued a fervent call to action, urging prominent cryptocurrency trading platforms such as Binance and OKEx to take proactive measures to quell the alleged insider trading practices.

The claims come on the heels of a post on social media from the official Pepe account detailing how 16 trillion Pepe tokens — valued at $15 million — were illicitly transferred to crypto exchanges OKX, Binance, Kucoin and Bybit before being sold. See below.

an announcement to the $PEPE community:

Yesterday on August 24th, 2023, a series of unexpected transactions took place from the $PEPE multisig CEX
Wallet in which ~16 Trillion $PEPE tokens (worth roughly $15m USD) were transferred to various crypto exchanges (OKX, Binance,… pic.twitter.com/iZmXV1TAvw
— Pepe (@pepecoineth) August 26, 2023

Insider trading claims

Jeremy “Pauly” Cahen, a one-time Pepe Coin marketer, has also alleged that the individuals behind the meme coin have engaged in insider trading following the vanishing of a staggering 16 trillion PEPE tokens.

With a determined resolve, Cahen, or “Pauly,” has taken the step of revealing the identities of the team members in question, along with a meticulous breakdown of their wallet transactions. On-chain observers have noted a series of substantial Pepe Coin transactions attributed to insiders.

Addressing the situation on Aug. 26, Cahen revealed that the Pepe Coin team possesses a substantial cache of 16–17 million PEPE coins distributed across nine distinct wallets. In a surprising twist, insiders opted against a wholesale sell-off, instead strategically assuming a substantial short position by gradually offloading PEPE tokens from a controlled exchange (CEX) wallet.

The @pepecoineth team is holding 16-17 million worth of $pepe across at least 9 different insider wallets.

Why didn’t they sell from those?

Because by dumping the CEX wallet they knew they could create a massive short position then dump the market + print.

Insider trading 101.
— PAULY (@Pauly0x) August 26, 2023

Cahen indicated that he intends to collaborate with law enforcement on the matter, and take action against the “pepecoineth” team which, he claims, disseminated falsehoods to the crypto community in order to enhance their personal gains.