Pepe coin became the talk of the town in the crypto industry in 2023. It was launched in April based on the popular internet meme, Pepe the Frog, and quickly gained attention from crypto enthusiasts. Much like many other crypto projects, the face behind Pepe coin was anonymous until the founder of NotLarvaLabs revealed their identity as “Zachary Testa” on twitter, based on his research.
But, who is Zachary Testa? What is Zachary Testa net worth? Let us find out everything you need to know about the Pepe coin founder in this article.
Pauly, also known as Jeremy Cahen, posted on X (Twitter) stating that Zachary Testa, a landscape photographer is the actual founder of one of the popular meme coins, Pepe coin, on August 25, 2023. He further revealed the identity saying that the accounts @degenharambe and @LordKekLol on X (Twitter) belong to Zachary Testa.
🚨 @pepecoineth Dox:
Here is Zachary Testa aka @degenharambe aka @LordKekLol on TG from Phoenix, AZ.
He infamously bought an $865k purple Lambo with his $pepe earnings, all while his team didn’t give a cent to original Pepe the Frog creator @Matt_Furie. pic.twitter.com/93SO79bIXs
— PAULY (@Pauly0x) August 24, 2023
Pauly is the founder of NotLarvaLabs, which created a collection of 10,000 NFTs called CryptoPhunks. He further stated that Zachary Testa bought a purple lamborghini worth over $865,000 with his earnings from the Pepe Coin. He even accused him saying Zachary Testa and his team didn’t give any profits to the original Pepe the Frog meme creator, Matt Furie.
The team behind Pepe had connections with some of the best crypto exchange platforms like Binance and SushiSwap, which led to the Pepe listing and further adoption of the tokens. This incident brought mixed reactions from the crypto community, among which most of them stated that doxxing someone like that is antithesis of crypto culture. However, there is no other evidence or statements from anyone in the crypto world to strengthen the arguments of Pauly.
Though there is a mention of a lavish purchase of a purple lamborghini worth $865,000 by Zachary Testa in Pauly’s post, we cannot surely say that it adds to Zachary Testa’s net worth.
As per the Pauly’s posts, Zachary Testa is a 26-year old graduate with a degree in marketing from Arizona State University. He is a professional landscape and aerial photographer and also has a personal website where he showcases his work. Pauly even included Testa’s instagram handles and alternative accounts in his post.
Few hours after Pauly’s post, on the same day, more than 17 trillion tokens worth $18 million were transferred to major crypto exchanges including Binance and OKX from the team’s multi-signature wallet, as per LookOnChain analytics platform. If the allegations that Zachary Testa is founder of Pepe coin were true, then $18 million would add to the Testa’s net worth.
As a result of the massive Pepe coin transfer, Pepe coin price crashed by over 15% on 25 August 2023. Besides, the team’s multi-signature wallet, which initially required 5 out of 8 private keys to allow the transfer, shifted to 2/8 requiring only 2 private keys to transfer funds.
The Pepe team’s official account responded to these events stating they apologize to the community members for causing fear and uncertainty. They even mentioned that the remaining 10 trillion Pepe coins are safe in their multi-signature wallet and that they are taking measures to eliminate internal disputes.
The lengthy post further stated that they are planning to buy Pepe domain names with remaining tokens. It ended on a positive note saying that the team would like to see the Pepe community strong and thrive in a decentralized ecosystem.
an announcement to the $PEPE community:
Yesterday on August 24th, 2023, a series of unexpected transactions took place from the $PEPE multisig CEX
Wallet in which ~16 Trillion $PEPE tokens (worth roughly $15m USD) were transferred to various crypto exchanges (OKX, Binance,… pic.twitter.com/iZmXV1TAvw— Pepe (@pepecoineth) August 26, 2023
However, the explanation and assurance from Pepe’s official account did not seem to eliminate the trust issues of its community. Only time will reveal whether the Pepe coin continues to be one of the popular meme coins with a loyal community or if it will be abandoned by its team and investors. Whichever path Pepe coin takes, its journey emphasized the importance of transparency and regulational clarity in the crypto industry.
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