The frog-themed crypto currency Pepe (PEPE) is seeing a significant price sell-off. At the time of writing, PEPE was down 19% in the last 24 hours to $0.00000088.
PEPE declines gained traction on Aug. 24, which further accelerated on Aug. 25 as concerns about changes to a multisig wallet and new token transfers surfaced.
On-chain analytics firm IntoTheBlock gives a peek into what transpired on the network ahead of the massive price plunge that started on Aug. 24.
IntoTheBlock observed a sharp decrease in PEPE held by long-term holders since Aug. 23, indicating selling by holders.
A chart posted by IntoTheBlock depicted a sharp plunge in balances held by PEPE owners that have held for nearly a year. What was hitherto a straight line on the chart suggesting steady holdings saw a sharp dip on Aug. 23.
"Shockwaves are hitting PEPE holders as news of developers selling assets breaks. Prices have plunged over 20%, with holders rapidly offloading. The chart below shows a sharp decrease in PEPE held by long-term holders since August 23, indicating selling by holders," IntoTheBlock analysts noted.
PEPE token move fuels speculation
Speculation increased on Friday after reports emerged of the PEPE team's address transferring about 16 trillion PEPE tokens (about $15.08 million) to four crypto exchanges, including Binance, OKX and Bybit.
In addition, the PEPE multi-signature wallet changed from 5/8 to only 2/8. This implies that instead of requiring five of eight wallets to sign off on transactions, only two out of eight were needed.
PEPE immediately fell 15% and was still sustaining losses at press time.