An announcement made by YoBit exchange today has given further another chance for skeptics to question the manner in which price recognition happens in crypto market.
YoBit has unveiled a pump scheme on random coins, arguably illegal according to free market rules, according to a tweet made earlier today.
A pump and dump scheme is a sort of fraud that endeavors to falsely increase the value of an asset via deceiving or bogus recommendations. Along with the pump scheme in a tweet, the exchange initiated a countdown clock on its website for a ‘YoBit pump.’
Russia based YoBit, a cryptocurrency exchange founded in 2015, provides access to hundreds of cryptos. Previously, the trading platform had several times hit the headlines for wrong reasons such as suspicious activity and withdrawal issues. On average, YoBit’s daily trading volume is roughly $28 million.
YoBit Pump in 22 hrs: https://t.co/RIbW7OhKzM
We will buy one random coin for 1 btc every 1-2 mins 10 times (total buy amount – 10 btc).— Yobit.Net (@YobitExchange) October 10, 2018
The crypto community reacted spontaneously, with some users raising doubts whether YoBit’s Twitter account had been hacked, and others questioning the morality of such an operation. A user wrote:
maybe their twitter is hacked ?! I can’t believe this
— Vanessa ? (@CryptoVanessa) October 10, 2018
Another user said
Thanks for the link. Looks like Yobit is serious about it, unbelievable. Also, never meant to say you yourself edited the image and you are right credibility, is everything in this space. Sill surprised to see an exchange do this.
— Altcoin Buzz (@Altcoinbuzzio) October 10, 2018
An user with handle @PsychedelicBart tagged the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) in one of his comments:
Lol @SEC_Enforcement
— Psychedelic El Barto (@PsychedelicBart) October 10, 2018
Earlier in November 2017, an investigation report published by Business Insider revealed that traders were using messaging app Telegram to perform pump and dump operations on YoBit. However, the exchange is yet to respond to the questions and concerns raised by crypto community.