Movement Labs Suspends Co-Founder Over Token Dump Turmoil

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Ah, the sweet symphony of blockchain drama! Movement Labs, the so-called “innovators” behind the Movement Network Layer 2 project, have decided to suspend their co-founder, Rushi Manche. The reason? Well, it’s just a little thing called “market manipulation” and “questionable governance practices”—nothing too alarming, right? 🙄

Governance Review Triggers Action

On May 2, the company took a bold step of acknowledging their internal chaos with a statement on X.com. Their words were oh-so-poised:

“We confirm that Rushi Manche has been suspended from Movement Labs. This decision was made in light of ongoing events and as the third-party review is still being conducted by Groom Lake regarding organizational governance and recent incidents involving a market maker.”

How positively corporate of them. Meanwhile, Movement Labs continues to experience “heightened scrutiny”—because it turns out market manipulation isn’t as charming as they’d hoped. A third-party governance review is ongoing, which, naturally, should make us all feel soooo much better about their integrity. 😏

Market Manipulation Allegations Surface

Now, let’s get to the juicy part: the MOVE token scandal. A market maker (or, as we like to call them, “that mysterious shady character in every crypto drama”) allegedly dumped a massive chunk of the MOVE token supply shortly after its launch in December 2024. In fact, 66 million MOVE tokens—over 5% of the total supply—vanished in one fell swoop. And guess who raked in a cool $38 million USDT profit before being kicked off Binance in March 2025? That’s right, the market maker. Talk about a getaway car. 🚗💨

Binance, not the type to let things slide, froze the proceeds from those *ahem* unauthorized sales. Meanwhile, the market maker was promptly banned from the platform. One can only wonder where they’ll turn next… 🤔

Coinbase Delisting and Further Investigations

But wait, there’s more! Coinbase, ever the no-nonsense exchange, also decided to join the party by removing MOVE’s trading pairs. They moved the order books to “limit-only mode,” but of course, they offered no concrete reasoning—just a vague “regular review of listing standards.” Translation: “We’re not thrilled with how this is going.”

Meanwhile, a CoinDesk investigation uncovered that Movement Labs had entered into a market-making agreement with Rentech, a company that *gasp* didn’t even exist in the digital world. Imagine the horror: documents leaked, revealing Rentech controlled a good chunk of MOVE tokens and planned to pump the price to $5 billion before cashing out for a juicy profit. It’s a good thing they didn’t actually know what they were doing… oh wait, they did. 😅

Manche’s Public Acknowledgement and Fallout

In a surprising twist of accountability, Rushi Manche took to X.com on April 30, admitting that, perhaps, just perhaps, they “trusted the wrong advisors” and “made mistakes during a difficult bear market.” Well, thank you for that revelation, Rushi! 🙄

“We trusted the wrong advisors and made mistakes during a difficult bear market.”

And to add to the drama, Binance’s internal investigation confirmed the market maker’s misdeeds, leading to their removal. The Movement Network Foundation, blissfully unaware until March 11, 2025, finally severed ties with the culprits and promised to cooperate fully with the investigations. Such a relief. 🎭

As the governance review drags on, the fate of the MOVE token and the credibility of the Movement Network hang in the balance. Will they recover? Will anyone believe them again? The future is as uncertain as ever, but one thing is for sure—there’s no shortage of entertainment. 🍿

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2025-05-02 18:02