MVG Network Analysis
Well, I can easily say that this is not the article I wanted to write, but here I am. If you are reading this, you likely already know the story. If you don’t know it yet, I will do my best to explain it as clearly as possible and break it down every step of the way. This is part one and still under review. With many questions swirling around MVG and as the resident VeChain data nerd, I decided to complete a blockchain network analysis for MVG. It may get long and it may get technical, but regardless of your opinion on what I present, hopefully you will learn something about the blockchain along the way.
Disclaimer- All of this information was gathered from reading blockchain transaction and posts/comments from public social media accounts. Reading blockchain information only tells one part of the story and without further context and explanations, it is always possible for information to be misunderstood or misleading. I did my best to identify only the wallets with consistent and meaningful interactions.This is an important aspect of the review to rule out meaningless connections from things like giveaways etc
Summary (tl;dr)
All findings are based on reading public blockchain data and public social media information. Blockchain does not tell the complete story. Minimal response has been received from MVG regarding this information and many members asking questions have been banned from their platform accounts. Team wallets from ICO have not been released. If MVG would like to discuss this publicly or privately, I will be more than willing to adjust this report and announce those adjustments. Additionally, if others find any substantial errors, I will make corrections accordingly.
There are multiple connections with the CEO of MVG and the wallet 2e21.
These connections were made through past TG posts linking the CEO to 2e21 wallet transactions
2e21 received 573M MVG at ICO
That MVG was split between 6 primary wallets and multiple other wallets from there
To convert MVG to USD, you must first convert the MVG to VET, then use a Centralized Exchange (CEX). When you deposit VET or other VeChain tokens to a CEX, each CEX account has a designated custodial wallet- meaning it is the CEX account owners wallet, but the CEX holds the keys to the wallet. All transfers to that CEX account are visible.
By reviewing the CEX custodial wallets for 2e21, you can see multiple wallets that received MVG from 2e21 trade the MVG for VET on Vexchange, then cash-in the VET on the CEX.
With this method, 2e21 can be connected to a cashout of almost 20M VET worth of MVG.
The MVG CEO has denied ownership of this wallet stating in DM:
- The MVG in that wallet, comes from an ICO investor that transferred $90K USDT to the company’s USDT ICO wallet to pay for company expenses. Anyone who believed in the project was free to do KYC and invest the amount they wanted (max 100k)
Additional findings to be reviewed in Part 2
Background
This review originates from when the Vexchange API went down for several hours in December 2021. With no easy way to see VeChain token price values, I built a candlestick chart of VeChain tokens with historical price action and trades for vechain.tools. This functionality allowed for easy (and sometimes obsessive) token trade watching. In January, the wallet ending in 7cab appeared and became a community villain with steady, methodical MVG sells and transfers to a Centralized Exchange (CEX) to cash out VET profits. Out of curiosity, I reviewed the wallet and traced the MVG and VET transactions. That is when I found the main wallet that will be discussed in this review- 0xdd49e0dd8f6a83cd6bec58ea84290f69acd62e21.
Wallet- 2e21
Wallet 2e21 has hundreds of transactions that mostly center around MVG, PLA, EHrT, and VEED/Vims. These transactions seemed familiar to the known VeChain history of the MVG CEO.
PLAIR ICO
Recognizing this connection, I reviewed 2e21’s PLA’s ICO purchases and cross-referenced them with the CEO’s TG posts, looking for any connections. A complete list of transactions can be seen at Vechainstats, Vechain Explorer, or the app I built for quick review here. Below is the PLA ICO transactions for 2e21.
He stated in TG that he put 120K VET into the PLA ICO. On review, only 2 wallets put 120K VET into PLA. I reached out to the CEO in a private DM. After I brought this to his attention, he deleted the post in TG. Additionally, the CEO has since deleted all private messages he sent to me when I initially reached out.
On November 5th 2018, he stated he put more VET to PLA ICO. The 2e21 wallet added more VET to PLA the same day. The only other wallet to purchase 120k VET in PLA, purchased his ICO PLA in one transaction. Similar to the previous post, this was deleted after I discussed with him.
X-Node Holder
In a VeChain specific TG channel, he discussed having a VeChain X-Node. 2e21 was an x-node holder.
In the initial grant application seen here for MVG (previously planned to be Divine League), you can see some key points for VeChain ecosystem involvement (EHrT and VIM) both of which are heavily involved in 2e21.
Wallet cdbe
This wallet shows a direct link to the MVG ICO wallet. It received 20 VTHO from the ICO wallet and the first transfer test of 10 MVG. It is also connected to wallets that will be reviewed. This wallet sent MVG to a secondary wallet. This secondary wallet sent VET to the Oceanex and Bitrue, both CEX custody wallets for 2e21.
