Home / Archive / Spotlight: A Number of Crypto Influencers are Being Accused of Market Manipulation

Spotlight: A Number of Crypto Influencers are Being Accused of Market Manipulation

Last Updated March 4, 2021 5:06 PM
Jake Sylvestre
Last Updated March 4, 2021 5:06 PM

Earlier today, a new steemit account by the name of @cryptomedication published a blog post featuring 76 screenshots of pump and dump telegram group chats.

The contents allege that Bitcoin Bravado , CryptoGat , Peripheral , CryptoHornHairs , ParabolicMp, CryptoDog,  CryptoSignals, and others were colluding together to suppress prices of HavenProtocol (XHV) , acquire a significant sum then promote to their respective followers in order to make a large profit. Several responses have been issued by the accused parties. BravadoGroup appears to have taken steps toward legal action. While the screenshots have not been independently verified, enough of the accused have acknowledged the existence of the messages to make me more than comfortable penning this article.

What do the messages say?

  • Crypto Signals starts out by suggesting “buying up a large portion of the supply with a group of people when the market cap is around 1mm [1 million] and then controlling price with suppression and so forth”
  • Several parties express interest and offer to put several bitcoin in
  • Crypto Signals alleges several miners, a programmer to build the exchange bots and lots of capital are invested
  • He follows this up by saying they should have “enough to start controlling the orderbooks so we can just accumulate the rest through mining”
  • A new group chat Project xyz is formed. The screenshot contains a link  to this chat, but it results in a 404 error.
  • A google drive document  is made offering 20 BTC for the scheme. The document appears to be made by Jeremy Spence. The only trace I could find of such a person was a now-deleted LinkedIn.

Here is a screenshot of the document:

  • Different exchanges to get the coin listed on are discussed. BitFinex is decided upon. Different coins are discussed since the price of XHV is pumping. XRB  is decided upon as the new coin of choice.
  • Different market manipulations are to be employed to get 20% of the coin and then it’s to be pumped hard
  • Peripheral  claims he is able to get it into the next bravado newsletter. Other claims are made about getting the coin on CNBC 
  • More discussion about which coin to choose. The chat then ends and the rest of the screenshots are of group members telegram accounts

The fallout

  • ParabolicMp replied to the tweet saying  he didn’t put a penny into the coin.
  • Another twitter user by the name of Crypto Pigs replied  to that tweet showing him attempting to make the aforementioned purchase of 5 BTC worth of XHV.ParabolicMp also said, “count me in”.
  • BitcoinBravado released a 16 page pdf  containing a statement distancing themselves from those involved. It also posted the entire DM history between cryptomedication and its founder. Those messages say the following:
    • CryptoMedication became an unpaid analyst
    • CryptoMedication accused BitcoinBravado of being sponsored by ncash and giving out false advice as part of a pump and dump. He claims BitcoinBravado has “zero integrity” and an article he wrote about Ncash is referenced
    • CryptoMedication is demoted from analyst
    • A fight ensues, both parties walk away without admitting fault
    • After the article is posted, CryptoMedicated is DM’d threatening legal action if he does not post a retraction.
  • Serial Shiller co-founder of BitcoinBravado said  he would sever all ties with CryptoGat  and Peripheral .
  • CryptoGat  has not commented yet but retweeted BitcoinBravado’s statement.
  • CryptoDog  admits  he was in the group chat but did not take part in any market manipulation. He further asserts the questions he asked were so he could “accumulate a good coin”. I’ve spoken to several sources who have said that they deleted the group chat several days ago.
  • Peripheral  who claimed he could get the coin into the Bravado newsletter retracted this claim and claimed mentioning it was a mistake. He further said he’d be releasing a statement soon. No statement was available at press time.
  • CryptoHornHairs  claims he participated in the conversation minimally and only checks it once a week. His claim on minimal participation in the conversation is valid.
  • ParabolicMp made a bunch of claims saying he did not promote the coin (which he did not). Several replies suggest this is because the coin had not yet been accumulated (which is a valid point). He also claims  he deleted the group chat several days ago and that he never owned any XHV.
  • CryptoSays  released a statement denying he does any shilling and saying he is moving on.

I’ve spoken to a few of the participants involved in this story and they all claim that CryptoMedicated was coming at them for one thing or another. He’s frequently asserted over DM he will outwork everyone. I’ve also received screenshots of several members conversations with CryptoMedicated and they show threatening behavior on his part.

This story is developing…

Featured image from Shutterstock.