Binance has refuted recent accusations regarding alleged market manipulation by DWF Labs.
Claims of market manipulation by DWF Labs have resurfaced, with an anonymous source purporting to be a former Binance insider alleging that Binance investigators discovered $300 million worth of wash trading from DWF during 2023, as reported by the Wall Street Journal on May 9.
In response to the allegations, Binance has firmly denied the reports. A spokesperson for Binance stated, “Binance emphatically rejects any assertion that its market surveillance program has permitted market manipulation on our platform. We have a robust market surveillance framework that identifies and takes action against market abuse. Any users that breach our terms of use are off-boarded; we do not tolerate market abuse.”
According to the WSJ report, DWF Labs allegedly manipulated the price of the Yield Guild Game (YGG) token and at least six other cryptocurrencies last year. However, Binance contends that its surveillance program would prevent such manipulation.
Binance asserts that it actively bans traders displaying signs of market manipulation, with a spokesperson stating, “Over the last three years, we have offboarded nearly 355,000 users with a transaction volume of more than $2.5 trillion for violating our terms of use.”
Investigating potential market manipulation remains a top priority for Binance, the world's largest exchange, as highlighted by independent investigations. The spokesperson added, "A recent independent investigation from Inca Digital into Binance’s market surveillance practices validates the effectiveness of our approach, finding 'minimal signs of anomalous trading activities."
DWF Labs, a Web3 investment and market-making firm, faced similar allegations last September following high-volume on-chain activity. Wintermute, an algorithmic trading firm and market maker, was among the first to accuse DWF Labs of crypto market manipulation. During a September interview at Token2049, Wintermute co-founder Yoann Turpin stated that DWF Labs "are not market makers in our sense" and criticized their classification of "essentially [over-the-counter] trades as investments." DWF Labs co-founder Andrei Grachev vehemently denied the accusations.
May 2024, Cryptoniteuae