Pump and Dump Cryptocurrency

Cryptocurrency is a lawless land.

Ten days ago, the Securities Exchange Commission and the Commodities and Futures Trading Commission issued a joint statement on virtual currency:

“When market participants engage in fraud under the guise of offering digital instruments – whether characterized as virtual currencies, coins, tokens, or the like – the SEC and the CFTC will look beyond form, examine the substance of the activity and prosecute violations of the federal securities and commodities laws. The Divisions of Enforcement for the SEC and CFTC will continue to address violations and bring actions to stop and prevent fraud in the offer and sale of digital instruments.”

Take a look at BigPump.org. Go ahead and take a look. I’ll wait.

“We do pumps…. Big pumps.”

Right there on a public website, the group advertises its strategy for pumping and dumping cryptocurrency. It came to my attention through an article by Paris Martineau:
Inside the Group Chats Where People Pump and Dump Cryptocurrency.

I was skeptical that a strategy that was so brazenly illegal would be so easy to spot. So being skeptical, I dug into the underlying information. There it was, publicly displaying a pump and dump scheme.

In their defense, they claim their pumping schemes are fair. Of course, there is also a note that premium pumps will be coming soon. I have to assume that those premium pumps are less fair to those outside the premium group.

It does not take much to find examples of pump and dump. Look at this chart for the Crave cryptocurrency.

Some people made a bunch of money by rallying interest in this cryptocurrency and selling at the top before the price.

That is not the way a price chart for any “currency” should look. It’s not the way chart should look for any investment.

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