The MOVE Movement has initiated a shift, with movement order books now switched to limit-only mode. This means users can still place or cancel limit orders, but market price trading has been disabled. Following Coinbase’s announcement, the price of MOVE dropped by approximately 20%, falling from $0.25 to $0.20.
MOVE’s Ongoing Dispute
The decision follows growing controversy surrounding MOVE’s market activity and governance. In mid-April, the Movement Network came under scrutiny after co-founder Cooper Scanlon took a leave of absence, and reports emerged regarding “market maker abnormalities.”
These abnormalities have now become the focus of an investigation into a potential pump-and-dump scheme, with ties to a market maker known as Web3Port.
Internal documents obtained by CoinDesk show that Web3Port, a China-based firm, was allocated more than 5% of MOVE’s total token supply. These tokens were allegedly funneled through a lesser-known entity named Rentech.
This setup enabled Rentech to offload MOVE tokens once the project’s fully diluted value surpassed $5 billion a threshold that was reportedly reached on December 9, the day MOVE launched on Binance.
On launch day, Web3Port liquidated 66 million MOVE tokens, generating $38 million in sales, which triggered a sharp decline in the token’s price. As of now, those same tokens are valued at around $15.7 million. The profits from these sales were reportedly split 50/50 between Rentech and the Movement Foundation.
The Movement Foundation and Web3Port are linked to World Liberty Financial Inc. (WLFI), a crypto venture supported by the Trump family. WLFI purchased 3.42 million MOVE tokens for $1.5 million in January and received a $10 million investment from Web3Port.
While Coinbase has not explicitly referenced the pump-and-dump allegations in its reasoning for the delisting, it has emphasized that it continuously monitors assets to ensure they meet its listing standards.
