- Pepe’s multisig wallet hacked; 16T tokens ($15M) sold.
- Discord within team, leaving lone member in charge.
In an unexpected turn of events on August 24th, 2023, the infamous memecoin Pepe community was rattled by a series of transactions involving the project’s multisig wallet. Approximately 16 trillion PEPE tokens, valued at around 15 million USD. They were transferred from the wallet to multiple crypto exchanges, including OKX, Binance, Kucoin, and Bybit. The shocking move significantly reduced the required signer count to 2 out of 8 wallets. It left the multisig with 10 trillion tokens and a solitary signer.
In a bid to provide clarity to the community, an anonymous founding member came forward to share their perspective on the situation. According to their account, the project had been plagued by internal strife from its inception, characterized by clashes among team members driven by greed.
Meanwhile, the project’s multisig wallet, crafted to mandate approval from 3 out of 4 signers for transactions, took center stage in the controversy. The founding member asserted that the three ex-team members, previously disconnected from the project, abruptly resurfaced. Allegedly, they illicitly accessed the multisig, absconding with 16 trillion tokens—equivalent to 60% of the total—before proceeding to offload them on exchanges.
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
What Lies Ahead?
Expressing shock at the developments, the remaining founding member issued an apology to the community for the uncertainty caused. And assured the community that control over the official Pepe twitter account. And the remaining 10 trillion tokens remained secure and protected from the ex-team members.
Once all is set and complete, I would like PEPE to be left in a position where it can stand and thrive as strong as ever in a truly decentralized and anti-fragile state. Together, we are all PEPE.
said the anonymous founder.
Furthermore, they disclosed their intention to transfer the remaining tokens to a new wallet while awaiting a definitive resolution. Additionally, they suggested the prospect of burning tokens upon finalizing pending acquisitions or donations.
However, The response from the community varied. With some expressing optimism about the announcement expecting a bull rally. And others raised skepticism and questioned the credibility of the provided information.
Finally after the announcement PEPE saw a mild surge of 1.16% in 24 hours. It rebounded from its consequent 16% percent dump cause of the allegations and now the price stands at $0.0000008971.
