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Key Takeaways
- M token fell from $2.92 to as low as $0.51, erasing close to $3 billion in market cap on just $21 million in trading volume, with no exploit or announcement to explain the drop.
- On-chain investigator ZachXBT had flagged suspicious insider activity in April, alleging concentrated supply, wash trading, and $7.9 million in withdrawals routed to newly created wallets.
- Neither MemeCore nor Kraken publicly addressed the crash, leaving the trigger unconfirmed and traders without any official explanation.
MemeCore’s M token lost nearly three-quarters of its value in 24 hours, falling from around $2.92 to as low as $0.51 before steadying near $0.74, with no exploit, hack, or public statement from the project to explain the move. The drop wiped close to $3 billion in market capitalization and revived months-old allegations about insider manipulation of the token’s price.
A Sharp Drop on Thin Volume
M’s market capitalization fell from roughly $3.8 billion to about $969 million, per CoinDesk data. The decline came on approximately $21 million in trading volume over the 24-hour period, which is thin for a move of that size and a sign of limited genuine market depth.
No confirmed catalyst has emerged. MemeCore did not acknowledge the drop or post publicly about it as of Asian morning hours Thursday, and the project did not respond to requests for comment.
ZachXBT Raised Concerns in April
The collapse draws renewed attention to allegations made in April by on-chain investigator ZachXBT. In a public post, he questioned how Kraken had cleared M for spot trading and alleged that insiders had manipulated M’s price to a $6 billion market capitalization and an $18 billion fully diluted valuation. The fully diluted figure represents what the token would be worth if every coin that will ever exist were already circulating.
ZachXBT said he identified about $7.9 million in suspicious withdrawals from Kraken to 18 newly created wallets. He also alleged that an address he suspected belonged to the MemeCore team had received 200 million M at the token’s launch, then routed millions of those tokens to Kraken deposit addresses. Those claims have not been independently verified.
Kraken was one of only a few venues supporting M spot trading at the time of ZachXBT’s post. He noted the team’s main promotional activity consisted of trading volume on a token launchpad and users attracted through InfoFi campaigns, incentivized social-media programs that reward participants for engagement. Neither Kraken nor MemeCore responded publicly to the allegations in April.
No On-Chain Confirmation or Identified Trigger
Whether insider selling drove Thursday’s move, or whether something else set off the initial pressure, is not yet clear.
ZachXBT’s April allegations described a token structure with concentrated supply, a small number of trading venues, and demand built on paid promotion. However, no on-chain evidence directly linking that structure to Thursday’s decline had emerged as of publication. The absence of any confirmed exploit, official statement, or identified trigger means the cause remains open.
Neither Kraken Nor MemeCore Has Responded
Kraken listed M for spot trading and was among the token’s primary venues. The exchange had not publicly commented on Thursday’s price collapse or revisited ZachXBT’s April allegations as of publication time.
MemeCore similarly offered no explanation for the Thursday decline. The project’s silence in the hours following an 80% intraday drop, before the partial recovery, left traders and observers without any official account of what happened.
