Investigative journalist uncovers alleged insider trading in Binance’s new listing
- Colin Wu, a Chinese journalist, told his 231,500 followers about possible insider trading in OSMO, a new cryptocurrency listed by Binance.
- The exchange said that it is conducting an investigation involving the address that bought 2,029,846 tokens purchased at $1.34.
- Osmosis (OSMO) has yielded holders 23.6% gains overnight.
Binance, the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange by volume listed Osmosis (OSMO) in the innovation zone on October 28. A day before OSMO’s listing on Binance, a wallet address scooped up more than 2 million OSMO tokens at $1.34. Binance is currently investigating alleged insider trading.
This wallet address is accused of insider trading by investigative journalist Wu
Chinese journalist Colin Wu told his 231,500 followers in a recent tweet that ahead of Osmosis (OSMO) listing on Binance, a wallet address accumulated upwards of 2 million OSMO tokens at $1.34.
Colin Wu told his followers that the following address scooped up OSMO before its Binance listing announcement, osmo19muml8sjpnecnm8geul4l3zfju24l04mpuppy7. This address made a purchase of 2,029,846 OSMO. Wu said that Binance is investigating the alleged insider trading incident and there are no further updates.
One day before Binance announced the listing of OSMO, a address (osmo19muml8sjpnecnm8geul4l3zfju24l04mpuppy7) bought 2,029,846 OSMOs at $1.34, sparking discussions about “insider trading”. Binance said they were investigating. https://t.co/BHEPXn6091
— Wu Blockchain (@WuBlockchain) October 28, 2022
Typically, after a new token’s listing on Binance there is a spike in demand for the asset. The listing is accompanied by a rally in the token’s price, similar to the Coinbase effect. After the listing announcement, Osmosis (OSMO) has yielded nearly 25% gains for holders.
According to the announcement on the Binance blog, the exchange opened trading for the following spot trading pairs: OSMO/BTC, OSMO/BUSD and OSMO/USDT.
Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao told Fortune in an interview in May 2022 that the exchange has “a zero-tolerance policy” on insider trading. Zhao told users to email evidence of anything suspicious to [email protected], a whistleblower email address.
Zhao told users in a tweet that the exchange tries not to let project teams know when the token will be listed on Binance. The Binance CEO shared this information in response to a research report by compliance software producer Argus, which highlighted how 46 crypto wallets had purchased specific cryptocurrencies in the week before those coins listed on major exchanges, like Coinbase and Binance. The price of the tokens would rise after a listing, and the wallets made a tidy profit on their holdings.
Author
Ekta Mourya
FXStreet
Ekta Mourya has extensive experience in fundamental and on-chain analysis, particularly focused on impact of macroeconomics and central bank policies on cryptocurrencies.
