Key Takeaways
- Binance and Wintermute are allegedly attempting to squeeze out retail investors from positions.
- Scimitar Capital dumped its entire altcoin stash worth approximately $2 billion in 2023.
- Wintermute is the number one counterparty for Binance and Coinbase.
A historical market sell-off has raised eyebrows as talks of market manipulation at the behest of some of the industry’s biggest players gain traction.
More specifically, Wintermute, a digital assets market maker with some $634.7 million in crypto, and its connection with Binance, as well as a rumored “$2 billion altcoin” dump from Scimitar Capital, are at the center of these allegations.
Wintermute Manipulation?
According to crypto sleuth Marty Party, Binance is transferring tens, if not hundreds, of millions in crypto to Wintermute to “force capitulation.” In this instance, Binance is leveraging Wintermute’s power to influence traders in hopes they will sell their positions.
Despite signs that foul play was taking place behind the scenes, it wasn’t until last week that Marty Party pointed out that Binance and Wintermute may be manipulating the markets.
However, Wintermute CEO Evgeny Gaevoy took to X to dispel concerns that this may be another FTX / Terra-Luna debacle in the making.
“We are not taking months long positions like Trabucco did at Alameda and when we take these positions, they are fairly small (and subject to that 20-30% of net equity range I’ve mentioned earlier). Vast majority of our discretionary plays are longs, buying the dip or buy locked tokens at big discount type. While we do take short positions, these are very rare,” he wrote.
According to Gaevoy, the firm is focused on centralized finance (CeFi), decentralized finance (DeFi), and over-the-counter (OTC) with high diversification.
“We don’t manipulate prices, because a) we don’t know how b) our core business is valuable enough to not do stupid illegal shit,” he added.
Wintermute is Binance’s top counterparty, with trading volumes between the two in the past month totaling $34.54 billion. Wintermute has taken in $14.94 billion of this figure; conversely, Binance saw $19.24 billion.
Wintermute Crypto Movements
Wintermute is a leading market maker that built out its reputation in crypto for having a rather impressive memecoin portfolio. Over time, this has resulted in an interesting relationship with Binance. As Gaevoy explains:
“[…]whether it’s BTC, eth L2s, memes or “AI” tokens. When we deal with specific token protocols, we ideally look to engage them through all 3 core businesses.”
The firm prefers to invest in high market cap memecoins and has huge positions in tokens such as Goatseus Maximum (GOAT), Pepecoin(PEPE), Moo Deng (MOODENG), and others.
Some observers noticed in October 2024 that over half of Binance’s new memecoin product listings were from Winterminute.
By December 2024, Binance has listed six memecoins in its futures and spot markets.
In an attempt to explain why the crypto markets “tend to go down when Wintermute and Binance enter the stage,” Gaevoy explains that “before you look at another dumb party post about Wintermute transferring SOL, it’s worthing looking at the macro.”
Gaevoy says that Bitcoin’s decline, DeepSeek, Donald Trump’s tariffs, and other factors are bearing down on the market.
He also notes that “this might come as a shock,” but supply and demand factors are in play.
Finally, he highlighted the embedded call option for token market maker agreements.
“It’s 100% true that it makes sense for MMs to sell tokens above strike price. These strike prices are generally significantly above the price when MM engages, but given that tokens can still go 100%+ up, its not impossible to be above the strike at some point for some of the tokens,” Gaevoy expressed.
Scimitar Altcoin Dump
Crypto proprietary trading firm Scimitar Capital is also accused of causing the biggest sell-off in crypto history after it allegedly dumped the entirety of its $2 billion altcoin stash.
It is believed that the move was made to return capital to its limited partners. The timing and size of the sale were large enough to flood the market with sell orders and, therefore, cause major price drops across crypto.
That said, it appears the whole thing is a rumor. In a now-deleted X post from 2023, the firm announced it would be selling its altcoin stash.
Eddie is a gaming and crypto writer at CCN. Covering the often weird and wonderful world of Web3 with an adoring, but skeptical eye.
Prior to CCN, Eddie has spent the past seven years working his way through the crypto, finance, and technology industry. He began with PR and journalism with Bitcoin PR Buzz and BitcoinNews.com, eventually working his way to become a copywriter with a dozen firms, including the likes of Polkadot before returning to journalism in 2023.
Having studied Radio production and journalism at University in the UK, Eddie spent a few years making podcasts and presenting on a local London radio station as he built up his writing chops.
A lifelong skateboarder, Eddie can often be found at the skatepark or touring the streets looking for something new to try. That, or kicking back playing JRPGs on his original PSP.
