Crypto Chaos: Is Your Investment Just a Price Puppet? 🎭💸

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Oh, darling, gather ’round! Arthur Cheong, the illustrious founder of DeFiance Capital, has taken to the digital stage to deliver a rather alarming soliloquy on the rising tide of cryptocurrency price manipulation. He describes this trend as a rather serious threat to the delicate fabric of investor trust, especially in light of the recent calamities befalling the Mantra and Story Protocol tokens. 🎭

In a rather cheeky post on X dated April 14, our dear Arthur warned that projects and market makers are engaging in a clandestine tango, working together behind the scenes to keep token prices afloat. One might say it’s a market where you’re left wondering if the price is a result of genuine demand or a well-orchestrated charade. Quite the conundrum, wouldn’t you agree? 🤔

He went on to lament that centralized exchanges are turning a blind eye to this ruckus, creating what he so eloquently dubbed a “lemon’s market.” In this delightful little setup, insiders are reaping the rewards while the poor investors are left holding the proverbial bag. And let’s not forget, the majority of recent token generation events have been about as successful as a lead balloon, with prices plummeting by a staggering 70-90% post-listing. 🎈

“The biggest problem plaguing the liquid crypto market now is the complete blackbox of how projects and market makers can work together to create an artificial price that can sustain for a very long period. You don’t know whether the price is a result of organic demand & supply…”

— Arthur (@Arthur_0x) April 14, 2025

With such rampant price manipulation, our dear Cheong has concluded that a significant portion of the cryptocurrency market will remain “uninvestable” until these structural flaws are addressed. Quite the pickle, isn’t it? 🥒

His post comes on the heels of the Mantra (OM) token’s dramatic nosedive, losing a staggering 90% of its value in less than 24 hours, effectively erasing over $5 billion in market cap. Independent analysts have pointed fingers, suggesting that Mantra moved millions of OM tokens to OKX just before the crash, though the company has vehemently denied such dastardly deeds. 😏

With 90% of the token supply under the control of the team, many are whispering that this was merely insider selling masquerading as a market event. Mantra’s CEO, in a fit of indignation, has blamed the crash on CEX liquidations. How very convenient! 🙄

But wait, there’s more! As the Mantra drama unfolded, the Story Protocol’s (IP) token took a nosedive of its own, plummeting 25% in a mere hour, from $4.24 to $3.02, before staging a partial recovery. Once again, Binance and OKX, the same players linked to the OM debacle, accounted for the lion’s share of trading volume. Coincidence? I think not! 🦁

Binance suggested that forced liquidations were to blame, while OKX pointed to tokenomics changes and suspicious deposits. The conflicting narratives only added fuel to the fire of speculation regarding manipulation. 🔥

Meanwhile, the manipulation has spread its tendrils into decentralized markets as well. Just last month, a trader on Hyperliquid opened a $5 million short on the JELLY token, only to self-liquidate the position by pumping the token’s price on-chain, leaving Hyperliquid’s vault to absorb the loss. Quite the theatrical performance, wouldn’t you say? 🍬

In an analysis shared with crypto.news, Oak Security’s Dr. Jan Philipp Fritsche described this escapade as “a textbook case of unpriced vega risk,” illustrating how vulnerabilities in DeFi design can be exploited even in the absence of technical bugs. Bravo! 👏

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2025-04-15 08:26