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How MOVE’s Contracts Put a Pump and Dump Into a Legal Agreement
Inside the crypto scandal that prompted Coinbase to delist a token backed by U.S. President Donald Trump.
The MOVE token collapse sparked one of the most damning investigations in the industry this year.
In this episode of Unchained, investigative journalist Sam Kessler joins Laura Shin to walk through the contracts, questionable market-making deals, and finger pointing inside Movement Labs. From Binance’s ban to a Trump-affiliated crypto deal, this story unearths how the MOVE token collapse was the product of what looks like a pump-and-dump plan written out in legal contracts.
Plus:
How insiders structured deals to profit from artificial price spikes
How this could have happened with a project backed by some of crypto’s most reputable VCs
What this saga says about token launches, regulation, and market integrity
And whether Movement Labs can (or should) be trusted to investigate itself
Listen to the episode on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Pods, Fountain, Podcast Addict, Pocket Casts, Amazon Music, or on your favorite podcast platform.
Now, let’s get into this week’s news! In today’s edition:
🧭 Ethereum revamps leadership and drops EOF ahead of Pectra
💬 Trump Media teases token for Truth Social ecosystem
🚫 Circle rejects Ripple’s $5B buyout as underpriced
👨⚖️ DOJ seeks 20 years for Celsius founder Mashinsky
🕵️♀️ $330M BTC theft triggers Monero surge and suspicions
⚖️ Judge blocks future sanctions on Tornado Cash
🏦 BlackRock files to tokenize $150B Treasury fund
🔐 Scroll and Base reach new decentralization benchmarks
🎯 Loopscale loses $5.8M in exploit, then recovers all funds
Ethereum Ecosystem Shifts Toward User Focus
In the lead-up to Ethereum’s long-awaited Pectra upgrade next Wednesday, multiple developments across the network are signaling a coordinated shift toward user-centric improvements and decentralization.
The Ethereum Foundation made official a revamped leadership structure, naming Hsiao-Wei Wang and Tomasz Stańczak as co-executive directors. They will guide efforts to improve layer 2 interoperability, developer tools, and application-layer visibility. Former executive director Aya Miyaguchi will now serve as president, while Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin emphasized increasing “meaningful usage” and preserving Ethereum’s foundational values.
On the technical side, developers voted to exclude the controversial Ethereum Object Format (EOF) from the upcoming Fusaka hard fork, citing risks of delay. EOF would have introduced a modular smart contract structure, but concerns over complexity and tooling gaps led to its removal.
Meanwhile, a new Ethereum client, Kakarot, announced it will deliver real-time STARK-based zero-knowledge proofs for Ethereum layer 1 by the end of 2025. Built in Cairo and backed by Buterin and StarkWare, Kakarot offers a fresh alternative ZK stack, supporting the 2028 roadmap for full ZK verification.
Rounding out the week, Ethereum researcher Dankrad Feist proposed EIP-9698, a plan to raise the gas limit ceiling 100-fold over four years. If adopted, it could boost the network’s throughput to over 2,000 transactions per second without requiring a hard fork.
Trump Media Weighs Launch of Crypto Token
Trump Media & Technology Group (TMTG), the parent company of Truth Social and Truth+, has informed shareholders it is exploring the launch of a native crypto utility token alongside a digital wallet. According to a letter sent by CEO Devin Nunes on April 29, the proposed token would initially serve as a payment method for Truth+ subscriptions and later expand to cover additional products and services within the broader “Truth ecosphere.”
The initiative is part of a wider rewards program TMTG is developing across its platforms, which also include the financial services branch Truth.Fi. The company previously filed a trademark in November for software enabling digital wallets and crypto payments.
Following the announcement, the price of Trump’s Solana-based memecoin, $TRUMP, fell more than 6% before recovering slightly.
Circle Rejects Ripple’s $5 Billion Takeover Bid
Circle has reportedly turned down a takeover offer from Ripple valued between $4 billion and $5 billion, according to sources cited by Bloomberg. The bid came shortly after Circle filed for an initial public offering and was deemed too low compared to the company’s internal valuation. Circle was previously valued at $9 billion during a failed SPAC merger in 2022.
Ripple’s proposal is part of its broader strategy to expand in the stablecoin market following the December launch of its RLUSD token. RLUSD currently holds a market cap of approximately $317 million, significantly smaller than Circle’s USDC, which commands a $61.7 billion market share.
Prosecutors Seek 20-Year Sentence for Celsius Founder
Federal prosecutors are calling for a 20-year prison sentence for Alex Mashinsky, the former CEO of crypto lender Celsius Network, who pleaded guilty in December 2024 to a multiyear scheme that misled customers and manipulated token prices. In a sentencing memo filed ahead of his May 8 court date, prosecutors described Mashinsky as the architect of a “deliberate, calculated” fraud that ultimately resulted in nearly $7 billion in user losses.
