Bitcoin

Coinbase suspends Movement (MOVE) from May 15 after evidence of insider profit-taking

Coinbase is planning to suspend Movement (MOVE) just months after listing. MOVE was the token of an ambitious project, crashed after evidence of insider selling. 

Coinbase announced the suspension of Movement (MOVE) from May 15, while shifting the asset to limit order mode effective immediately. The suspension arrives only months after listing and promoting MOVE, following erratic price movements and evidence of insider selling.

Coinbase made the decision while MOVE was still active on other exchanges. After the announcement, MOVE fell to another all-time low of $0.20, while retaining relatively high trading volumes above $234M in 24 hours. 

MOVE crashed by up to 20% after the news of the Coinbase delisting and the delayed MoveDrop event. | Source: Coingecko

MOVE continued its rapid decline, erasing another 16% of its price after the delisting announcement. 

The token will continue trading on Binance, one of its biggest markets. Previously, Binance tried to repair the damage of insider selling, organizing a $38M buyback. The intervention did not prevent MOVE from further crashes, as well as the loss of reputation. 

Movement delays airdrop again

The long-awaited MoveDrop campaign will be delayed once again, due to the worsened market conditions for the project. 

The MoveDrop event was still expected to happen at the end of April. However, the Movement Foundation announced the delay on the very same day, disappointing all point farmers. 

Just a day before the delay, MOVE had prepared 740M tokens for additional distribution. Another 5% of the token supply sits with Binance, also earmarked for the eventual airdrop. Binance has not yet delisted MOVE, and has given no indication of doing so. The Movement project was also supported by YZi Labs, which raised an undisclosed round a year ago. 

Binance, along with Upbit, carries around 45% of all MOVE trading volumes. Traders expect Binance to keep MOVE until June, when it can unlock another 5% of the token supply through Launchpool.

MOVE showed all the signs of a legitimate project, with $40.4M raised in multiple funding rounds. The project proposed an ecosystem for developers with a DeFi component. Movement was already functioning, with around $122M in value locked. 

The Movement platform already hosts yield protocols, lending and DEX apps, drawing in over $23M in stablecoin liquidity. The team intended to grow the ecosystem, but blamed its chosen market makers for selling MOVE aggressively. 

Reportedly, Movement used the services of Web3Port, an investment and acceleration platform. Web3Port was the rogue market maker that sold 66M MOVE on Binance and was banned from the exchange. The market maker had access to around 50% of the circulating supply of MOVE. 

Later, Web3Port and Movement struck a deal with Rentech for market-making services, leading to unlimited selling shortly after the Binance listing. Web3Port and Rentech then used their token access to pump the price and sell into the higher valuation, without the explicit agreement of Movement.

MOVE was also heavily promoted on social media, and even the Trump family fund World Liberty Fi acquired MOVE tokens in several deals. After a short period of holding, World Liberty Fi divested all MOVE.

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