Bitcoin prices were manipulated: study
Bitcoin’s massive price run-up late last year may have been the result of a price manipulation campaign, according to a new study released on Wednesday.
The paper by John Griffin, a finance professor at the University of Texas who has researched fraud in other markets, and graduate student Amin Shams, found that the virtual coin Tether was likely used to prop up Bitcoin prices late last year.
“By mapping the blockchains of Bitcoin and Tether, we are able to establish that entities associated with the Bitfinex exchange use Tether to purchase Bitcoin when prices are falling. Such price supporting activities are successful, as Bitcoin prices rise following the periods of intervention,” they wrote. Griffin’s study didn’t have access to email, texts or other communications that would provide evidence that both organizations were involved in price manipulation, but instead analyzed transaction records stored on Bitcoin’s public ledger.
