Leading cryptocurrency exchanges accused of leaking insider information

The Wall Street Journal published an article about speculative trading using confidential information. According to Argus analysts, employees of major crypto trading platforms may be involved in the fraud: FTX, Coinbase, Binance.

The experts' report states that some employees of the exchanges profited from trading transactions made with cryptocurrencies. The income in some transactions amounted to almost $ 2 million.

The report also states that large volumes of tokens were transferred to the wallets of unknown persons even before the listing was announced. After that, the official appearance of specific tokens on cryptocurrency platforms led to a rush and an increase in the price of assets. After that, owners sold virtual funds on the first day of trading.

This scheme was once again implemented in August 2022 on the Binance exchange, where an unidentified person’s wallet accumulated $ 360 000 worth of Gnosis coins within 6 days. After the official listing, the amount of assets grew almost 7 times.

Argus experts classify this case as trading using insider information. However, it is impossible to say for sure that this was done with the participation of Binance employees.

Official representatives of the platforms provided the publication with a refutation, explaining that the internal policy of the firms prohibits such activities for employees. Binance representatives also provided a report on the inspection by their own security team. The connection with the exchange’s employees was not proven.