‘Striking’ Bitcoin Market Manipulation Revealed
Billy Bambrough, 25 September 2019
Bitcoin and cryptocurrency markets are in turmoil tonight after the disappointing launch of the hotly-anticipated Bakkt crypto platform.
The bitcoin price shed 15% of its value this week, with some of its biggest rivals including ethereum, Ripple’s XRP, litecoin, and bitcoin cash, recording losses as high as 22% as investors balked at Bakkt’s low bitcoin trading volume.
Now, new research has warned of a “striking systematic trend” in bitcoin price movements, with bitcoin falling far further than average ahead of CME’s bitcoin futures contracts being settled each month.
Bitcoin has dropped on average 2.27% towards settlement each month, compared to an average fall of just 0.06% on a random day over the same period, bitcoin and cryptocurrency analysts at Arcane Research found.
Adjusting for “large outliers,” researchers found the average price movement up 0.04%, while for the period before CME bitcoin futures contracts are settled the price falls by 1.99% on average.
“Statistically, it is highly unlikely that the price falls in advance of CME settlement should be caused by mere coincidence,” Arcane’s Bendik Norheim Schei wrote.
