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DeFi Star Ousted Amid Token Dumping Scandal
12 Dec, 2025
Summary
- Rushi Manche ousted from Movement Labs over market-making scandal.
- MOVE token price collapsed after massive dumping by Rentech.
- Scandal intensified scrutiny of early-stage crypto token deals.
Rushi Manche, co-founder of crypto infrastructure startup Movement Labs, has been ousted amid a scandal surrounding the launch of the MOVE token. Internal documents uncovered by CoinDesk revealed that Movement Labs, under Manche's leadership, engaged in hidden market-making deals through an intermediary firm, Rentech.
This arrangement granted Rentech control over roughly 66 million MOVE tokens, about 5% of the total supply. Rentech subsequently dumped these tokens, causing a sharp collapse in MOVE's price and significant investor backlash. Major exchanges, including Coinbase, suspended or delisted the token in response to the unfolding crisis.
The fallout from the scandal included a leadership shake-up at Movement Labs and reputational damage to the project. More broadly, the incident has fueled industry-wide concerns about opaque token allocations and insider trading risks, prompting increased scrutiny from exchanges, investors, and regulators.