Connections recap-
Plair ICO total investment
PLAIR ICO investment timing
X-Node Holder
Investments match Divine League Application with EHrT, VEED, PLA, and MVG
MVG ICO sent VTHO to wallet cdbe. Wallet cdbe connected with 2 known custodial wallets of 2e21.
Methods
For the review, I used R coding language and the VeChain THORest API. Using VeChainStats, SeeVeChain, and my own categorization over time, I have been able to create a running list to index commonly used addresses and transaction methods. This provides an improved way to read the blockchain transactions. The tables and network charts may not include all transactions to simplify for readability. Vexchange trades have been excluded as well.
Guide to read the tables/Charts
| Column | Definition |
|---|---|
| Wallet | Last 4 digits of Wallet Address |
| Event | Type of Transaction event occurring |
| Event_Name | Specific value in relation to Event |
| Amount | Amount of token received |
| Sender | Sender Address |
| Sender_Name | If address is categorized (i.e. Binance) or the same as the 4 digit wallet above, this column will be “Self” |
| Recipient | Recipient Address |
| Recipient_Name | If address is categorized (i.e. Binance) or the same as the 4 digit wallet above, this column will be “Self” |
| Chart Colors | Green- VET Red- MVG Black- Other |
| Custodial Wallet | A wallet in which the private keys are held by a third party. Meaning, the third party has full control over your funds while you only have to give permission to send or receive payments. Typically seen with CEX accounts, ie Binance, KuCoin. |
| Non-Custodial Wallet | Wallet owners have full control over their funds and associated private keys. |
Wallet Connection
Main Wallet
From here, we can see that 2e21 received 573M from the MVG ICO, then separated that to 6 different wallets. Going forward, these will be numbered and considered Primary Wallets.
Primary Wallet 1
This wallet received 23M MVG from 2e21. Sent 13M MVG to b01b. Traded MVG for VET on Vexchange. Then, sent 64.5K VET to the wallet 5529. This creates a common theme to review. Multiple MVG trades on a decentralized exchange (DEX) and VET transfer to a custodial wallet. As I go along, I will begin to label the custodial wallets.
VET Profits to CEX- 64,537 VET
Custodial Wallet 1 (Oceanex) - 0x29df92750b14f83c7e72b1c40888994495a65529
A custodial wallet is a wallet that lives on VeChain, but is dedicated to a Centralized Exchange (CEX). This wallet is dedicated to only one account on the CEX. Custodial wallets are identified by transfers to the main CEX hot wallets. Only a CEX custodial wallet will send assets to the large hot wallets.
For example, if person X uses 2 wallets (wallet A and B) on the vechainthor app and has 1 binance acct. If Wallet A transfers 50 VET to Binance and Wallet B transfers 100 VET to Binance, both transfers will be seen on wallet C as the only deposits for that wallet. Once the VET is traded or transferred, it goes to the Binance Hot wallet, then to it’s final destination.
The above is a custodial wallet for a single user’s Oceanex account. This is evident because essentially all of the “transfer out” transactions are leaving this wallet and going to the Oceanex Exchange wallets.
When you narrow this Oceanex Custodial wallet down to wallets that transferred VET/Tokens to it, you can see the primary deposits come from 2e21, occasionally from another CEX Hot wallet, and after November 2021- Multiple large VET transfers received (we will come back to that).
Secondary Wallet 1- 0x2e49ad5dabd1aa2c1676da778ac3f4e8d2a2b01b
Next, I will look at b01b. This is labeled secondary wallet because it is an additional step away from the ICO airdrop. It received 13M MVG from e658 (who received 23M from 2e21). The first step was sending 3M to a tertiary wallet- f5d2. Over time, b01b converted the MVG to VET, then sent VET to a Bitrue custodial wallet- 5052 and Oceanex custodial wallet- 5529.
VET Profits to CEX- 464,252 VET
Running Total- 528,789 VET
Custodial Wallet 2 (Bitrue) - 0xe880945bd62f645251bdd6427289b9a912fb5052
Here is the second custodial wallet identified. Prior to November 2021, the only transactions seen originate from a large untraceable CEX wallets, except 1- an EHrT transfer from our main wallet 2e21. Similar to the oceanex custodial wallet, it received multiple large transfers of VET from varying addresses after November 2021.
Tertiary Wallet 1- 0xcaae8f84d5eff1fbea2c67c96c3d7b96310df5d2
This wallet is an additional step away (ICO ->2e21 -> e658 ->b01b ->f5d2).
It initially received 100 VTHO from Main Oceanex Wallet, then sold MVG. Eventually going to the Oceanex Custodial Wallet
VET Profits to CEX- 133,565 VET
Running Total- 662,354 VET
Primary Wallet 2
Primary Wallet 2 received 25M MVG from 2e21, 200 VTHO from Main Oceanex Exchange. It introduces us to our next custodial wallet for the Binance CEX. In increments of 400-500K, this wallet slowly converted MVG to VET through Vexchange. It used both the identified Bitrue Custody account and the new Binance custody account.
