The value of PEPE, one of the most promising assets in the second quarter of 2023, has been faltering in recent weeks. According to CoinGecko data, the meme coin has been in a 33.6% price decline in the last 14 days. The PEPE price took a significant hit in the past week, tumbling by more than 20% in a matter of hours. This negative price action was triggered by the rumors of a rug pull orchestrated by the project deployers.  On Thursday, August 24, about $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 on what happened in the past few days. ‘Three Rouge Ex-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 $16 million withdrawal from the project’s multi-sig wallet via a post on the official X (formerly Twitter) account. Related Reading: XRP Epic Price Setup: Accumulation Surge Paves The Way For Imminent Price Blast 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. A part of the community address explained: The multi-sig (wallet) was set up to require 3/4 signers present for an approval. Yesterday these 3 ex-team members came back behind my back, logged onto the multi-sig, stole 16 Trillion/ 60% of the 26 trillion multi-sig tokens, and sent them to exchanges to sale. They then removed themselves from the multi sig in an attempt to absolve any association to $PEPE, deleting all of their social accounts and leaving me behind nothing but a message stating “the multi-sig (wallet) has been updated, you are now in full control.” The anonymous developer established that these former members have been difficult to work with since the inception of the Pepe project. “There has often been conflict, and the majority of the team involved in $PEPE creation started to distance themselves after the first week of project inception”, 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 project developer’s address. While some individuals seemed convinced by the team member’s account, others raised questions about the sincerity of the claims. PEPE Jumps By Nearly 10% – Is A Recovery On? The value of PEPE reacted positively to this address, surging by about 9.6% to reach $0.000000956641. Although it has experienced some correction, the meme coin’s price is still well (roughly 9%) above its seven-day low of $0.000000824545 reached in the early hours of Friday, August 25. As inferred earlier, panic-induced selling was primarily responsible for the recent PEPE price crash. With confidence seemingly restored, investors will likely be banking on a price recovery. Related Reading: Economic Reset Alert: Bloomberg Analyst Predicts Bitcoin Crash Below $10,000 Fortunately, the daily Relative Strength Index (RSI), an indicator that tracks the balance between the buying and selling pressure of a token, is in the oversold zone for the first time ever. When in the oversold region, the RSI often signals that a trend reversal is on the horizon. According to CoinGecko data, PEPE currently trades at $0.000000898317, registering a 1.4% price jump in the last 24 hours. With a market cap of roughly $375.9, the meme coin is the 97th-largest cryptocurrency on the market. PEPEUSDT at $0.00000088951 | Source: daily PEPEUSDT chart on TradingView   Featured image from Unsplash, chart from TradingView

One of PEPE’s early adopters is officially out after making over $1.7 million in profit, translating to a 54,725x gain in less than six months. In a tweet shared by Lookonchain on August 26, the meme coin trader bought 1.69 trillion tokens, spending roughly $36, minutes after the project was launched in late April 2023. However, by the time the trader exited, less than six months later, selling off all his tokens, he had realized a decent gain, raking in 1,001 ETH, or roughly $1.7 million at spot rates. PEPE Whale Exits Trackers reveal that the trader first sold 0.69 trillion before fully exiting and liquidating 1 trillion PEPE on August 26, pocketing $885,000 or 537 ETH, pushing his total haul to 1,001 ETH. Considering the pseudonymous nature of Ethereum from where PEPE started trading through Uniswap v3, the trader’s identity cannot be ascertained. PEPE is one of the more successful meme coin projects in 2023. The token’s meteoritic rise–and crash–over the past couple of months illustrates its volatility. For the project’s early success and popularity, because of traders buying in and aiming to ride the trend mainly because of fear of missing out (FOMO), PEPE ended up being listed on several cryptocurrency exchanges, with support by Binance being the highlight. Related Reading: XRP Price Faces Immense Sell Pressure That Could Trigger 20% Decline Less than a week after being listed on Binance, PEPE soared 800% in early May before gradually falling as sentiment turned negative and holders began exiting, taking profits. The token peaked at $0.0000044839 and have since crashed 81% to $0.0000008674 as of August 26. This price level is an important reaction point marking June 2023 lows and is a primary support level. If bears press on, PEPE may fall to retest $0.0000004984, the opening price when the token began trading when it was listed on Binance on May 1. Meme Coin Trending, Team Transfers Tokens While PEPE is a top-trending token on CoinMarketCap, a tracker owned by Binance, at the time of writing August 26, the whale opted to exit via Uniswap v3. Uniswap is a decentralized exchange (DEX) for trading multiple tokens, primarily those on Ethereum. It is the second last iteration of the DEX and uses concentrated liquidity. PEPE is also available on Uniswap v2, but most trading is concentrated on Binance and KuCoin, two of the world’s leading centralized cryptocurrency exchanges. Related Reading: JPMorgan Shares Prediction On Bitcoin’s Next Move: What You Need To Know On August 25, the team transferred 16.045 trillion tokens (worth $16.85 million) from their multisig address to four exchanges, including Binance, leaving out only 10.697 trillion PEPE. The transfer also coincided with the multisig parameter changes. Only two signatories will be required to effect a transfer, down from five out of eight. Featured image from Canva, chart from TradingView

