Why did MemeCore's M token suddenly plunge 80%?

Blockchain project MemeCore's M token collapsed about 74% over 24 hours, sliding from a high near $2.92 to as low as $0.51 before steadying around $0.74, with no exploit, hack or announcement to account for the drop.

The fall erased close to $3 billion in market value. M's market capitalization dropped below $1 billion, to about $969 million, from roughly $3.8 billion before the slide, per CoinDesk data.

Trading was thin relative to the size of the move, with only about $21 million changing hands over the day.

No confirmed catalyst has emerged. But M is a token that widely-known onchain investigator ZachXBT publicly questioned months ago.

In an April post, he asked why the exchange Kraken had listed M for spot trading in July 2025 and how it cleared the exchange's due diligence, alleging that insiders had "manipulated the price" to a $6 billion market capitalization and an $18 billion fully diluted valuation. The latter is the value the token would carry if every coin that will ever exist were already circulating.

Why did Kraken list $M (Memecore) on July 3, 2025 for spot and how did it pass due diligence? $7.9M in suspicious Kraken withdrawals to 18 newly created addresses with 11.7 $M sitting total (valued at $39.8M now). Insiders have manipulated the price to $6B market cap ($18B FDV)… pic.twitter.com/pL7oroZ4lJ

ZachXBT pointed to about $7.9 million in what he called suspicious withdrawals from Kraken to 18 newly created wallets, and said an address he suspected belonged to the MemeCore team had received 200 million M at the token's launch before sending millions of the tokens to Kraken deposit addresses.

He further noted Kraken was one of only a few venues supporting M spot trading, and that the team's main promotional achievements were trading volume on a token launchpad and users drawn from incentivized social-media campaigns, known as InfoFi, that pay people to post. (The claims are ZachXBT's and have not been independently verified).

MemeCore did not immediately respond to requests for comment. It did not acknowledge or publicly post about the token's slide as of Asian morning hours on Thursday.

Whatever set off the selling, the movement shows how fragile a token with those traits can be. A coin whose supply supposedly sits largely with insiders, whose trading runs through a handful of venues and whose demand leans on paid promotion can fall close to vertically once selling starts, because there is little real liquidity underneath to absorb it.

In May, combined exchange volumes fell 3.45% to $4.41T; the lowest since September 2024. RWA perpetual futures volumes rose 10.4% against the trend, hitting a new all-time high.

Disclosure & Polices : CoinDesk is an award-winning media outlet that covers the cryptocurrency industry. Its journalists abide by a strict set of editorial policies . CoinDesk has adopted a set of principles aimed at ensuring the integrity, editorial independence and freedom from bias of its publications. CoinDesk is part of Bullish (NYSE:BLSH), an institutionally focused global digital asset platform that provides market infrastructure and information services. Bullish owns and invests in digital asset businesses and digital assets and CoinDesk employees, including journalists, may receive Bullish equity-based compensation.

新闻图片