Power Protocol crashes by 90% after team wallets sold POWER tokens

Power Protocol was the latest crypto project to perform a classic rug pull. The POWER token erased more than 90% of its value, just days after a highly active promotion. 

The POWER token, issued by Power Protocol, lost 90% of its value, crashing to $0.17. The asset only recently posted all-time records above $2.02 and was heavily promoted by KOLs and influencers. The project was just promising it would scale as a network to carry more games, after onboarding Fableborne.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                     

Power Protocol later clarified the issue, stating it had sent 30M POWER tokens to a partner for market-making and liquidity tasks. The tokens were moved to exchanges and sold without authorization.

As Cryptopolitan reported, Power Protocol just announced a new investment by Bitkraft Protocol, and gave signs of long-term sustainability with over $15M in available funding. Despite this, the project ended in a rug pull, with on-chain data showing wallets related to the team sold POWER on centralized exchanges. 

POWER was a relatively late arrival, launching in early 2026. The token was expected to revive on-chain gaming by onboarding new games and serving as a native asset. However, the asset crashed soon after its Bitget and MEXC listings. 

The asset also relied on PancakeSwap liquidity, as the DEX carried over 41% of volumes. The token was distributed among 2,729 wallets and was capable of outperforming the weak market just before crashing. 

Insider sellers crashed POWER

POWER ended up with just $121K in liquidity on PancakeSwap. The crash was also due to the insufficient market depth on Bitget and MEXC, leading to the rapid unraveling. 

POWER managed to get adopted by a relatively large number of retail buyers, gaining trust in a project that was expected to thrive. The token is still valued at nearly $180M fully diluted, though only with a $37M in free float. Despite this, POWER is now even more illiquid, in addition to losing its reputation. 

Retail holders on social media also reported the Power Protocol team had gone silent, with no recourse for launchpad buyers and early investors. The rug pull also coincided with an $850K raise by Genome Protocol, which simply disappeared and did not even launch a token. Traders are once again worried about a return to rug pulls as a new wave of overhyped projects fails to deliver.

Who was the biggest POWER seller? 

The crash was caused mainly by one seller shedding 30M POWER tokens on centralized exchanges. Before the crash, the stake was valued at $16.23M. 

The seller sent multiple POWER transfers, with 20M tokens going to Bitget and 10M to MEXC through an intermediary wallet. 

Additionally, one decentralized whale locked in $706.8K, while panic-selling as POWER was still in the $0.60 range. Until March 2, POWER saw significant buying interest and promotion, adding retail buyers. During the crash, most of the bigger holders exited the market. 

The protocol sold 0.03% of its supply during a launchpad event, while also setting aside generous insider allocations. POWER raised some concerns with its rapid climb, which was used as an exit to realize more profits.