Coinbase Suspends Trading of Movement’s MOVE Token Amid Market Manipulation Allegations
Coinbase has announced that it will suspend trading of Movement’s MOVE token, effective May 15, 2025, following “recent reviews.” This move comes after a CoinDesk investigation uncovered market-making deals that experts claim encouraged price manipulation.
In response to the news, MOVE token prices plummeted by more than 13%, while the broader CoinDesk 20 Index saw a 4.4% rise. Coinbase has switched the MOVE token to “limit-only mode” on its platform, meaning that trades will only be executed at specified prices, rather than the spot price.
Movement Labs is currently investigating how a market maker may have obtained a substantial portion of its tokens, only to sell them off to retail investors, which significantly impacted the token’s value. The firm in question, Web3Port, has been mentioned in contracts previously reported by CoinDesk.
A report revealed that Movement Labs co-founder Cooper Scanlon informed employees last month that the company was looking into how Rentech, an entity Movement believed to be a subsidiary of Web3Port, obtained over 5% of Web3Port’s MOVE tokens. Contracts accessed by CoinDesk suggest that Rentech had the ability to liquidate its holdings under specific circumstances, potentially incentivizing the firm to artificially inflate the token’s price.
In the aftermath, Binance banned Web3Port, the market maker, after it liquidated $38 million worth of MOVE tokens tied to Web3Port’s wallets following the token’s market debut.
Coinbase has not provided further specifics about the suspension, but did confirm that trading would be halted on May 15 at 2:00 PM Pacific Time (21:00 UTC).
