New forensic blockchain analysis has shaken confidence in one of the market’s most iconic memecoin projects, questioning the fundamental narrative of its origin. Data visualization platform Bubblemaps has published recent findings suggesting that the PEPE fair launch may not have been as equitable as initially promised to the investing community.
According to the report, almost one-third of the total genesis token supply may have been under the centralized control of a single entity from the very first moment, contradicting the project’s decentralized spirit.
The data presented this Wednesday is compelling and paints a worrying picture regarding the asset’s initial distribution in April 2023. Bubblemaps identified that approximately 30% of PEPE’s initial supply was bundled into a cluster of wallets directly connected to a single actor.
This massive concentration of tokens clashes head-on with the project’s branding, which promoted itself under the slogan of being a coin “for the people,” launched in stealth with no prior allocations for private investors or internal teams, which now appears to be a half-truth.
In addition to the accumulation, the analytics firm added that this same group of wallets executed strategic sales almost immediately. It is estimated that the entity sold about $2 million worth of tokens just one day after the official launch.
This artificial early selling pressure would have been a determining factor that prevented the memecoin from crossing the $12 billion market cap threshold during its first major surge, limiting the organic growth potential that retail investors hoped to capitalize on during that euphoric moment.
The hidden truth behind the initial token distribution
This report surfaces at a delicate time for the token, which has faced significant difficulties in its recent market performance. PEPE’s price has dropped 5.7% in the past 24 hours and accumulates a devastating loss of more than 81% over the past year, according to CoinMarketCap data.
The revelation regarding initial supply manipulation adds a layer of skepticism to an asset that was already struggling to reclaim its all-time highs, exacerbating distrust among holders who have seen the value of their long-term portfolios erode.
However, not all of the asset’s recent history has been negative, adding complexity to the analysis of its large holders’ behavior. Despite the general decline, data from Nansen showed that in October the top 100 wallets increased their collective holdings by 4.18%, accumulating more than 307 trillion tokens.
Analysts pointed at the time to a bullish technical formation, suggesting that, despite the questionable launch structure, there is still considerable speculative interest from whales looking to take advantage of the volatility inherent in the memecoin sector.
Was the “for the people” narrative just a marketing illusion?
The implications of these findings go beyond PEPE, fitting into a broader series of investigations into manipulation in the crypto sector. Bubblemaps has been using its “Time Travel” analytics tool to reconstruct historical distributions and detect hidden coordination patterns ahead of launches.
The goal is to help traders detect risks such as rug pulls and rapid liquidity removal, practices that have unfortunately become common in the unregulated meme token ecosystem.
Finally, this case adds to a growing list of projects flagged for questionable activity, such as the MELANIA, LIBRA, and YZY tokens. In February, the firm linked failed launches to insider tactics that extracted millions before price collapses.
Transparency on the blockchain remains the best defense against these manipulations, and as tools like Bubblemaps become more sophisticated, it will be increasingly difficult for bad actors to hide their tracks on the immutable ledger.
