PancakeSwap Contest Faces Allegations of Coordinated Wash Trading Among Winners

An investigation reveals that around half of the 1,700 winning wallets in PancakeSwap's trading contest were connected, with blockchain records indicating possible wash trading to meet contest thresholds.

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Summary

Cointelegraph's investigation into PancakeSwap's July trading contest has revealed suspicious patterns, with approximately half of the 1,700 winning wallets showing interconnected activity. Around 850 wallets were funded by other winners, using wash trading of sponsored tokens to meet the contest's thresholds. League of Traders representatives claimed the odds of such extensive wallet connections occurring randomly are nearly zero, suggesting possible manual selection. This marks the second edition of the contest, sponsored by League of Traders, Bedrock DAO, MilkyWay, NodeOps, and Moonveil.

Terms & Concepts
  • Wash Trading: A manipulative trading practice where assets are bought and sold between the same or connected parties to create artificial activity or meet thresholds.
  • BNB: Binance Coin, the native cryptocurrency of the Binance exchange, used for transaction fees, trading, and other blockchain applications.
  • On-chain Analysis: The use of blockchain transaction data to study and identify patterns, behaviors, and anomalies among participants.