The circumstances behind the mysterious $16 million withdrawal from the Pepecoin (PEPE) challenge’s multisig pockets have seemingly been revealed, with the finger pointed at three rogue ex-team members.
On Aug. 24, the worth of PEPE plunged by roughly 15% amid fears of a possible rug pull after the neighborhood noticed that $16 million price of PEPE was withdrawn from the Pepe multisig pockets and despatched to a number of exchanges.
1/4
1 hour in the past, the Pepe multisig pockets, modified the quantity of signatures required on their multisig from a 5/8 to 2/8. This comes after sending $15.7 million price of $PEPE to exchanges.
A breakdown of what we all know: pic.twitter.com/bxBxp6Nzqz
— ASXN (@asxn_r) August 24, 2023
Clearing up the matter in an Aug. 25 submit on X (previously Twitter), one of many nameless founding members behind the challenge supplied a neighborhood announcement from the official Pepecoin account, detailing what they declare had occurred.
In keeping with the assertion, three group members abruptly stole the funds from the multisig after which deserted the challenge, leaving it in full management of the remaining member.
“The multi-sig was set as much as require 3/4 signers current for an approval. Yesterday these 3 ex-team members got here again behind my again, logged onto the multi-sig, stole 16 Trillion/ 60% of the 26 trillion multi-sig tokens, and despatched them to exchanges to promote.”
“They then eliminated themselves from the multisig in an try and absolve any affiliation to $PEPE, deleting all of their social accounts and leaving me behind nothing however a message stating ‘the multisig has been up to date, you at the moment are in full management,’” they added.
an announcement to the $PEPE neighborhood:
Yesterday on August twenty fourth, 2023, a collection of sudden transactions passed off from the $PEPE multisig CEX
Pockets during which ~16 Trillion $PEPE tokens (price roughly $15m USD) had been transferred to varied crypto exchanges (OKX, Binance,… pic.twitter.com/iZmXV1TAvw— Pepe (@pepecoineth) August 26, 2023
The founding member claimed that the X account and the remaining 10 trillion PEPE within the multsig at the moment are in secure fingers, with the funds set to be transferred to a brand new pockets the place “they’ll safely relaxation till a use or burn arises.”
It was additionally asserted that these former members had been troublesome to work with since Pepecoin launched in April and had held the challenge again from progress towards its varied targets.
Associated: PEPE whale seizes dip alternative, buys $529K price of tokens
Transferring ahead, the remaining member claimed they’ll do what’s proper for the PEPE neighborhood now that the dangerous actors have gone.
“Since its inception, $PEPE has sadly been suffering from internal strife with a portion of the group being dangerous actors led by massive egos and greed,” they mentioned, including that:
“As I course of what has occurred, I stay up for a future for $PEPE the place I can function with the neighborhood and tokens’ greatest intention in thoughts and no negligent group members and locked multisig scenario blocking me from doing what’s greatest.”
The telegram group for $PEPE is presently locked down, the outdated telegram account for the group proprietor was hacked and the group was taken over. Within the means of making an attempt to regain entry or make a brand new one. All official communication for $PEPE will happen by way of the @pepecoineth… pic.twitter.com/lQFTu02jub
— Pepe (@pepecoineth) August 26, 2023
The response was blended within the feedback, with some in help or bullish on the announcement, whereas others had been questioning the reality of those claims.


On the time of writing, the worth of PEPE has elevated by 5.7% over the previous 24 hours to take a seat at $0.000000895278, with a present market cap of $382.7 million, in keeping with knowledge from CoinGecko.
Gather this text as an NFT to protect this second in historical past and present your help for impartial journalism within the crypto house.
Journal: What do crypto exchanges actually do along with your cash?