The MOVE token collapse sparked one of the most damning investigations in the industry this year.
In this episode of Unchained, investigative journalist Sam Kessler joins Laura Shin to walk through the contracts, questionable market-making deals, and finger pointing inside Movement Labs. From Binance’s ban to a Trump-affiliated crypto deal, this story unearths how the MOVE token collapse was the product of what looks like a pump-and-dump plan written out in legal contracts.
Plus:
How insiders structured deals to profit from artificial price spikes
How this could have happened with a project backed by some of crypto’s most reputable VCs
What this saga says about token launches, regulation, and market integrity
And whether Movement Labs can (or should) be trusted to investigate itself
Visit our website for breaking news, analysis, op-eds, articles to learn about crypto, and much more: unchainedcrypto.com
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Sam Kessler, Deputy Managing Editor for Tech and Protocols at CoinDesk
CoinDesk: Inside Movement’s Token-Dump Scandal: Secret Contracts, Shadow Advisers and Hidden Middlemen
Trading for MOVE will be suspended on Coinbase
Timestamps:
👋 0:00 Introduction
🕵️♀️ 1:52 Initial details of the scandal
⚖️ 6:20 Conflicts of interest at Movement Labs and who knew what
💥 8:42 Why 5% of tokens = 50% of supply and why that’s wild
🧾 13:14 How a lawyer called the deal “the worst agreement I’ve ever seen”
🚫 18:41 Why Binance banned Web3Port after suspicious trading
🧩 20:38 The web of key players: founders, shadow advisors, and middlemen
🧠 25:51 A theory on treasury selling and token price manipulation
🔍 27:49 Can Movement Labs investigate itself, and will anyone trust the outcome?
📉 29:39 Why Coinbase is suspending MOVE and what that signals
🇺🇸 30:47 How Trump’s crypto arm is tangled up in the MOVE ecosystem
📰34:15 News Recap
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