Did One Entity Kill PEPE’s Fair Launch? Bubblemaps Flags 30% Genesis Hoard, $2M Dump
New blockchain evaluation is elevating questions concerning the long-promoted “honest launch” of the PEPE meme coin, after recent knowledge recommended that just about one-third of the token’s preliminary provide might have been managed by a single entity.
The findings come from blockchain visualization platform Bubblemaps, which published its newest breakdown on Wednesday, alleging that the undertaking’s early messaging might have misled buyers.
Bubblemaps Flags Concentrated PEPE Holdings at Launch
According to the info, roughly 30% of PEPE’s genesis provide was bundled right into a cluster of wallets related to 1 entity on the time of the token’s April 2023 launch.
Bubblemaps mentioned this focus contradicts PEPE’s branding as a token created “for the folks” and its acknowledged method of launching in stealth with no presale allocations.
The agency added that the identical cluster offered about $2 million price of tokens simply sooner or later after launch. The transfer, it believes, added sufficient early promote strain to forestall the meme coin from crossing the $12 billion market-cap threshold throughout its first main surge.
The claims surfaced throughout a tough interval for the token. PEPE’s worth dropped 5.7% previously 24 hours and is down greater than 81% over the previous yr, according to CoinMarketCap.
The undertaking additionally handled an unrelated safety scare final December, when its web site was briefly compromised and redirected customers to a malicious “inferno drainer,” a device related to pockets theft, phishing, and different social-engineering scams.
Still, PEPE’s efficiency has not been uniformly damaging. The token has delivered dramatic rallies at varied factors during the last two months.
On October 8, PEPE additionally outperformed the broader meme coin market amid a wave of accumulation from massive holders.
Data from Nansen showed that the top 100 wallets increased their collective holdings by 4.18% over a month, bringing their complete to greater than 307 trillion tokens.
Analysts on the time pointed to a bullish pennant formation and famous that PEPE was testing a traditionally sturdy demand zone, fueling hypothesis of an impending breakout.
On October 25, it rebounded 156% from a weekly low, attracting dip patrons and placing brief sellers beneath strain as buying and selling volumes pushed towards $1 billion.
Bubblemaps Identifies Large-Scale Wallet Coordination Across Major Meme Tokens
The new Bubblemaps findings are a part of a broader sequence of investigations by the agency into hidden accumulation patterns, insider launches, and potential manipulation throughout the meme coin sector.
Its “Time Travel” analytics device, introduced in May, reconstructs historic token distributions to spotlight wallets that will have coordinated holdings forward of launch.
The purpose, in line with the agency, is to assist merchants detect dangers reminiscent of rug pulls, concentrated provide, and speedy liquidity removing.
Bubblemaps has already been concerned in uncovering questionable exercise behind a number of high-profile meme tokens this yr.
@Bubblemaps has offered new on-chain proof suggesting that the group behind Libra meme coin is chargeable for launching Melania.#Bubblemaps #Librahttps://t.co/lV88r49B5P
— Cryptonews.com (@cryptonews) February 17, 2025
In February, the company linked the MELANIA and LIBRA tokens to the identical pockets, alleging that the entity behind the launches had used insider ways to snipe early liquidity and extract thousands and thousands in earnings earlier than each tokens collapsed.
LIBRA’s implosion triggered political fallout in Argentina after insiders allegedly withdrew greater than $100 million, inflicting the token to lose almost all its worth inside hours.
Similar patterns have emerged in different circumstances. Investigators reported that more than 70% of Kanye West’s YZY token holders suffered losses shortly after its launch, whereas 11 wallets captured almost a 3rd of all earnings.
More than 70% of merchants who purchased into Kanye West’s Solana-based memecoin YZY ended up within the pink, in line with @bubblemaps.#KanyeWest #YZYhttps://t.co/E36PlmnPQo
— Cryptonews.com (@cryptonews) August 28, 2025
Bubblemaps additionally raised alarms in September about what it described as one of many largest Sybil assaults ever recorded, linking around 100 wallets to a coordinated effort that claimed $170 million price of MYX airdrop tokens.
@bubblemaps has flagged a doable $170M Sybil assault within the @MYX_finance airdrop, alleging 100 wallets secured 1% of provide.#Crypto #MYX #Airdrophttps://t.co/c8dOGLEXIi
— Cryptonews.com (@cryptonews) September 10, 2025
And in early December, the firm tied over 1,000 wallets to a single actor who allegedly captured many of the WET token presale on Solana inside seconds.
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