Rushi Manche, co-founder of Movement Labs, has been suspended following an exposé that involved him in a $38 million dump of MOVE tokens. The move followed a controversial market-making deal that caused a 20% drop in token prices and a pending delisting on Coinbase.
The project, built atop the Move programming language and designed for modular smart contracts, allocated 66 million MOVE tokens to an unknown firm named Rentech. The tokens, some 5% of the total supply, were quickly dumped after the launch of MOVE, and that contributed to the sensational price drop.
Secret Market Maker Deal Sparks Questions
According to CoinDesk, Rentech originally began as a subsidiary of Web3Port but today is an independent company. Rentech’s involvement in both the buying and selling sides of the deal raised conflict-of-interest concerns from internal documents.
Binance then removed the market maker from the trade and locked up $6.5 million in profit. Coinbase reported it will halt trading of MOVE by May 15 due to listing standards abuse.
Foundation Acts with Buyback Proposal
The Movement Foundation launched a $38 million buyback to stabilize the token. It also severed its relationship with the nameless market maker and retained digital asset risk firm Groom Lake to look into it in detail. In an interview, Manche swept aside personal gain from the sale, saying that he employed third-party advisers. He did admit, however, that the process “lacked oversight” and invited the probe.
MOVE Token Drops 84% From High
The MOVE token fell to $0.18, 84% below its December peak. Technicals are a testament to the bearish pressure, with the token’s RSI close to the oversold level of 32. At the same time, Movement Labs needs to rebuild investor confidence and prove that it can leverage tighter governance.
