A major cryptocurrency scandal has emerged as DefiTuna's founder Moty exposed an alleged $200 million market manipulation scheme involving the M3M3 memecoin launchpad and several high-profile tokens.
On February 17, 2025, Moty announced that DefiTuna had cut ties with investor Kelsier and refunded his $30,000 investment after discovering concerning market manipulation activities connected to multiple token launches.
The alleged scheme involved coordinated token price manipulation across several projects including $LIBRA, $MELANIA, and other memecoins launched through the M3M3 platform. According to Moty's detailed revelations, the operation extracted massive profits from unsuspecting community members.
At the center of the controversy is Kelsier, who allegedly approached DefiTuna through a Lebanon-based employee named Thomas to assist with liquidity provision for M3M3. The platform was initially presented as independent but was later revealed to be under the control of Ben, Meteora's co-founder.
The manipulation tactics allegedly included:
- Pre-sharing token mint addresses with select influencers before official launches
- Coordinated pump and dump schemes
- Using complex liquidity provision methods to obscure fund movements
- Forcing projects to allocate token supply percentages to specific parties
Two notable examples of affected tokens were MATES and AIAI (GoatIndex.ai), both currently down 95% from their launch prices. Documentation shared by Moty suggests that $2.45 million was extracted from these two launches alone.
The Melania token launch presents a particularly striking case. According to revealed communications, Kelsier provided DefiTuna with 1% of the total token supply (valued at $100M at peak) for liquidity provision, along with claims of upcoming social media support from Melania Trump's official account and Donald Trump.
When confronted, Meteora's leadership provided limited response. Ben, the co-founder, indicated he would step down but issued an ambiguous public statement.
DefiTuna's decision to come forward represents a rare instance of industry self-regulation, with Moty stating they risked their business to expose these practices. The case continues to develop as investigators gather additional evidence about the extent of the market manipulation scheme.