The cryptocurrency exchange MEXC, one of the top 10 in the world, announced the suspension of two large groups of investors who were manipulating markets. The decision affected 182 users and 1,668 accounts.
While the first group operated from Vietnam, with only 168 accounts, the other was from the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS), consisting of countries such as Russia, Uzbekistan, and Azerbaijan, with another 1,500 accounts.
The brokerage did not disclose which cryptocurrencies were traded by the group. However, since nearly 3,000 coins are listed on MEXC, it is likely that the manipulations occurred in smaller, low-volume projects.
MEXC clients are liquidated by the brokerage after manipulation accusations.
Investors are being accused of various manipulation practices, including wash trading, spoofing, layering, front-running, and quote stuffing. MEXC explained each of these terms as follows:
Wash trading: Accounts acting simultaneously as buyers and sellers to create artificial trading volume.
Spoofing: Placing and canceling large orders to deceive traders about market demand.
Layering: Repeated large and canceled orders to manipulate the perception of prices.
Disruptive Algorithmic Trading: Use of programmatic trading methods that threatened the stability of the system.
Market Manipulation: Coordinated efforts to artificially influence asset prices or trading volumes through deceptive practices, such as price inflation or suppression and misleading activity in the order book, distorting fair market conditions.
According to the statement, these frauds increased by 60% between January and February compared to the end of 2024. The scheme was described as large-scale.