The mysterious withdrawal of $16 million from Pepecoin's (PEPE) multisig wallet seems to have been attributed to the actions of three former team members who are now being accused of wrongdoing. After the community noticed the sizable withdrawal on August 24, causing a 15% drop in PEPE's price amid concerns of a potential exit scam, an anonymous founding member of the project shared details on August 25 to clarify the situation.
According to the statement provided by the founding member, three former team members accessed the multisig setup, which requires 3 out of 4 signers for approval. These individuals allegedly took control of the multisig and withdrew $16 trillion (around 60%) of the total 26 trillion in multisig tokens. The stolen tokens were then sent to exchanges for sale. After their actions, these members removed themselves from the multisig and erased any trace of affiliation with PEPE, leaving the founding member with full control.
The founding member revealed that the remaining 10 trillion PEPE tokens in the multisig wallet are now secure, and they intend to transfer the funds to a new wallet for safekeeping or future use.
It's claimed that these former team members had been difficult to work with since Pepecoin's launch in April, creating internal conflicts and hindering the project's progress. The current team members aim to move forward in a positive direction for the PEPE community, now that the pro blematic actors are no longer involved.
Despite this explanation, reactions among the community were mixed, with some expressing support for the announcement while others raised doubts about its authenticity. At the time of writing, according to CoinGecko, PEPE's price has increased by 5.7% over the past 24 hours, reaching approximately $0.000000895278, with a market capitalization of around $382.7 million.