On July 16, Binance announced that it had integrated the layer-2 protocol Bitcoin Lightning Network into its platform, and users could use it to make deposits and withdrawals. And now, less than two months after this development, the platform has recorded a significant milestone with the protocol.  Binance Node Growing Rapidly According to data from […]

AVAX, the native currency of the Avalanche blockchain, is trading at new 2023 lows at the time of writing on August 26. Trading at $10, the coin is down 55% from 2023 highs and roughly 25% alone in August 2023. At this pace, AVAX has not only broken mid-June 2023 lows but could break below the critical June 2021 support. AVAX Is Sinking A look at the daily candlestick arrangement in August shows that sellers have been unwavering and firm despite the general optimism amongst supporters. Of note, it is clear that the selling momentum has been strong. AVAX bear bars have been banding along the lower BB, meaning sellers have been unloading faster. At the same time, the divergence of the middle BB from the upper and lower BB suggests that AVAX prices have been volatile. This can be illustrated by the rapid contraction, especially in the second half of August when AVAX has shaved off over 20% of its value. The sell-off also comes amid a drop in trading activity and general liquidity, as volume indicators show in the daily chart. Comparing the current activity with those of early to mid-July 2023, it is evident that trading volumes have rapidly contracted. This drop may point to general apprehension as traders steer clear, considering the recent decline in valuation.  Related Reading: Shiba Inu Community Burn Sees Another 350 Million Meme Coins Incinerated Typically, trading volumes are an indicator of interest, and in times of expanding prices, like in early July, AVAX trading volumes rose in tandem. The higher the trading volumes, the more liquid the token is since traders are more engaged and confident of the project’s prospects.  Avalanche Vista And New Partnerships AVAX remains under pressure despite Avalanche Foundation partnering with Legitimate Technology, a web3 company, days after the foundation launched the “Avalanche Vista” program. The foundation aims to purchase real-world assets (RWAs) of up to $50 million minted on Avalanche. Following this, Legitimate joined forces with Puma and Roc Nation to bring the worlds of fashion and music on-chain. Related Reading: This Ethereum Metric Has Sparked Centralization Concerns Over ETH Ownership In partnership, Legitimate has now released the “Evolution of the Mixtape” sneaker collection to celebrate what they say is “hip-hop’s 50th anniversary.” The collection will include three unique sneaker models, each embedded with a near-field communication (NFC) chip for “owners to access a digital portal showcasing weekly mixtapes and behind-the-scenes content from Roc Nation artists.” Each NFC chip is linked to an immutable digital object on Avalanche for easy provenance. All these digitized products can be redeemed through Legitimate’s LGT protocol. Featured image from Canva, chart from TradingView

Three months after announcing their plans to engage in Bitcoin mining in Latin America, Tether, the issuer of the world’s largest stablecoin USDT, is readying to deploy their first rigs. According to chief technology officer Paulo Ardoino, Tether Energy is operationalizing their miners at a disclosed location in Latin America.  Tether Energy All Set To Mine […]

Crypto scammers dealt a blow to the United States Drug Enforcement Administration – the agency tasked with enforcing the country’s drug laws – by making off with $55,000 in seized Tether (USDT) earlier this year. This incident occurred due to an intricate scheme that serves as a reminder of the challenges law enforcement faces in […]

Charles Hoskinson, the visionary founder of Cardano, boldly predicted that ADA, the native token of the Cardano blockchain, is poised to dethrone the current cryptocurrency giants, Bitcoin and Ethereum. Hoskinson’s proclamation at the highly anticipated Rare Evo conference has sent ripples of excitement and speculation throughout the cryptocurrency community, sparking fervent discussions about the future […]