Binance Bans Movement (MOVE) Market Maker and Plans to Buyback $38 Million in Tokens

Background of the incident

Movement (MOVE) is a modular blockchain project based on the Move programming language, designed to support developers in building high-performance blockchain applications that are compatible between the Move ecosystem and the Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM). The MOVE token was listed on Binance on December 10, 2024 through the exchange's airdrop portal. The project quickly attracted attention due to its technological potential and the backing of major investment funds such as Polychain Capital and Binance Labs.

However, just one day after the listing (11/12/2024), the Market Maker authorized by Movement sold approximately 66 million MOVE tokens, while placing almost no buy orders. This action was assessed by Binance as “one-sided market making”, seriously violating the exchange’s rules on ensuring two-way liquidity (placing both buy and sell orders) to maintain price stability. As a result, this Market Maker earned a net profit of 38 million USDT before being discovered and terminated by Binance on 18/03/2025.

Reactions from Binance and Movement

Immediately after detecting the unusual behavior, Binance took a series of drastic measures:

1. Market Maker Ban: This entity is “offboarded” (removed from the system) and prohibited from participating in any future market making activities on Binance.

2. Freezing Profits: The entire 38 million USDT earned by Market Makers has been frozen by Binance to compensate affected users.

3. Transparency announcement: Binance has informed Movement Labs and Movement Network Foundation about the incident and is committed to protecting user interests.

On the Movement side, the Movement Network Foundation confirmed that they were unaware of the behavior of this Market Maker and immediately severed ties with the partner after being warned by Binance on March 11, 2025. To remedy the consequences, the Foundation announced plans to use the 38 million USDT confiscated to carry out a MOVE token buyback program on the open market within the next 3 months, starting from March 2025. The bought back tokens will be transferred to the “Movement Strategic Reserve” – a transparent blockchain wallet to serve the project’s long-term strategic goals.

Impact on market and community

The event has created mixed reactions in the crypto community:

• Short-term impact: MOVE’s price rose about 7% to $0.46 immediately after Binance’s announcement, indicating some market confidence was restored due to the quick response. However, this price is still significantly lower than the token’s previous high of $1.12, reflecting that selling pressure is still present.

• Project Confidence: The Movement Foundation’s commitment to buy back tokens is a positive sign, but there are questions about how the program will directly compensate users affected by the initial sell-off. This could impact the long-term credibility of the project if not implemented transparently.

• Market Regulation: The incident once again highlights the role of major exchanges like Binance in monitoring and regulating Market Maker activity. This is not the first time Binance has taken tough action – previously, on March 9, 2025, the exchange banned Market Makers from the GoPlus Security and MyShell projects for similar behavior.

Further Analysis: Implications and Lessons

1. Problems with Market Makers: Market Makers play an important role in providing liquidity and price stability on exchanges. However, the lack of transparency and short-term profit motives of some entities can lead to market manipulation, causing losses for retail investors. The MOVE incident is a clear illustration of this risk.

2. Project Responsibility: While Movement Foundation claims to have no knowledge of Market Maker’s actions, the choice of an unreliable partner raises questions about the project’s governance and oversight processes. This is a lesson for other projects when working with third parties.

3. Binance’s role: Binance’s tough decision not only protects users but also strengthens its position as a standard-bearer for the cryptocurrency market. However, the lack of details on a specific compensation plan may raise questions about transparency in the community.

Conclude

Binance’s ban of Movement’s Market Maker and its plan to buy back $38 million worth of MOVE tokens is a significant milestone that both reflects the potential risks in the cryptocurrency market and demonstrates the efforts of stakeholders to address the consequences. For investors, it is a reminder of the importance of doing thorough research and closely monitoring the projects they participate in. Meanwhile, for Movement, the success of the buyback program and how they handle this incident will be the deciding factor in whether the project can regain the trust of the community.