VET Profits to CEX- 1,941,115 VET
Running Total- 2,603,469 VET
Custodial Wallet 3 (Binance) - 0x148e5519fc15fc0abf7480b225455c7a858e5c71
This Binance custodial wallet account is the most used thus far. Prior to November 2021, the only interactions seen by this wallet came from Exchange wallets (Oceanex and Binance) and all but 1 transaction came from the Main Wallet 2e21. Also notice the a389 “Testing Wallet”. That will come back
Primary Wallet 3
This wallet received 25M MVG from 2e21, 100 VTHO from Oceanex, transferred MVG to VET, sent all VET to Binance custodial wallet.
VET Profits to CEX- 2,183,001 VET
Running Total- 4,786,470 VET
Primary Wallet 4
This wallet received 50M MVG from 2E21 and 200 VTHO from Oceanex. Has not changed
VET Profits to CEX- 2,183,001 VET
Running Total- 4,786,470 VET
Primary Wallet 5
This wallet received 50M MVG from 2E21 and 200 VTHO from Oceanex. This introduces us to a new custody wallet- 282b for Gate.io.
VET Profits to CEX- 2,183,001 VET
Running Total- 4,786,470 VET
Custodial Wallet 4 (Gate.io) - 0x6afc25771119827dc2f944dc9398c05e3a5c282b
Primary Wallet 6
Bitmart Custodial Wallet
This is a Bitmart custodial wallet. It received 400M MVG from 2E21. It transferred all 400M to Bitmart and then back to 2E21.
Custodial Wallets
Thus far, we have established that 2e21 has 3 CEX accounts with a custodial wallet on each (Oceanex, Bitrue, and Binance). Each of those custody wallets were used as VET dumping ground from the 573m MVG ICO airdrop. But to better understand the connection with 2e21, we need to review the full history of the 2e21 custodial wallets.
Thus far, all transactions for the Oceanex and Bitrue wallets have been accounted for. Let’s view the Binance custodial wallet again
Binance Custodial Wallets Connections
In addition to the main wallet 2e21 and primary wallets, we see both 7cab and 309D. Let’s start with the infamous 7cab.
Secondary Wallet 2 - 0xdc2fcc3448020ecb865b299b389a1c69b0bb7cab
7cab initially received both MVG and VTHO from 309D. Over time, 7cab converted MVG to VET via Vexchange. Then transferred the VET to the known Binance Custodial wallet for 2e21. Additionally, 7cab sent 34.6K VET to a Kucoin Custodial acct wallet (5971).
VET Profits to CEX- 7,407,858 VET
Running Total- 12,194,328 VET
Secondary Wallet 3 - 0xd345b425264916f3fce9a4925f252a4be4f0309d
309D received 180m MVG at ICO. It received 100 VTHO from a389 (coinicidently, a389 is seen as the only other wallet, outside of 2E21 and CEX hot wallets, to interact with the Binance Custodial Wallet)
309D sent VET to the known Oceanex, Binance, and KuCoin custody accounts.
309D MVG to 7cab, 2470, 471d, and 0805.
VET Profits to CEX- 2,118,351 VET
Running Total- 14,312,679 VET
Secondary Wallet 4 - 0x951dc31dfcbaf740976fd92a8e4c405dae3a0805
Binance Wallet Connection - 0x6bc3d2ce947e081a70e51594e6a7d2b5581f2470
2470 transferred 1666666 MVG to 7572 and it remains
Secondary Wallet 5 - 0x20c799e5b497506f716288e75cd5c783b815471d
471d received MVG from c54d, cdbe, and 309d. Traded the MVG to VET on Vexchange. Then sent VET to known oceanex and bitrue custodial wallets
VET Profits to CEX- 4,603,998 VET
Running Total- 18,916,677 VET
Custodial Wallet Connection - 0x21696ea0bf42688efc72df44eece4e67dddec54d
c54d received 5.5M MVG from ICO + an additional 200K from ec1f. All MVG sent to 471d
Wallet List Used
Conclusion
This is a long and complicated process with many steps. Despite the thoroughness of this review, there are still unexplained connections and questions to be answered. Due to MVG’s poor communication and transparency, this blockchain analysis was necessary to piece together the tokenomics. This is not financial advice and I will not provide opinions to any additional aspects for MVG in this avenue. I will continue to work on this analysis and hopefully complete additional review for some unknown connections. I welcome MVG to unban me at any point to discuss my findings. If they can provide me with any evidence or explanations for the transactions, I will make the necessary revisions.
Thanks,
Data