The value of PEPE, one of the most promising assets in the second quarter of 2023, has been reeling in recent weeks. According to data from CoinGecko, the price of the meme coin is down 33.6% in the past 14 days.
The PEPE price has taken a significant hit in the past week, decreased by more than 20% within a few hours. This negative price action was caused by the rumors of a carpet pull organized by the developers.
On Thursday, August 24, approximately $16 million worth of Pepe tokens were moved from the developers’ multi-sig wallet to various crypto exchanges, spreading FUD (fear, uncertainty, and doubt) across the community.
The team behind the meme coin has now published an announcement addressing the community about what has happened in the past few days.
‘Three ex-Roge team members responsible for $ 16 million withdrawal’
On Saturday, August 26, one of the anonymous developers behind the Pepe project shed more light on the mysterious withdrawal of $16 million from the project’s multi-sig wallet via a post on the official X (formerly Twitter) account.
According to the team member, three ex-team members initiated a series of unexpected withdrawal transactions and transferred the “stolen” Pepe tokens to various crypto exchanges.
Part of the community address explained:
The multi-sig (wallet) is set up so that 3/4 signers must be present for approval. Yesterday these 3 ex-team members came back behind my back, logged into the multi-sig, stole 16 trillion / 60% of the 26 trillion multi-sig tokens and sent them to exchanges to sell. They then removed themselves from the multi-sig in an attempt to absolve any association with $PEPE, deleting all of their social accounts and leaving me with nothing but a message saying “the multi-sig (wallet) has been updated, your you are now in complete control.”
The anonymous developer found it difficult to work with these former members since the start of the Pepe project. “There have often been conflicts and the majority of the team involved in the creation of $PEPE started to distance themselves after the first week of starting the project,” they said.
While apologizing for the inconvenience and losses caused by the “bad actors,” the project member claims that the remaining 10 trillion Pepe tokens in the multi-sig are “safe” and out of the reach of “nefarious” ex-team members.
Unsurprisingly, the online crypto community had mixed reactions to the developer’s address. While some individuals seemed convinced by the team member’s account, others questioned the veracity of the claims.
PEPE Up Nearly 10% – Is There Any Recovery?
PEPE’s value reacted positively to this address, rising about 9.6% to $0.000000956641. While some correction has taken place, the price of the meme coin is still well (about 9%) above the seven-day low of $0.000000824545, reached in the early hours of Friday, August 25.
As concluded earlier, panic-induced sales were primarily responsible for the recent PEPE price crash. With confidence seemingly restored, investors are likely to expect a price recovery.
Fortunately, the daily Relative Strength Index (RSI), an indicator that tracks the balance between a token’s buying and selling pressure, is in the oversold zone for the first time. In oversold territory, the RSI often indicates that a trend reversal is on the horizon.
According to CoinGecko DataPEPE is currently trading at $0.000000898317, registering a 1.4% price increase in the past 24 hours. With a market cap of around $375.9, the meme coin is the 97th largest cryptocurrency in the market.
PEPEUSDT at $0.00000088951 | Source: daily PEPEUSDT chart on TradingView
Featured image of Unsplash, chart from TradingView