Key facts
- MemeCore's M token experienced an approximately 74% price drop over 24 hours.
- The token's market value decreased by nearly $3 billion.
- The crash occurred on relatively low trading volume.
- No exploit, hack, or official announcement explained the price collapse.
- Prior allegations by ZachXBT suggested insider manipulation of the token's price.
MemeCore's M token experienced a dramatic collapse, losing approximately 74% of its value within a 24-hour period. The token fell from a high near $2.92 to a low of $0.51 before recovering slightly to around $0.74, wiping out close to $3 billion in market capitalization. The slide reduced M's market cap from roughly $3.8 billion to below $1 billion, settling around $969 million. This significant price movement occurred on relatively thin trading volume, with only about $21 million in trades over the day, and without any apparent exploit, hack, or official announcement to explain the sell-off.
While no definitive catalyst has emerged, the crash follows prior allegations made by on-chain investigator ZachXBT. Months earlier, ZachXBT questioned Kraken's decision to list M for spot trading and alleged that insiders had manipulated the price to achieve a $6 billion market capitalization and an $18 billion fully diluted valuation. ZachXBT pointed to approximately $7.9 million in suspicious withdrawals from Kraken to 18 newly created wallets and suggested that an address linked to the MemeCore team had received a substantial amount of M tokens at launch before sending them to exchange deposit addresses. He also noted that Kraken was one of the few venues supporting M spot trading and that the project's promotional efforts relied heavily on paid social media campaigns, known as InfoFi.
MemeCore did not immediately respond to requests for comment and had not publicly addressed the token's sharp decline as of Thursday morning. The event highlights the inherent fragility of tokens with concentrated insider ownership, limited trading venues, and demand driven by paid promotion, as such assets can experience rapid, vertical declines due to a lack of underlying liquidity.