Coinbase Alleges Price Manipulation by Binance
Head of Product Business Operations at Coinbase, Conor Grogan, has made serious accusations against Binance for front-running altcoins over the last eighteen months.
In a tweet thread published on January 22, Grogans details several connected and anonymous wallets that appear to have engaged in coordinated pump-and-dumps of altcoins listing on Binance. The accounts bought hundreds of thousands of dollars of tokens from small, lesser projects and quickly sold them for big profits following listings on Binance. Grogan claims to have found six suspicious transactions and ponders if there could be more.
It appears that there is a pattern of Binance front-running over 18+ months
— Conor (@jconorgrogan) January 23, 2023
I found connected wallets that:
-Bought $900k Rari seconds before and dumped minutes after listing
-Bought ~78K ERN between June 17 and June 21 and sold right after listing announcement
-Did same w/ TORN https://t.co/yAolrfeHkO pic.twitter.com/VRq3vzfcgd
The accounts caused raise eyebrows and caused suspicion about the behavior of Binance. Grogan specifically calls out the increased scrutiny over Centralized Exchanges (CEX) by regulators in recent months, even highlighting a case from Coinbase that resulted in employees facing prison for insider trading.
Listings on CEXs are well known to be catalysts of positive price action. Sometimes called the “Coinbase Effect,” small projects often experience a sharp rise in price as demand increases from the listing.
In mid-January, Binance CoFounder, He Yi, confirmed that all Binance employees are subject to a 90-day hold on any investments made. Binance’s leaders must also report all trades every quarter.
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