Movement Network (MOVE) Initiates $38M Buyback Program Following Alleged Breach of Contract by a Market Maker

After an alleged breach of contract by a market maker, Movement Network has initiated a $38 million buyback program for its MOVE token.

A market maker allegedly breached a contract with Movement Network, prompting the blockchain ecosystem to announce a $38 million buyback program for its MOVE token, which will be funded by recovered funds.

Earlier this month, Binance warned Movement Network about the problem, the foundation disclosed in a Thursday statement. The market maker had been selling massive amounts of Movement Network (MOVE) without providing the agreed-upon liquidity on the MOVE/USDT pair, the exchange said.

The foundation was not aware of the market maker’s activities and severed ties upon discovery. The team has been working with Binance to recover funds.

Using the $38 million in Tether (USDT) that has already been recovered, Movement Network will repurchase MOVE tokens on the open market. The buyback will take place on Binance over the next three months and tokens will periodically be transferred to the Movement Strategic Reserve.

"We are grateful to the Binance team for their swift response and assistance in this matter," the foundation said.

Movement Network is a modular blockchain ecosystem that enables developers to launch high-performance MoveVM rollups that connect the Move and Ethereum Virtual Machine networks. The network integrates with Ethereum (ETH) through a dedicated bridge and claims to achieve a transaction capacity of over 160,000 per second.

On March 10, the network launched its Public Mainnet Beta, enabling the permissionless deployment of decentralized applications. To solve the cold start problem, where new blockchains struggle with low liquidity, Movement unveiled Cornucopia, an incentivized liquidity bootstrapping program, alongside its Public Mainnet Beta.

The program has helped Movement Network secure over $250 million in total value locked. With a market capitalization of $1.1 billion, the blockchain is backed by a number of prominent investors, including Polychain Capital and Binance Labs.

Prominent hedge funds such as ClearVista and Quantitative Edge also hold significant positions in the token, with ClearVista alone reporting a holding of $146 million in MOVE as of December 31, 2022.

Notably, Donald Trump’s World Liberty Financial holds $3.42 million worth of MOVE, according to Arkham Intelligence data, adding to the growing institutional interest in the token.