$PEPE's Cryptic Transfers

The meme coin market was thrown into turmoil on August 24, 2023, as a series of odd transfers involving the meme token PepeCoin sent shockwaves through the community.

Around 10:00 AM UTC, an extensive volume of PEPE tokens swiftly shifted from one wallet to another. There was no reputable cryptocurrency exchange behind these transfers, and the reasons for these transfers remained a mystery.

Things took a more bizarre turn when over 16 trillion tokens flowed out of the PEPE multisig wallet midday Thursday, making their way to addresses associated with Binance, OXK, and Bybit, making up 3.8% of the total supply. There were nearly $8.2 million in Pepe tokens sent to OKX, $6.5 million to Binance, and $434,000 to Bybit. An unknown wallet received another $400,000.

This generated a sense of unease among investors, triggering decline in the coin's value. As of writing, $PEPE fell by more than 33% in 24 hours as whales were reportedly selling the memecoin.

The timing coincided with observations by on-chain detectives, who had noticed unsettling changes in the vault-like wallet's transaction approval process. Rather than requiring approval from five of eight wallets, a mere two wallets were required to sign off on transactions. 

Worth noting last April, it was reported that Pepe token developers possessed the authority to blacklist an unlimited number of addresses, manipulate the token's tradable supply, and restrict transactions. 

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PEPE Coin Founder Doxxed

Zachary Testa, a landscape photographer, has been doxxed as the founder of PEPE, according to Cahen, the founder of Not Larva Labs. The landscape photographer, who goes by @degenharambe and @LordKekLol on Twitter, is a known violator of indigenous land trespassing norms. 

As a result of his connections with the listing teams of leading cryptocurrency exchanges such as Binance, Testa has been identified as the PEPE founder. Testa came under scrutiny for his purchase of a $865,000 purple Lambo without sharing the earnings with Matt Furie, creator of PEPE the Frog.