Mashinsky admitted to falsely assuring investors that Celsius was a safe alternative to banks, even as the firm took uncollateralized loans, placed risky bets, and secretly used customer assets to inflate the value of its CEL token. While publicly claiming to “HODL,” Mashinsky privately sold over $48 million worth of CEL.
At its peak, Celsius managed more than $20 billion in assets before collapsing into bankruptcy in July 2022. Defense attorneys argue Mashinsky deserves no more than a year in prison, citing difficult life circumstances and market volatility.
Monero Surges Amid Suspected $330M Bitcoin Laundering Scheme
Monero (XMR), the privacy-focused cryptocurrency, spiked by nearly 50% this week following a suspicious $330 million Bitcoin transfer that investigators believe may be tied to theft and laundering. Blockchain analyst ZachXBT flagged the movement of 3,520 BTC, noting the funds were funneled through at least six instant exchanges before being converted into Monero, a token known for its privacy-enhancing features.
The surge pushed XMR to a high of $347 before settling lower. The transaction raised further intrigue after derivatives market data showed open interest in XMR more than doubled to $35.1 million, suggesting coordinated long positions may have been established in parallel with the spot purchases. Analysts likened the activity to previous market manipulation schemes that used low-liquidity assets to influence derivative prices.
Federal Judge Blocks Future Sanctions on Tornado Cash
A federal court in Texas has ruled that the U.S. government cannot reimpose sanctions on Tornado Cash without new legal justification, marking a major legal win for the crypto privacy protocol and its users. The decision, issued by Judge Robert Pitman, follows a long-running legal battle over whether the Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) exceeded its authority by targeting smart contracts operated by the decentralized mixer.
Although OFAC delisted Tornado Cash in March, plaintiffs argued that the agency could still reinstate sanctions at any time, creating lasting uncertainty for users. Judge Pitman sided with them, issuing a permanent injunction that blocks any future action unless supported by a new legal rationale.
The case began in 2022 after OFAC sanctioned Tornado Cash, alleging its role in laundering billions in crypto, including funds tied to North Korea’s Lazarus Group. The ruling does not affect the ongoing criminal cases against the protocol’s developers, Roman Storm and Roman Semenov.
BlackRock has filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission to launch a new blockchain-based share class for its $150 billion Liquidity Treasury Trust Fund. The initiative would use distributed ledger technology to mirror fund ownership records, with Bank of New York Mellon managing the digital infrastructure. The DLT shares will not hold cryptocurrency but aim to streamline operations by recording ownership on a blockchain.
The minimum investment for the new share class is set at $3 million, and BNY Mellon will serve as the exclusive distributor. While the underlying assets remain U.S. Treasury securities, the move represents a growing push among traditional financial institutions to explore tokenization, the process of representing real-world assets on-chain.
This is not BlackRock’s first foray into tokenization. Its digital liquidity fund, BUIDL, now holds over $1.7 billion in assets. CEO Larry Fink has repeatedly highlighted tokenization as a key innovation in modern finance.
Scroll and Base Reach Key Decentralization Milestones
Scroll and Base, two major Ethereum Layer 2 networks, have both reached “Stage 1” rollup classification, marking a major step toward decentralization and enhanced user security. This status follows the successful rollout of permissionless exit options, decentralized governance, and safety mechanisms that reduce dependence on centralized operators.
Scroll became the first zero-knowledge rollup to achieve this benchmark following its Euclid upgrade. The update introduced censorship-resistant features, a user-controlled exit process, and a 12-member Security Council, with strict rules limiting insider influence. Scroll also launched OpenVM, a new system developed with Axiom that enables more efficient proof generation by breaking down large transactions.
Coinbase’s optimistic rollup Base announced its own transition to Stage 1 as well. The move included enabling permissionless fault proofs and installing a 10-member global Security Council. “These are folks from the Base ecosystem and from the broader Ethereum ecosystem,” Tom Vieira, head of product at Base, told CoinDesk.
Loopscale Exploited for $5.8 Million
Solana-based lending protocol Loopscale was exploited for $5.8 million on Sunday, just two weeks after its official launch. The attack targeted vaults holding USDC and SOL, draining approximately 12% of the platform’s total value locked. The hacker exploited a vulnerability in Loopscale’s integration with RateX, a decentralized exchange used for trading synthetic yield tokens. By manipulating RateX’s PT token pricing mechanism, the attacker was able to secure undercollateralized loans and extract funds.
The exploit affected only select vaults and did not compromise the broader RateX collateral system or unrelated users. Loopscale immediately paused lending operations and reached out to the attacker with a white hat offer.
Within 48 hours, the attacker agreed to return 90% of the stolen assets in exchange for a 10% bounty, around 3,900 SOL, and immunity from legal action. By Tuesday, Loopscale confirmed the return of all stolen funds, totaling over 5.7 million USDC and 1,200 SOL.
