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key takeaways:
- Pepe confirms ex-team members as culprits in the $15 million theft from the multisig wallet.
- Stolen actions led to around 16 trillion $PEPE tokens being sent to various crypto exchanges: OKX, Binance, Kucoin, and Bybit.
The Pepe ($PEPE), a token inspired by the renowned meme and cartoon character Pepe the Frog recently faced a significant internal upheaval due to a substantial breach of ‘trust”. Allegedly, about 16 trillion $PEPE tokens, valued at approximately $15 million USD, were illicitly taken and subsequently transferred to various cryptocurrency exchanges.
The official X account of $PEPE disclosed this unfortunate incident, shedding light on the internal turmoil that culminated in this situation.
Since its launch in April, Pepe garnered notable attention, witnessing an astonishing surge of over 1,500% in May and achieving a peak market capitalization of $1.5 billion. Although the token’s value experienced a sudden decline, the 15 largest Pepe holders had initially amassed substantial paper profits, surpassing $90 million.
The stolen tokens represent roughly 4% of the total token supply, while the remaining balance in the multisig wallet constitutes around 10 trillion tokens, equivalent to about 2% of the overall supply.
The final remaining controller of the multisig system reported that the stolen tokens were sent to exchanges such as OKX, Binance, Kucoin, and Bybit before being sold off. This incident prompted a reduction in the multisig signer count from 5/8 to 2/8, as revealed in a late Friday announcement.
Multisig setups are frequently employed by cryptocurrency projects to bolster security, necessitating the authorization of transactions by multiple team members’ signatures. The actions of the former team members responsible for this incident led to a 16% decrease in PEPE’s price, causing concern among investors and traders.
In response to these events, the remaining founder assured the PEPE community of the project’s dedication to eliminating bad actors and moving forward positively. They clarified that they retained full control over the project’s X account, the multi-sig wallet, and the 10 trillion tokens within it.
Additionally, the founder disclosed that the remaining tokens had been moved to a new address. The founder expressed their shock at the situation and issued apologies for the fear, uncertainty, and losses experienced by community members due to the actions of these malicious actors.
Reassuringly, the founder conveyed that the project was now free from such detrimental influences and had a promising path ahead. They also shared ongoing discussions with prominent figures within the cryptocurrency community to provide guidance for the project’s future.
This clarification from the founder had a positive impact, leading to an increase of more than 11% in PEPE’s price.
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