$PEPE: How 16 Trillion Tokens Were Allegedly Stolen by 3 Former Pepe Team Members and What’s Next

Pepe ($PEPE), a token inspired by the infamous meme and cartoon character Pepe the Frog, was introduced to the market on 17 April 2023. The $PEPE community has been rocked by a massive internal betrayal. Approximately 16 trillion $PEPE tokens, valued at around $15 million USD, were allegedly stolen and transferred to various cryptocurrency exchanges. The official X account of $PEPE broke the news, detailing the internal strife that led to this unfortunate incident.

On August 26, 2023, at 2:49 a.m. UTC, the official X account of $PEPE released a comprehensive statement. The announcement revealed that on August 24, 2023, a series of unauthorized transactions were initiated from the $PEPE multisig CEX Wallet. These transactions resulted in the transfer of about 16 trillion $PEPE tokens to multiple crypto exchanges, including OKX, Binance, Kucoin, and Bybit. The required signer count for the multisig wallet was also reduced to 2 out of 8, leaving only 10 trillion tokens in the wallet.

The announcement shed light on the internal conflicts that have plagued $PEPE since its inception on April 17, 2023. According to the statement, a faction within the team, driven by “big egos and greed,” had been obstructing the project’s progress. These individuals were responsible for the unauthorized transactions and subsequently removed themselves from the multi-sig wallet, erasing their social media presence in the process.

The person behind the official X account apologized for the turmoil and financial losses incurred by the community due to these actions. They assured that the remaining 10 trillion tokens in the multi-sig wallet are secure and under responsible control. Apparently, tokens were never intended for market sale or team profit.

The announcement also outlined the future course of action. Discussions have been initiated with prominent community members to guide the project forward. The remaining 10 trillion tokens will be transferred to a new wallet until a decision is made regarding their use or destruction. The individual behind the X account is also in talks to acquire certain web domains and usernames for $PEPE. Once acquisitions or donations are complete, the remaining multi-sig tokens will be burned.

As of 8:50 a.m. UTC on August 27, 2023, the $PEPE token is trading at approximately $0.000000899, marking an 0.89% decline in the past 24 hours and a 20.27% drop over the past week.

Featured Image Credit: Photo / illustration by “TheDigitalWay” via Pixabay