Ethereum L2 Token Removal by Coinbase Leads to Record Low for Associated Movement
Going, Going... Gone? The Dizzying Fall of Move Token
Witness the Crash of SCENEMOVE, Ethereum's layer-2 network's native token, MOVE, took a nosedive on Thursday, reaching a record-low price following the announcement from major cryptocurrency exchange, Coinbase, that it would be halting MOVE trading later this month.
"We're constantly monitoring assets on our exchange to ensure they adhere to our listing requirements. Based on recent reviews, we'll be halting MOVE trading on May 15, 2025, around 2 PM ET," Coinbase stated on its platform, X, previously known as Twitter.
Plummeting a whopping 14%, MOVE now trades at $0.2079, according to crypto data provider, CoinGecko - its lowest ever recorded price. Launched in December alongside Movement's mainnet beta, MOVE hasn't seen better days.
The Movement Labs and Movement Network Foundation have yet to respond to queries from Decrypt, while a spokesperson from Coinbase provided no additional comment beyond their suspension notice.
This suspension follows a report from CoinDesk earlier in the week, detailing that Movement Labs is conducting an internal investigation. Likely deceiving the project's creator, the company is probing the signing of a market-making agreement that resulted in 66 million MOVE tokens being sold on the open market.
Market makers provide liquidity by continuously placing buy and sell orders, enabling trades any time. However, the firm allegedly involved, Rentech, denies any misrepresentation claims.
Binance didn't specifically name Rentech, yet it alerted users in late March that it had kicked a market maker off its platform for misconduct. Duplicitous activity included selling 66 million MOVE tokens in December while only placing small buy orders. Binance pocketed $38 million in profits before dumping the market maker from its platform in the previous month.
The Movement Network Foundation has promised to use these frozen funds to launch a buyback program and develop the Movement Strategic Reserve. MOVE's price soared in January after Trump-linked World Liberty Financial (WLF) bought $1.9 million worth of the token.
Amid all the chaos, members within Movement's official Telegram channel expressed their concerns about the token's scheduled suspension on Coinbase, wondering if the team would recover from this blow.
Ali Hosseini, Movement's community manager, opted to clarify, stating that a suspension was different from a delisting. The team is working to negotiate with Coinbase to resolve the issues, Hosseini added.
"There's no delisting... Only trading will be suspended," he affirmed. "The team is actively engaged in dialogue with Coinbase in an attempt to resolve the predicament."
Editor's note: This story was updated post-publication to include more details.
Edited by Andrew Hayward
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- Coinbase announced on its platform that it will be halting MOVE trading on May 15, 2025, due to the token's failure to meet listing requirements.
- The suspension follows a report detailing that Movement Labs is conducting an internal investigation, probing the signing of a market-making agreement that resulted in 66 million MOVE tokens being sold.
- Binance previously kicked a market maker off its platform for misconduct, involving the sale of 66 million MOVE tokens in December while only placing small buy orders.
- The Movement Network Foundation has promised to use frozen funds to launch a buyback program and develop the Movement Strategic Reserve.
- Ali Hosseini, Movement's community manager, clarified that a suspension is different from a delisting, and the team is negotiating with Coinbase to resolve the issues.
- Amid all the chaos, members within Movement's official Telegram channel expressed their concerns about the token's scheduled suspension on Coinbase.
- The crypto market, particularly Ethereum and other cryptocurrencies, will be watching closely as MOVE attempts to recover from this debrief and suspension, with a keen eye on the future of decentralized finance (DeFi) investments.
