Movement Labs denies direct contact with Trump-backed World Liberty Financial after its $2M MOVE token purchase.
Questions arise over potential insider trading as the purchase coincided with Movement’s mainnet launch announcement.
Rushi Manche, a co-founder of Movement Labs, said in an interview with The Block that the group does not directly communicate with the Trump-backed DeFi project World Liberty Financial (WLFI).
This explanation comes after WLFI bought $2 million worth of MOVE tokens, which is now their tenth-largest investment.
Manche said the purchase was surprising and noted that there was no communication with WLFI about it. “We’re not really part of it,” he said, mentioning that Movement is focused on starting its developer mainnet today. WLFI bought shares just two hours before Movement’s news release, leading to suspicions of possible insider trading.
Arkhram Research announced that WLFI got MOVE tokens through CoW Swap at around 14:00 UTC. Social media users noticed unusual behavior, like a 30% increase in MOVE token interest on Coinbase and Binance before the news was announced.
Movement Labs Denies WLFI Insider Trading Claims
Manche stated that Movement did not give WLFI any private information or free tokens. However, WLFI has previously obtained tokens from related projects like Tron (TRX) and AAVE.
Some also rejected claims that Movement Labs had talks with Elon Musk or DOGE about blockchain projects. The mainnet launch, featuring a developer phase followed by a general launch in February, is part of Movement’s strategy to draw in developers.
Manche pointed out that the start schedule was made to fit the needs of builders in the APAC region during the Lunar New Year.
Movement Labs is close to finishing its $100 million Series B funding round, which could value the company at $300 billion.
WLFI’s purchase has led to more talks about regulations, especially because of the SEC’s rules against insider trade that prevent using private information for gain.
