The story was revealed a few days ago on Twitter by the journalist Colin Wu, specializing in cryptocurrency news. This aboutan anonymous wallet having carried out a very juicy operation in relation to the listing of the RPL cryptocurrency, from the Rocket Pool project on the Binance platform on January 18. An addition to his Innovation Zone with the direct consequence of a spectacular and ephemeral increase of over 27% in a few hours.
The problem ? Following this revelation, the director of Coinbase, Conor Grogan, proceeded to further investigation. And obviously, this scenario isn’t the first in the field. Indeed, many similar insider trading transactions would have occurred in the last 18 months. With anonymous wallets, each time the purchase of the cryptocurrency involved a few minutes before its quotation, to then resell it a few moments later.
Binance – Insider trading related to cryptocurrency listings
This case is still under investigation and suspicion. But similar cases are multiplying as research progresses. With a resounding absence of comment from Binance which gives an idea of the environmental discomfort. Because the disclosed deals could involve hundreds of millions of dollars in improperly collected capital gains. And one – or more – cases of inside trading that are very problematic due to the seriousness of this exchange that it has become the undisputed and overwhelming leader of the cryptocurrency industry.
Indeed, Conor Grogan refers to at least 3 separate cases of similar fraud. First with the governance token TM extension (November 2021) of the NFT artistic platform rare. With a $900,000 purchase made “seconds before and resold minutes after signing up.” Or an identical operation with cryptocurrency ERN extension of the project Chain of Eternity (June 22, 2022) in the amount of $78,000. And finally the same for the RIPPED Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) sanctions mixer. Cash tornado (June 11, 2022).
A list that continues to grow, given that other cases also concern cryptocurrencies RAMP (March 2021) and GNO (August 2021). This with profits equivalent to $100,000 each time in a few minutes.
To the point of asking the legitimate question ofa large-scale insider trading operation characterized by ” a dishonest employee connected to the ads team. Or the more complex scenario, also taken up by Conor Grogan, of an unscrupulous trader who has managed to “find some sort of API or proof of commercial stability on the scene/exchange”. Regardless, Binance’s internal policy a block the sale of cryptocurrencies for its employees for 90 days Seems quite inadequate to me…