๐๐ช๐ฏ๐ข๐ฏ๐ค๐ฆ ๐ฃ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐๐ณ๐ฐ๐ฏ ๐๐ฐ๐ถ๐ฏ๐ฅ๐ข๐ต๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ ๐ง๐ฐ๐ณ ๐ฎ๐ข๐ณ๐ฌ๐ฆ๐ต ๐ฎ๐ข๐ฏ๐ช๐ฑ๐ถ๐ญ๐ข๐ต๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ
A report from the Wall Street Journal hasย allegedย that on multiple occasions, Binance ignored its own internal investigations about market manipulation in favor of preserving relationships with important clients.ย
In one case in 2023, a trading firm called DWF Labs, led by Russian Andrei Grachev, was making over $4 billion in trades on Binance per month. DWF allegedly offered a service to clients where it would create โartificial volumeโ and drive up the price of tokens.ย
One example described in the report is about Yield Guild Games, a token that DWF invested in. Grachev tweeted about it, DWF sold a huge number of tokens, and very shortly afterwards, the price of the token collapsed.ย
The report claims that two traders accounted for two-thirds of all Binance volume in 2023, which may have motivated the reticence.
This internal surveillance team also raised concerns about Binanceโs own internal accounts trading cryptocurrencies on Binance, an allegation which was echoed in the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) complaint that Binance recently settled.
Following the surveillance teamโs report about DWF, the Wall Street Journal noted that the head of the team was fired, several other investigators were โlaid-offโ as a โcost-saving measureโ, and others resigned.ย
